New Yorkers Salute Israel With Parade Down Fifth Avenue

Under cloudless skies yesterday, politicians, schoolchildren, veterans, and other supporters of Israel marched in the 41st annual Salute to Israel Parade. Thousands of spectators lined both sides of Fifth Avenue between 57th and 79th streets to watch and lend their support.In a municipal election year, spectators could catch sight of more than a few elected officials and challengers, including Mayor Bloomberg and the four contenders in the Democratic primary for mayor.Mr. Bloomberg, grand marshal for the fifth consecutive year, was flanked on his right by New York’s junior senator, Hillary Clinton, and on his left by the speaker of the state Assembly, Sheldon Silver.Messrs. Bloomberg and Silver looked relaxed as they waved to the crowd, though publicly they remained at an impasse on the plan to build a domed stadium on the West Side of Manhattan using at least $600 million in city and state funds.After the politicians passed, the march was given over to school and civic groups.A float in the form of a sailing ship marked the 350th anniversary of the arrival of the first Jews in New York from Brazil. Bands including the Hip Hop Hoodios, a Beastie Boys-meets salsa Latino-Jewish ensemble, got the crowd to dancing.Amid the customary banners in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, was a substantial swath of orange. Many parade goers wore T-shirts and held placards and balloons in orange to signal their opposition to the Israeli government’s plan to withdraw from Gaza.Bearing such slogans as “Not One Inch” and the name Gush Katif, a settlement in Gaza, the T-shirts were a reminder that Israel’s supporters in America do not always agree with all of the policies of the Jewish state’s government.About 150 protesters, including pro-Palestinian groups, peace activists, and Orthodox Jews who believe the establishment of Israel violated God’s will, lined Sherman Square near the parade’s starting point.New Yorkers were not the only participants in the parade. A few minutes before the parade’s start, a tourist from Israel, Dganit Rozenman, stood on tiptoes as she tried to snap a photograph of Mrs. Clinton.“We were just walking up Fifth Avenue when we found the parade; it was an accident,” her husband, Yakov Rozenman, said, adding that they could not stay long because they had tickets to the show “Movin’ Out.”

New Yorkers Salute Israel With Parade Down Fifth Avenue

New Yorkers Salute Israel With Parade Down Fifth Avenue

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