Each spring season in New York City, as the vibrant Israel Day Parade, formally known as “Celebrate Israel,” marches on Manhattan’s iconic Fifth Avenue, the marchers — many of them students proudly waving their blue and white Star of David flags – and the incredible floats rolling by, blaring Israeli music — there’s a special adrenaline that electrifies the neighborhood and the community.
It’s a special moment to be able to stand as a community in solidarity with Israel in so public, so dignified and so prominent a way.
Each year, there’s a fringe contingent of a few stragglers who, as the idiom goes, rain on the parade.
These lone voices, rain their negative words on the parade as they protest Israel. It’s a few misfits from a radicalized uber fringe sect.
For the most part they are ignored because of how insignificant they are. Of course it’s infuriating, but in a kookoo kind of way. Nothing that is taken seriously.
Sure, it’s their right to exercise freedom of speech. Sure, it’s their right to protest Israel.
There is nothing unlawful about it. Other than the poor taste of their judgement, and their ingratitude toward the State of Israel in which they reside.
There is also the question of the wisdom of their decision to publicly sabotage the image of Israel, which is already so unsparingly scrutinized in a lopsided manner in comparison to other nations. Their decision potentially ripples out to security issues for Israel, or anti-Semitism consequences.
But, as I said, it’s consistently been a few lone, radicalized, right-wing extremists who no one pays attention too.
Which is why I was taken aback by what transpired this past Sunday at this year’s Israel Day Parade.
Certainly, I’ve been following these past month’s protests in Israel. Certainly, I am aware about the political left’s unhappiness with recent developments in Israel.
But to import this dissention from the streets of Israel to the shores of the US and the streets of Manhattan at the Diaspora community’s Israel Day Parade?
Yet, that is what happened.
Like with the previous years’ lone shouts against Israel that were too little to really matter, this year from the other side of the political aisle, the leftist camp had a delegation to concurrently march alongside the main parade, expressing their dissent with the current government, courting competing attention.
It was not some lone shouts. It was an organized effort, and was substantial.
Their chant was about democracy, clearly implying that Israel was not a democracy.
Which again, is their absolute right. And certainly, the right to free speech is not only the hallmark of a healthy democracy, but also a wonderful non-violent way to express disagreement.
Certainly Israel is not a monolith, and does not need to always play in unison without other melodies, i.e., opinions, expressed in contrast to a more dominant one.
That’s all well and good.
In fact, that braided diversity of our interwoven 12 tribes, is our strength, not our weakness.
And clearly Israel is experiencing some growing pains right now in figuring out how differing points of view can concurrently thrive in Israel, and what Israel will look like for the next generation.
However, when there is an annual Israel Parade — outside of Israel — I believe that yes, it’s a time to show up in solidarity with Israel.
How many Israeli governments or Israeli policies have I disagreed with? How many times have I disagreed with consequential Israeli policies, such as Israel’s unilateral disengagement from Gaza — whose consequences, actually, we are still living with today, consequences like thousands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad missiles fired on civilians in southern Israel, the cause of major wars? Yet, when it came to standing in solidarity with Israel at an event in the court of public opinion, did I join in solidarity? Of course I did, without a second thought.
Such a choice, does not negate dialoguing in a different context about policy disagreements.
Public solidarity is not about rejecting one’s convictions and fake standing with Israel.
Public solidarity is about discerning what internal political matters are, versus public moments that rise above the political, in seeing the greater picture and the greater good for Israel.
In that sense, I was disappointed with how it had rained on this year’s Celebrate Israel event in NYC.
Yet, the spirit of the marchers was not dampened. The show must go on, as the saying goes. And boy did it ever.
The truth is, over the years the size of the parade has shrunk. With the rise of anti-Semitism, I’ve heard from quite a few families that they would simply rather not risk bringing their children to a large Jewish event, given the possibility of, G-d forbid, of an attack.
Nonetheless, the convergence of so many different New Yorkers of different faiths, including the governor and mayor, truly was inspirational.
The special adrenaline electrifying the neighborhood and the community conquered the naysayers and made the statement: Solidarity with the miracle of Israel.
Copyright © 2023 by the Intermountain Jewish News
