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A Sanitized Israel Day Parade Is Better Than None
An Israeli flag flies at a past Israel Day Parade.
This year, I had the privilege of marching in the Israel Day Parade, representing Scout 613 of the Boy Scouts of America. We were placed near the front, right behind the politicians. On paper, it was a picture-perfect day. The sun was out. The flags were flying. The energy among those walking was strong.
But something was missing. And it wasn’t just the noise.
It’s been 28 years since I last walked the parade — back when I was a student filled with pride, purpose, and surrounded by roaring crowds. This time, it felt like we were marching through a ghost town — a seemingly impossible task given that it took place in the heart of Manhattan, the city that never sleeps.
Fifth Avenue, usually packed shoulder-to-shoulder with supporters waving flags and singing Am Yisrael Chai, was practically empty. The celebration felt more like a private procession than a public show of unity. This was obviously done in order to promote security, but by doing so, some of the historical objectives of the parade were lost.
In the past, the average New Yorker could experience what celebrating Israel meant to so many of their fellow New Yorkers, and they could potentially learn something about Israel. Additionally, the average parade marcher could feel the palpable energy from the crowd and both the marcher and the parade goer could benefit from each other’s enthusiasm.
The feeling among many of us was that this parade wasn’t really for the public anymore. It was for the people walking in it, and for the headline afterwards — that there was a parade and that many people participated in it. And maybe, given today’s climate, that’s what it needed to be.
Let’s be honest: the Israel Day Parade wasn’t just a celebration this year. It was a statement. A statement that we will not be silenced. That we will not disappear. That we are still here, proudly and defiantly, even in a city that now feels more complicated than ever for Jews.
The organizers, together with the New York Police Department, made a calculated decision: maximize safety and minimize exposure. Better to have a quiet, secure event than risk violence, protests, or worse. It’s hard to argue with that logic. One incident could’ve overshadowed the entire day, and handed the antisemites and Israel-bashers the headline they crave.
But that choice comes at a cost. Because what we got instead was a hollow version of what this parade used to be. A sterilized, overly protected shell. There was no crackling electricity from the crowds.
As a father, I was still glad to be there. My kids walked with pride. They’ll remember it. It still mattered. But let’s not pretend this was business as usual. It wasn’t.
We are living through a moment of unprecedented pressure on Jewish identity in America, especially in cities like New York. The parade used to be an unapologetic celebration. This year, it felt like an act of resistance dressed up as a march.
Still, I hope that in future years, as tensions ease and the world regains some sanity, we’ll once again see the Israel Day Parade return to its full spirit. Full crowds. Full voices. Full hearts.
For now, a parade is better than no parade. But let’s not lose sight of what we’ve lost — and what we need to fight to get back.
Daniel Rosen is a lifelong resident of New York, and also the co-founder and co-chair of a new initiative to combat antisemitism on social media called Emissary. He can be reached at drosen@Emissary4all.org
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UK Police Arrest 55 at Parliament Rally for Banned Palestine Action Group
A detained demonstrator sits inside a police van, following a protest in support of the Palestine Action group in Parliament Square in London, Britain, July 19, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
Fifty-five people were arrested at a rally for the banned Palestine Action group outside Britain’s parliament on Saturday, London’s Metropolitan Police said.
The crowd in Parliament Square had been waving placards supporting the group that was banned this month under anti-terrorism legislation, the force said in a post on X.
People from the rally, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, were taken away in police vans.
British lawmakers proscribed the group earlier this month after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
Membership of Palestine Action now carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years.
The group has called the decision “authoritarian,” and a challenge to the ban will be heard at London’s High Court on Monday.
Palestine Action is among groups that have regularly targeted defense firms and other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza.
Police have arrested scores of the group’s supporters at rallies across Britain since the ban came in
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US Says Attack on West Bank Palestinian Church Was ‘Act of Terror’
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee looks on during the day he visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called on Saturday for the perpetrators of an attack on a Palestinian church in the West Bank blamed on Israeli settlers to be prosecuted, calling it an “act of terror.”
Huckabee said he had visited the Christian town of Taybeh, where clerics said Israeli settlers had started a fire near a cemetery and a 5th-century church on July 8.
“It is an act of terror, and it is a crime,” Huckabee said in a statement, “Those who carry out acts of terror and violence in Taybeh – or anywhere – (should) be found and be prosecuted. Not just reprimanded, that’s not enough.”
Israel’s government has not commented on the incident, but has previously denounced such acts.
On Tuesday, Huckabee said he had asked Israel to “aggressively investigate” the killing of a Palestinian American beaten by settlers in the West Bank, similarly describing it as a “criminal and terrorist act.”
Huckabee is a staunch supporter of Israeli settlements and his comments are a rare and pointed public intervention by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
Trump in January rescinded sanctions imposed by the former Biden administration on Israeli settler groups and individuals accused of being involved in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Settler attacks on Palestinians and Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank have risen since the start of Israel’s war on the Hamas terror group in Gaza in October 2023, though violence has long simmered there.
The United Nations’ highest court said last year that Israel’s settlements in territories it captured in the 1967 Middle East war, including the West Bank, were illegal.
Israel disputes this, citing biblical and historical ties to the land as well as security needs.
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Israel and Syria Agree to Ceasefire, US Envoy Tom Barrack Announces
US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and US Special Envoy Keith Kellogg attend the Turkey-US-Ukraine trilateral talks in Istanbul, Turkey, May 16, 2025. Photo: Arda Kucukkaya/Turkish Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Israeli and Syrian leaders have agreed to a ceasefire, US envoy to Turkey and Syria Tom Barrack announced on the X platform.
Earlier in the week Israel launched an air campaign in Syria aimed to protect Syrian Druze — part of a minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel.
Barrack said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, with the mediation of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, agreed to a ceasefire “embraced” by Turkey, Jordan and other unidentified neighbors.
There is no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office or the Syrian Presidency.
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