New York holds annual Israel parade
US Congressman Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat who is Jewish, joined the group, saying he was "proud to march and fight for Israel's democracy".
Protesters denounced Israeli coalition lawmakers who were visiting New York on Sunday for the city’s Celebrate Israel Parade.
Despite the friction, the event was a significant display of pride and solidarity with Israel, with Israeli flag-waving crowds streaming down Manhattan’s 5th Avenue for several hours, including Jewish community representatives, local and state leaders, Jewish day school students, activists and Israeli officials.
Also attending were at least five members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition: MK Simcha Rothman, Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli, Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distel Atbaryan, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu and Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer.
Anti-government activists had hounded the lawmakers in and around New York throughout the week, focusing on Rothman, a key player in the judicial overhaul. Rothman also enraged the government’s opponents when he forcibly seized a megaphone from a protester in New York on Friday night.
Several dozen demonstrators heckled Rothman from the sidelines of the parade as he marched through Midtown, shouting “shame” in Hebrew and carrying signs reading “democracy for all” and “oppose Israel’s authoritarian government”.
After the march, hundreds gathered outside a nearby conference featuring the lawmakers, chanting “shame” and “democracy” and brandishing Israeli flags.
Which ministers would attend remained an open question until the start of the parade. The Israeli consulate in New York and the organisers said they did not know who planned to show up as the march began.
Activists from UnXeptable, a network of Israeli activists based outside Israel, marched in the parade as members of the progressive group Ameinu. Their contingent of hundreds wore shirts that said “Zionism = democracy” and “Marching for democracy”. Keeping in line with the rules of the parade, they did not denounce the government or the visiting ministers, only chanting in favour of democracy and civil rights during the march.
US Congressman Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat who is Jewish, joined the group, saying he was “proud to march and fight for Israel’s democracy”.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the state’s attorney-general, Tish James, all marched in the parade alongside US Jewish leadership. They did not appear to have associated with the coalition MKs in attendance.
The parade maintained its celebratory atmosphere despite the political friction. The marchers included schoolchildren doing choreographed dances, floats with musical performers led by Matisyahu, entertainers on stilts and marching bands.
The crowds on the sidelines were overwhelmingly supportive. A handful argued with the activist marchers, and several dozen pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied in one location but were largely ignored.
Rothman decried the US demonstrations last Thursday.
He called on President Isaac Herzog “to condemn the organisations who stand ready to destroy the State of Israel’s most important relationship with world Jewry just to gain points in a domestic political struggle”.
TIMES OF ISRAEL
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