Zohran Mamdani Skips Israel Day Parade on Sunday
Zohran Mamdani will not attend the Israel Day Parade on Sunday in New York City, breaking with a longstanding tradition for mayors, governors and other political leaders who have treated the Fifth Avenue march as a fixed date on the city calendar.
At a news conference on Thursday, Mamdani said, "I said on the campaign trail that I wouldn’t be attending the parade, and I’ve made my views on the Israeli government abundantly clear" and added, "While I will not be attending, our administration has been preparing for weeks to ensure the parade is safe for all those who take part." Police commissioner Jessica Tisch said she would attend, drawing a public split inside City Hall over a parade that has long doubled as a political signal.
Mamdani and Jessica Tisch
Mamdani is New York City’s first Muslim mayor, and his absence lands after the mayor’s office released a video commemorating the Nakba two weeks ago. The video featured Inea Bushnaq, who said, "it’s the soft hills of Palestine that actually touched me" and "I’ve lived in different places, and I’ve always been an outsider."
Tisch, speaking to reporters at police headquarters, said, "It is the mayor’s decision not to march, and it is my decision to march proudly." She signaled that the city’s police leadership will still be visible at the parade even as the mayor stays away.
Rabbi Marc Schneier responds
Rabbi Marc Schneier, the founding senior rabbi of The Hampton Synagogue on Long Island and president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, called Mamdani’s decision "a slap in the face to all Jewish New Yorkers." Schneier also said, "Do us a favor, stay home," and, "We don’t need you. We don’t want you."
The dispute comes as support for Israel among Americans has deeply eroded in recent years, accelerating amid the outcry over Israeli military action in Gaza. Supporters of Israel said the Nakba video should have acknowledged the mass displacement of Jews from Muslim-majority countries or the role of the Holocaust in the drive to establish a Jewish state.
Fifth Avenue parade security
Mamdani said his administration had been preparing for weeks to ensure the parade goes off seamlessly and peacefully. The parade celebrates the birth of the Jewish state in 1948 and has remained a must-attend event for New York mayors across decades of visible political support for Israel.
Sunday’s march on Fifth Avenue will proceed under the police plan Mamdani described, while the mayor’s absence leaves Jessica Tisch as the most senior city official publicly committing to attend. That combination gives the parade a familiar route but an unfamiliar political backdrop.
