Caitlyn Jenner spent Friday-night Shabbat hunkered in a reinforced hotel room in Tel Aviv as sirens wailed above the city, posting on X that “Israeli jets [are] overhead in Iran now… (Bye bye terrorists).” She had opened the evening with a separate post thanking Israelis for “making me family” and vowing that “we will prevail.”
Jenner first soared to prominence as Bruce Jenner, the 1976 Olympic decathlon gold-medalist hailed as the “world’s greatest athlete.” Four decades later, she transitioned publicly in 2015, becoming one of the most recognizable transgender women in the world and, more recently, a conservative political activist.
The 75-year-old landed in Israel on Wednesday, 11 June, invited as Tel Aviv Pride’s guest of honor and scheduled to ride atop a parade float at Charles Clore Park. Those plans collapsed early Friday when Israel carried out a large pre-emptive strike on Iranian nuclear and military sites, prompting Tehran to launch missiles at Israel; city officials cancelled the parade hours later.
Wine and sirens
As air-raid alerts sounded across central Israel, Jenner uploaded a video of herself and Israeli influencer Regev Gur sipping red wine inside a bomb shelter, telling followers, “We are safe, we are strong.” The post quickly racked up tens of thousands of likes, with Israeli users thanking her for staying.
Ben-Gurion Airport shut down indefinitely on Friday morning, and Israeli airlines ferried their fleets abroad to avoid possible Iranian strikes, leaving Jenner—and thousands of other tourists—temporarily stranded. “There is no place I’d rather be than with the brave people of Israel,” she wrote on Instagram, adding that she would remain until flights resume.
In her late-night tweet, Jenner praised Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s “decisive leadership” and lauded US President Donald Trump—whom she called “Israel’s closest ally”—for refusing to tolerate “reckless violence.” The wording closely paralleled statements from Jerusalem and Washington framing Israel’s strike as self-defense.
Tel Aviv Pride organizers say they hope to stage a replacement festival later in the summer if security permits and have asked Jenner to headline once again.