Celebrating Israel at 70 in the streets of New York

With Israeli flags waving, tens of thousands marched in the 54th annual Celebrate Israel parade on Sunday, June 3. The historic event, which celebrates Israel’s statehood, was organized by Israel’s Ministry of Culture and New York’s Israeli Consulate.

Among those marching were New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Governor Andrew Cuomo, Israel’s Consul General in New York Dani Dayan, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon and Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev. They were joined in the march by ambassadors from Canada, Germany, Spain, Thailand, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Nigeria, Ukraine and Romania. Most folks along the parade route, however, were waiting to catch a glimpse of popular Israeli singer Shiri Maimon, who will be performing on Broadway this fall.

Times of Israel reporter Danielle Ziri described the progression up Fifth Avenue as “a day of festivities that [culminated] in a ‘giant block party’ in Times Square.” The Great White Way was lit up in blue and white. At 8 p.m., the usual Big Apple advertisements on all the screens in Times Square were replaced with a short video. The broadcast depicted Israeli innovations (including high-tech and agriculture industries), holy sites of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv’s nightlife and a tribute to Israel’s relationship with America.

This event is the largest parade outside of Israel supporting the country. In light of recent on-going tension in the Middle East, armed security officers were stationed around the route. More than 1,000 New York police officers and Israeli guards secured the giant street party to ensure the security of the attendees and the notable guests.

“It was moving to see the thousands of Israelis, tourists and locals dancing and singing together to the sounds of Israeli music,” said Culture Minister Miri Regev.

The dancing in the streets was reported to go on for hours. But not everyone was in the mood to celebrate. Some people waving Palestinian flags and members of an ultra-Orthodox sect that opposes secular Zionism tried to put a damper on the festivities.

Nonetheless, the 40,000 marchers representing hundreds of organizations, musical performers on floats, marching bands and flags emblazoned with the Star of David all added to the Israeli pride.

KARA MARZIALI is the director of communication at the Jewish Alliance.