Over thirty thousand people marched in the annual Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City Sunday, and hundreds of thousands cheered them on along their route. This is the largest number of participants ever in the parade, which has been held every year since 1964, and normally averages 20,000 marchers.
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The parade’s grand marshal was Israel’s Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora, Yuli Edelstein. With Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Israel’s ambassador in Washington, DC., Michael Oren, at his side, he led the parade down Manhattan's 5th Avenue past hundreds of thousands of onlookers.
Participants included Rep. Jerrold Nadler and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as well as leaders of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), representing Jewish communities. Numerous Jewish groups and communities were represented in the parade.
Approximately 50 pro-Palestinian apologists representing an alliance of left-wing politcal factions and Islamist movements along with other anti-Zionist agitators gathered on 5th Avenue between East 58th Street and 59th Streets to express their antagonism towards Israel. Rolling out banners and posters carrying the same slogans used in previous years, the protestors accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" of the Palestinian population and called for the establishment of a state called Palestine with boundaries running from the Jordan River to the Mediterrean sea, nullifying Israel's existence.
“It is exciting and important to see tens of thousands of Americans marching down the avenue and supporting Israel, especially in days in which there are attempts to delegitimize the state,” said Edelstei
Coretta James of the Christians United For Israel organization, who stood on the sidelines enjoying the parade, has this message for President Obama: "I'm a black Christian woman who loves Israel and what she represents to the free world. I roundly condemn, in the strongest of terms, President Obama's arrogant and hostile posture towards the only stable democratic ally we have in the Middle East. How dare he even entertain the ludicrous notion of Israel retreating to the clearly indefensible 1967 borders? It is clear as day that this president would love nothing more than to see Israel destroyed by her enemies."