(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) President Donald Trump poked fun on Monday at the ironic slogan “Gays for Palestine,” a label used to describe LGBT activists who protest what they view as Israeli oppression of Palestinians.
Trump mocked the group at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, where he campaigned on behalf of Republican candidates ahead of the midterm elections.
“I saw it today, and I said, wait a minute. ‘Gays for Palestine’? Do you know what they do to gay people in that part of the world?” Trump asked thousands of supporters attending the rally.
“They throw you off the top of a building,” the president added, referring to some of the barbaric treatment gay individuals have faced under extremist groups in the Middle East.
.@POTUS: "'Gays for Palestine' — you know what they do if you happen to be gay? They throw you off the top of a building." pic.twitter.com/4Iaih70x3P
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 12, 2026
In 2015, ISIS released disturbing videos depicting its terrorists throwing men accused of being gay from buildings as a form of public execution.
Other Islamic extremist groups have employed similarly brutal punishments against people accused of engaging in same-sex conduct, including stoning, burning and flogging, all in the name of their interpretation of Shariah law.
Hamas, which governed the Gaza Strip before being removed from power in 2024, had also criminalized same-sex relations. Separately, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has been accused of failing to stop persecution and discrimination against gay individuals.
The group at the center of Trump’s mockery appears to be Queers for Palestine, a London-based activist body that has more than 50,000 social media followers.
The group, alongside its allies, criticizes so-called colonialism and Israeli oppression toward Palestinians. Some of the group’s signs attracted widespread attention on social media following Israel’s military campaign in Gaza after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
The group’s signs drew widespread mockery on social media over the irony of LGBT activists supporting Palestinians.
On its Instagram page, Queers for Palestine describes itself as a group of “Queers committed to the struggle for a just world, free of settler-colonialism, zionism, and capitalism,” alongside the Palestinian and transgender flags.
In contrast to the Palestinian regions, Israel has enacted several laws to protect LGBT people, effectively becoming one of the most progressive countries in the Middle East.
Israel recognizes same-sex marriages performed abroad and allows same-sex couples to jointly adopt children.
The Israel Defense Forces has permitted openly gay individuals to serve since 1993, well before the U.S. military’s repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Israel also hosts annual Gay Pride parades.
