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Left-Wing Activists Slam Incoming Trans US Lawmaker for Past Pro-Israel Comments
US Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-DE), the first transgender person elected to the US Congress, poses for a portrait outside of her campaign office in Wilmington, Delaware, US, Oct. 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski
Left-wing activists are condemning Sarah McBride, a Democrat from Delaware who earlier this month became the first transgender person elected to the US Congress, for previously expressing support for Israel.
McBride, who was born male but now identifies as female, has a history of expressing support for Israel’s right to self-defense and sympathy for the victims of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7.
Upon discovering the lawmaker’s past public support of Israel, left-wing advocates slammed McBride, arguing that a “queer” politician should empathize with the plight of the Palestinians and adopt a stridently “anti-Zionist” stance. Progressives also slammed McBride for placing an “emphasis on Israeli safety” and taking a hard-line position against Iran, which US intelligence agencies have for years identified as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism.
Anti-Israel activists have especially taken umbrage at the transgender lawmaker for repeatedly affirming Israel’s right to “defend itself” and referring to Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion of the Jewish state as a “terrorist attack.” McBride has also rankled some left-wing advocates by calling for the release of the American hostages in Hamas-ruled Gaza and expressing support for continuing the transfer of US aid to Israel.
“Congress will most likely have the first trans member in history after November and she’s a zionist, beyond parody lmao,” one user wrote on X/Twitter.
“Don’t hate sarah Mcbride because she’s a trans woman, hate her because she’s a raging zionist,” another progressive posted.
“My take on Sarah McBride: I’d rather have 100 cıshetero congressmen who are anti-zionist than one trans woman who is a zionist. Identity politics shouldn’t matter at all when the stakes are genocidal,” another anti-Israel advocate said.
Over the course of McBride’s political career, which included serving in the Delaware state Senate, the lawmaker has adopted mainstream positions and rhetoric on Israel, undercutting expectations among certain corners of the ideological left that a transgender lawmaker should align with the radical fringes of the Democratic Party. Several aactivists on social media have argued that McBride’s parroting of so-called “Zionist talking points” represented a betrayal of the “queer” community.
In an August 2023 interview with Jewish Insider, McBride demonstrated skepticism toward conditioning aid to Israel and “emphasized that federal law already contains protections to ensure that US aid ‘shouldn’t be used in ways that contradict our values.’” McBride also voiced “‘serious concerns about any policy that would single out Israel and treat it differently than other countries that we support through foreign aid’ or hold it ‘to a different standard.’”
McBride also expressed support for the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding for US military aid to Israel, which included an increase of $8 billion in aid to the Jewish state.
During a debate for Congress in October, McBride said that “Israel without question has a right to defend itself against a terrorist attack like we saw on Oct. 7, to protect its citizens — and, in fact, it has a responsibility to protect its citizens — but it also has a responsibility to do that in the context of all applicable laws.”
McBride also vowed to seek avenues to advance Palestinian “security, economic security, and the right to self-determination.”
The publication Autostraddle, a self-described “news and entertainment site for LGBTQ+ women and other trans people,” published a story earlier this month headlined, “Sarah McBride Is a Zionist.”
“Even if Sarah McBride accomplishes other positive changes in Congress, even if her presence as a trans woman counteracts the rising transphobia in our country and her party, this will be tainted by her stance on Israel and the violence against Palestinians,” the author wrote to conclude the article. “I understand wanting a piece of good news after last week. But as long as McBride remains steadfast in her Zionism, I’ll be looking elsewhere.”
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3rd Round of Nuclear Talks Between Iran, US Concludes in Oman
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – The third round of talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program has concluded on Saturday, US media reported.
The two sides are understood to have discussed the US lifting of sanctions on Iran, with focuses on technical and key topics including uranium enrichment.
On April 12, the US and Iran held indirect talks in Muscat, marking the first official negotiation between the two sides since the US unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term.
The second round of indirect talks took place in Rome, Italy, on April 19.
All parties, including Oman, stated that the first two rounds of talks were friendly and constructive, but Iranian media pointed out that the first two rounds were mainly framework negotiations and had not yet touched upon the core issues of disagreement.
According to media reports, one of the key issues in the expert-level negotiations will be whether Washington will allow Iran to continue uranium enrichment within the framework of its nuclear program. In response, Araghchi made it clear that Iran’s right to uranium enrichment is non-negotiable.
The US, Israel and other Western actors including the United Nation’s nuclear agency reject Iranian claims that its uranium enrichment is strictly civilian in its goals.
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Hamas Says It’s Open to 5-Year Gaza Truce, One-Time Release of All Hostages
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – The Palestinian jihadists of Hamas said they were willing to secure an agreement with Israel that that would see them remain in charge of the enclave, a source told international media. The deal would include an internationally guaranteed five-year truce and the release of all Israeli hostages in a single batch.
The latest bid to seal a ceasefire follows an Israeli proposal which Hamas had rejected earlier in April as “partial,” urging a “comprehensive” agreement to halt the war ignited by the October 7 massacres.
Israel demands the return of all hostages seized in the 2023 attack, and the disarmament of Hamas, which the jihadists rejected as a “red line.”
An earlier Israeli offer, rejected by the Palestinian terrorists, included a 45-day ceasefire in exchange for the return of 10 living hostages.
More than a month into a renewed Israeli offensive in Gaza after a two-month truce, a Hamas official said earlier this week that its delegation in Cairo would discuss “new ideas” on a ceasefire.
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Suspected Chemical Blast at Iran’s Bandar Abbas Kills 4, Injures Hundreds
People walk after an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, Iran, April 26, 2025. Photo: Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/IRNA/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
A huge blast on Saturday likely caused by the explosion of chemical materials stored at Iran’s biggest port, Bandar Abbas, killed at least four people and injured more than 500, Iranian state media reported.
The explosion, which hit the Shahid Rajaee section of the port, occurred as Iran began a third round of nuclear talks with the United States in Oman, but there was no immediate indication of a link between the two events.
Hossein Zafari, a spokesperson for Iran’s crisis management organization, appeared to blame the explosion on poor storage of chemicals in containers at Shahid Rajaee.
“The cause of the explosion was the chemicals inside the containers,” he told Iran’s ILNA news agency.
“Previously, the Director General of Crisis Management had given warnings to this port during their visits and had pointed out the possibility of danger,” Zafari said.
An Iranian government spokesperson, however, said that although chemicals had likely caused the blast, it was not yet possible to determine the exact reason.
Iran’s official news channels aired footage of a vast black and orange cloud of smoke billowing up above the port in the aftermath of the blast, and an office building with its doors blown off and papers and debris strewn around.
Bandar Abbas is Iran’s largest port and handles most of its containers in transit.
The blast shattered windows within a radius of several kilometers and was heard in Qeshm, an island 16 miles south of the port, Iranian media said.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency posted footage of injured men lying on the road being tended to amid scenes of confusion.
State TV earlier reported that poor handling of flammable materials was a “contributing factor” to the explosion. A local crisis management official told state TV that the blast took place after several containers stored at the port exploded.
As relief workers tried to put out fires, the port’s customs officials said trucks were being evacuated from the area and that the container yard where the explosion occurred likely contained “dangerous goods and chemicals.” Activities at the port were halted after the blast, officials said.
DEADLY INCIDENTS
A series of deadly incidents have hit Iranian energy and industrial infrastructure in recent years, with many, like Saturday’s blast, blamed on negligence.
They have included refinery fires, a gas explosion at a coalmine, and an emergency repairs incident at Bandar Abbas killed one worker in 2023.
Iran has blamed some other incidents on its arch-foe Israel, which has carried out attacks on Iranian soil targeting Iran’s nuclear program in recent years and last year bombed the country’s air defenses.
Tehran said Israel was behind a February, 2024 attack on Iranian gas pipelines. And in 2020, computers at Shahid Rajaee were hit by a cyberattack. The Washington Post reported that Iran’s arch-foe Israel appeared to be behind that incident as retaliation for an earlier Iranian cyberattack.
Israel has indicated it is nervous about the outcome of US-Iran talks, demanding a full dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran says the program is used solely for peaceful purposes, while international observers say it is getting closer to being able to build a bomb.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli military or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office when asked for comment on whether Israel was in any way involved in Saturday’s explosion.
Oil facilities were not affected by the blast on Saturday, Iranian authorities said. The National Iranian Petroleum Refining and Distribution Company said in a statement that it had “no connection to refineries, fuel tanks, distribution complexes and oil pipelines.”
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