For Immediate Release: June 1, 2026
Press Contact: Sophie Ellman-Golan | sophie@jfrej.org
JFREJ Condemns NYC Politicians For Marching with War Criminals at Israel Day Parade
JFREJ has never participated in the Israel Day Parade and did not again this year. The parade is an overtly nationalist event, not, as figures like Speaker Menin and Jonathan Greenblatt claimed, “a celebration of Jewish identity, pride and community.” This is an obvious and dangerous lie that actively fuels the conflation of Jews with the State of Israel.
Jewish identity is a rich tapestry, multilayered across place and time. Reducing Jewish identity and community to being solely about the state of Israel is flat-out antisemitic.
The claim that the Israel Day Parade is a celebration of Jewish pride is even more outrageous given the Israeli government's ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people, and that representatives of that government marched at the front of the parade as honored guests.
Israeli officials present yesterday include:
- Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, who has called for a total annexation of the West Bank;
- Knesset Member Meirav Ben-Ari, who said in 2023 that "the children of Gaza have brought this upon themselves."
- Knesset Member Ariel Kallner, who called for ethnic cleansing in Gaza, advocating for "removing population away from it and cleansing it."
- Yitzhak Kroizer, who said "there are no innocent civilians, no innocent children in Jenin" after Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian family in March of this year, adding ".
- Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a self-proclaimed "fascist homophobe," who has been indicted by the ICC for war crimes.
As Jewish New Yorkers, we are outraged and disgusted that local and state politicians and officials — from Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Tish James, to NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, to Senator Chuck Schumer and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, to Assembly Members Micah Lasher and Alex Bores, to Speaker Julie Menin and NYC Comptroller Mark Levine and more — marched alongside war criminals and claimed it was an expression of support for Jews.
We are grateful to Mayor Mamdani for refusing to march in the Israel Day Parade, which featured some of the Israeli politicians who have not only cheered on the genocide of Palestinians, but are part of the government committing that genocide. It is not a celebration of Jewish identity or pride; there is no Jewish pride in genocide. Shame on every elected official who marched yesterday.
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Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ) is a 6,000-member grassroots organization and the home of New York’s Jewish Left. For over 30 years, JFREJ members have organized alongside our neighbors to transform New York from a playground for the wealthy few into a real democracy, free from all forms of racist violence.