Largest Israel Day Parade in History — and the Mayor Who Skipped It Made It Bigger
New York’s Israel Day Parade drew its largest turnout in the event’s six-decade history on Sunday — more than 50,000 marchers up Fifth Avenue, in what organizers called one of the highest turnouts ever. The theme this year was “Proud Americans, Proud Zionists.” Governor Kathy Hochul, Senator Chuck Schumer, Attorney General Letitia James, Representative Jerry Nadler, former mayors Eric Adams and Mike Bloomberg, and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch all attended, the latter as an honorary grand marshal leading what she called the most extensive security operation the NYPD has ever assembled.
The story everyone is talking about is who wasn’t there. Mayor Zohran Mamdani became the first New York City mayor to boycott the parade since it began in 1964. He said his views on the Israeli government are “abundantly clear.” Marchers carried cardboard cutouts of him up the avenue.
Here is what the numbers actually tell us. Attendees said out loud that Mamdani’s absence is exactly what got them off the couch — one woman said hearing he wasn’t coming made her decide to “be with my people.” He tried to make us feel unwelcome in our own city, and fifty thousand of us answered by showing up bigger than we ever have. That is not a community that is afraid. That is a community that does not shrink.
A Soldier Was Killed Overnight — His Name Was Adam Tzarfati
Staff Sgt. Adam Tzarfati, 20, of Rosh Haayin, was killed around 1 a.m. when a Hezbollah explosive drone struck Israeli troops near Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon. Three other soldiers were wounded, one seriously. He served in the Commando Brigade’s Maglan Unit.
His death came as the northern front sharply escalated. Israel captured the historic Beaufort Castle — a Crusader fortress that commands the Litani Valley and that the IDF had not held since the 2000 withdrawal — and Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered renewed strikes on Beirut. Hezbollah fired rockets at Tiberias for the first time in nearly two months. Tzarfati is among the soldiers killed since the now-eroded ceasefire fell apart.
He was twenty years old. The youngest of us are the ones standing between this community and the people who want it gone, and last night one of them did not come home. Say his name today — Adam Tzarfati — and may his memory be a blessing.
The Iran Deal Is Coming to a Head — Watch the Uranium
This is the opposite of a quiet story. A tentative US-Iran agreement is right at the edge of being signed — a memorandum that would extend the ceasefire 60 days, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and open negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. It is still awaiting Trump’s final sign-off, and neither he nor the Iranian leadership has formally approved it.
The whole game is in the uranium. Iran is sitting on roughly 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent — a short technical step from weapons-grade. What happens to that stockpile is supposed to be the first item negotiated during the 60-day window, and Treasury Secretary Bessent has said there is no sanctions relief until Iran turns it over. Several analysts are already calling the emerging framework a win for Iran, because right now the memorandum contains little more than an Iranian promise not to build a weapon — a promise Tehran has made for years.
This is exactly what I flagged. A deal that commits Iran to handing over enriched uranium without hard timelines and real verification is not meaningfully different from no deal at all. Watch the language, not the headline. A signature on a vague document is not a win, no matter how it gets announced.
Yael’s Take:
Fifty thousand of us filled Fifth Avenue in the biggest show of Jewish pride this city has ever seen. A twenty-year-old was killed on the northern border overnight. And a deal that could shape Iran’s nuclear future for a generation is sitting on a desk waiting for a signature.
We are a people who can dance and grieve and keep our eyes wide open all at once, because we have always had to. That is not a contradiction. That is who we are.
Be safe out there, be proud of who you are, and don’t you dare shrink. Back tonight.
— Yael
house-of-yael.com
Sources:
- The Times of Israel — NY leaders join over 50,000 marchers at Israel Day parade boycotted by Mamdani
- JTA / Forward — The mayor missed the Israel Day Parade. Many who went didn’t miss him.
- The Times of Israel — IDF soldier killed, three others wounded in Hezbollah drone attack in south Lebanon
- Haaretz — IDF names soldier killed in southern Lebanon drone strike
- The Times of Israel — IDF captures strategic Beaufort Castle
- The Hill — US-Iran ceasefire extension deal
- PBS News — US and Iranian negotiators reach tentative deal to extend ceasefire and start new nuclear talks
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