Tens of thousands of Israel supporters jammed Fifth Avenue for the annual Israel Day Parade on Sunday, May 18. Weather for the event was excellent, with sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s, no jackets required. While the wind still played havoc with some people’s allergies, the effect of the breezes on the veritable sea of blue-and-white flags on display from the staging areas in the East 50s through the finish at East 74th Street was worth the occasional sneeze.
The official theme of this year’s parade was Hatikvah (The Hope), which is also the name of the Israel national anthem, based on an 1878 poem by the Galician Hebrew-language poet Naftali Herz Imber (1856-1909). In the context of the day’s parade, Hatikvah represented Jewish resilience in the face of the ongoing war against Hamas and the corresponding rise of anti-Israeli (or anti-Zionist) and antisemitic sentiment.
In addition, the plight of the 58 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza was a common refrain, with “Bring Them Home” the most common slogan. How many of those 58 hostages are still alive is unknown.
First held in 1964 as the Salute to Israel Parade and later the Celebrate Israel Parade, the event, which is organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York (JCRC-NY), changed its name last year to the less rousing but more geo-specific Israel Day on Fifth. In the streets, pretty much everyone still calls it the Israel Day Parade.
As one would expect for an event held so close to marking Israeli Independence Day, May 14, 1948, most, but not all, of the attendees were Jewish, a fact that reflects the pluralism of both Israel and New York City, which has the world’s largest Jewish population outside of Israel. As for the date, like all Jewish holidays based on the lunisolar Hebrew calendar, it bounces around—last year’s parade, for example, was held on Sunday, June 2.
Security for the parade was very robust, with cops of many precincts and specialized units out in force all along Madison Avenue in the east, Sixth Avenue in the west, and of course Fifth Avenue in the middle. They were complemented by numerous Sanitation Department trucks, members of Jewish security groups like Shomrim, and the volunteer Jewish EMS organization, Hatzalah. All parade spectators had to pass through security screenings at various entrances on Madison Avenue.
Preceding the parade proper, an opening ceremony was held at 11am on Fifth Avenue. Led by JCRC-NY’s energetic CEO, Mark Treyger, a former three-term City Council Member from Brooklyn, this warmup event featured Treyger and various politicians on a raised, portable stage facing north toward a platform filled mostly with broadcast journalists. On the ground between them stood other reporters, VIP parade participants, and omnipresent cops in white shirts, blue shirts and also the bright yellow marks of the crowd favorite, bicycle police.
As with all large parades and many small ones, the politics of the event were notable, especially given that it’s primary election season. Among the politicians standing with Treyger were New York Governor Kathy Hochul; US Senator Charles Schumer; state Attorney General Letitia James, and state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, all of whom spoke with exceptional passion.
Whether they were inspired by the crowd, the occasion, or just trying to keep up with the loud and proud voice of the Brooklyn boy Treyger, their energy was impressive, though one man, a red-and-white MAGA-yarmulke pinned to his curly black-and-gray hair, lightly booed Letitia James.
Other solons present who were introduced but didn’t speak were a veritable Who’s Who of friends of Israel, and of New York Jews generally, including: US Congress members Jerry Nadler, Dan Goldman, Grace Meng, Greg Meeks, Laura Gillen, Mike Lawler; Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine; Queens Borough President Donovan Richards; City Council Members Gale Brewer, Julie Menin, Eric Dinowitz, and Susan Zwang; and a raft of state assembly members.
Although not present on the platform, Mayor Adams, wearing a black Knicks playoffs hat, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, and former governor and current mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo all marched in the parade, the last with Grand Marshal Harley Lippman at his side.
Most moving among the speakers were the husband-and-wife former hostages—and former residents of Kibbutz Kfar Aza—Keith and Aviva Siegel. Aviva, then 62, was released by Hamas terrorists on Nov. 26, 2023, after 51 days in captivity. Keith, now 66, was freed in February 2025, having been captive 484 days.
“I experienced abuse of many different kinds,” said Keith Siegel, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen. “I witnessed the abuse and the literal torture of other hostages that I saw, including women. I witnessed sexual abuse. I witnessed violence and humiliation and starvation and dehydration, being held in terrible conditions, not being able to clean my body for weeks at a time.”
Later, both Siegels rode on a Bring Them Home Now!-themed float, where they held up posters of those still held hostage, including twin brothers Gali and Ziv Berman, and Matan Angrest, a captured Israeli soldier whom Hamas used in a disturbing propaganda video released this past March.
Among the many other floats, cars, trucks, and marchers were the clip-clopping NYPD Mounted Unit; the ever-rousing NYPD Marching Band; the Shomrin Tzedek Society of the New York State Courts; the FDNY Ner Tamid Society; and various other groups full of dancing, chanting, flag-waving kids and parents. Fashion highlights: the purple tutus of the Yeshiva of Flatbush girls; and the brilliant fruit-themed costumery of a klezmer-like marching band led by a strutting pineapple.
“Am Yisrael chai!”