The annual Israel Day parade in New York City on Sunday was a state-backed pro-genocide march, staged in the largest city in the United States in defense of the Zionist regime’s ongoing mass murder in Gaza, ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and expanding war throughout the Middle East.
The march brought together leading Democratic politicians, billionaires, police officials and a delegation from the Israeli state, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu and Minister of Aliyah and Integration Ofir Sofer.
Smotrich, one of the principal architects of Israel’s annexationist and settler policy in the occupied West Bank, used his presence in New York to glorify Zionist expansion and compare the parade favorably to the Jerusalem Flag March, the annual ultra-nationalist procession through occupied East Jerusalem where Zionist mobs routinely chant “Death to Arabs” and attack Palestinians.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, did not personally attend. But his absence was a calculated fraud. His administration provided the permits, police protection and security operation that allowed the parade to proceed.
Smotrich’s participation was especially significant. Last month, he said he had been informed that International Criminal Court prosecutors had requested a warrant for his arrest over war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against Palestinians in the West Bank, though the court has not publicly confirmed the existence of such a warrant. The ICC often does not confirm warrants before arrest operations, precisely to prevent suspects from evading detention during international travel.
Just days after being welcomed in New York, Smotrich hailed another major expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. On Wednesday, the Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration, a department of the Israeli Defense Ministry, approved more than 2,100 new settlement housing units, including 922 units for Har Bracha and 234 for Kiryat Arba, adjacent to Hebron.
Smotrich celebrated the illegal annexation. “This is not just a planning step, but a national development that solidifies our hold on the territory, strengthens Israel’s security, and establishes clear facts that prevent the establishment of an Arab terrorist state in the heart of the country,” he said.
That this war criminal was welcomed on the streets of New York and allowed to leave the city without being arrested exposes the hollowness of Mamdani’s, and the DSA’s, opposition to Zionism, war crimes and fascism. The DSA’s role is not to oppose imperialism, but to provide a left cover for it. Mamdani’s function is to preserve the authority of the Democratic Party among workers and young people repulsed by the Gaza genocide, while administering the same police apparatus that protects war criminals, billionaires and Zionist provocateurs in the streets of New York.
During the mayoral campaign last year, Mamdani sought to posture as an opponent of Zionism while assuring the ruling class that his administration would protect the same imperialist and police-state operations as his predecessors. “While I will not be attending the Israel Day Parade, my lack of attendance should not be mistaken for a refusal to provide security or the necessary permits for its safety,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “I’ve been very clear: I believe in equal rights for all people everywhere. That principle guides me consistently.”
The political meaning of this statement is now clear. Mamdani’s “equal rights” phrase-mongering was the left cover for a police-protected demonstration in support of genocide, annexation and ethnic cleansing. While he stayed away from the Zionist rally, his administration ensured that wanted war criminals and fascistic Zionist officials could march freely through Manhattan.
This was underscored by the role of Mamdani’s police commissioner, billionaire Zionist Jessica Tisch, who marched in the parade. At a press conference last week with Mamdani, Tisch declared, “It’s the mayor’s decision not to march, and it’s my decision to march proudly.” Thousands of police were deployed and marched in the event.
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, who attended the parade, publicly thanked the New York Police Department for securing the march. “On behalf of the Knesset, I would like to thank the men and women of the NYPD who worked tirelessly to ensure the safety and security of today’s Israel Parade,” he wrote. “We deeply appreciate your dedication and professionalism, which allowed thousands to march proudly and safely in support of Israel. Israel [blue heart] NYPD.”
The calculated character of Mamdani’s no-show was further shown on June 2 when Mamdani appeared publicly with Hochul to promote the opening of applications for the city’s 2-K childcare program, posing alongside one of the most prominent Democratic participants in the genocide march.
Hochul had posted a photo of herself at the parade with Attorney General Letitia James and City Council Speaker Julie Menin in front of a giant “Israel Day on Fifth” banner, declaring, “Proud to celebrate New York’s vibrant Jewish community at the Israel Day Parade!” and adding, “our bond with the Israeli people will never be broken. Am Yisrael Chai.”
Mamdani’s appearance with Hochul hours after the parade made clear that his refusal to march was not a break with the Democratic Party’s support for Israel, but a maneuver to preserve his “left” credentials while continuing to collaborate with the very politicians who openly identify themselves with the Zionist state. His administration provided the permits and police protection for the parade; his police commissioner marched in it; and the following day he appeared with Hochul as if nothing had happened.
The same political cowardice characterized Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the most prominent DSA member in Congress. Ocasio-Cortez also did not attend the parade, but she issued no denunciation of the event as a platform for genocide, no condemnation of the Democratic politicians who marched in it, and no call for the arrest of Smotrich. Her silence was not accidental. Like Mamdani, Ocasio-Cortez seeks to balance empty rhetorical criticism of Israeli crimes with continued membership in and support for the Democratic Party, a major political instrument through which American imperialism finances, arms and protects the Zionist state.
The parade itself exposed the Democratic Party as a party of genocide and war no less than the Republicans. In addition to Hochul, Senator Chuck Schumer, Representative Dan Goldman, former Mayor Eric Adams and billionaire former Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined the march.
Schumer offered a full-throated endorsement of the Zionist project, declaring at the parade: “The Holocaust showed the world what Jews have known for millennia. That our security and our safety is never safe as long as we lack a place of refuge, a homeland. … I believe in the state of Israel, I support the state of Israel … Am Yisrael Chai.”
Mamdani’s ascension has not “pushed” the Democratic Party “to the left” but it has revealed the role of the pseudo-left and DSA as chauffeurs for fascism. In just his first six months as mayor, the phony socialist has twice traveled to the White House to cavort with Trump and promote the lie that the “socialist mayor” and the fascist president can work together to build affordable housing in New York City. Now he has permitted and provided security for wanted war criminals to march freely through the streets of New York in the midst of an ongoing genocide.
Mamdani’s no-show was not an act of opposition, but an exercise in political damage control. He stayed away because millions of workers and young people now identify Israel with genocide, apartheid and fascism. But as mayor, he ensured that the Zionist state and its American accomplices could march through Manhattan under armed police protection.
Sunday’s march took place as the United States and Israel continue to wage illegal war throughout the Middle East, including the genocide in Gaza, ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, forced displacement and mass murder in Lebanon and continuing hostilities against Iran. The official Gaza death toll, already above 72,000, is itself a vast undercount. A peer-reviewed study in The Lancet Global Health estimated 75,200 violent deaths between October 7, 2023 and January 5, 2025 alone, far above the Gaza Ministry of Health figure for the same period.
The parade thus revealed the real alignment of forces. On one side stand the Zionist state, the Trump administration, the Democratic Party, the New York police, Wall Street billionaires and the DSA mayoral administration. On the other side stand the millions of workers and youth in the United States and internationally who oppose genocide, war and fascism. The task is to break them from all factions of the Democratic Party and mobilize the working class independently against imperialism and its political agents.