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 activists 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.”