Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Salute to Israel Parade Draws 100,000

Under an overcast sky, nearly 100,000 New Yorkers turned out June 4 for the city’s 42nd annual Salute to Israel Parade. Along with the mayor, New York’s two senators, talk-show host Ruth Westheimer, and contingents from the city’s Jewish police and firefighter societies, marchers included almost 100 members of the Halachic Organ Donor Society; 12 members of the First Hebrew Congregation of Peekskill in upstate New York, and upward of 500 students each from the Ramaz School, the Yeshiva of Flatbush and the Solomon Schechter Day Schools of New Jersey. Peppered among the marchers were floats mounted by the likes of El Al Israel Airlines, the American Jewish Committee, Jordache jeans (with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of “Kosher Sex” fame waving to the crowd), and marching bands from the American Legion, the First Panamanian Drum and Bugle Corps of Brooklyn and James Madison High School of Brooklyn.

As in years past, tiny groups of hecklers stood along the route, cordoned off behind police barricades, variously representing a Muslim anti-Israel group (one member of which was shouting, “Am Yisrael Die” at marchers) and the ultra-Orthodox, anti-Zionist Neturei Karta. Also present along the route, though less visible than in years past, were small knots of pro-settler protesters brandishing signs against Israeli-Palestinian compromise.

“This is all about peace,” said Andrew Frenkel, 10, a fourth grader at the Bicultural Day School in Stamford, Conn. Marching for Israel, he said, left him feeling “amazing, fabulous, excited — and proud.”

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.