Tens of thousands participated in the Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City yesterday (Sunday). Speaking at the parade, New York Mayor Eric Adams revealed that he had faced pressure to cancel it, but stressed, "We do not give in to hate."

Bruce Blakeman, County Executive of Nassau County, said from the parade: “We're all here in solidarity with Israel. We love Israel and we're here to say that we're supporting them. We want our hostages back and Am Yisrael Chai.”

“I feel like a million bucks, This is great,” says Sid Rosenberg, 77 WABC radio host and US Holocaust Memorial Council member. “I’m back from Israel. Two weeks I was there for Yom Ha’atzmaut, but now Yom Ha’atzmaut in New York City. Fantastic Am Yisrael Chai.”

Danny Danon, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, added, “I am proud to march here on Fifth Avenue with my colleagues from different countries standing with us, marching with us. We are in pain this year, but we are not broken. We will prevail. We will bring back all the hostages. Am Yisrael Chai.”

Harley Lippman, Grand Marshal of the Israel Parade, says proudly, “What's really important this year with the Israel Day parade is twofold. One, this is in the tradition of David Ben Gurion that we recognize and remember the fallen soldiers who have fought for Israel. The second is the hostages. There are still over 50 hostages in Gaza. We have family members marching with us. There is Imri, who's a father of two girls, two and four years old, in Gaza. His father Danny is here. His wife is here. We are praying, ‘please let Imri and the other hostages come home. This is enough. We need our people to come home’.”

Mike Lawler, US Congressman, said, “Well, it's important to be here once again and show our solidarity with the Jewish people here in New York, in the state of Israel and around the globe. We still have a lot of work to do to make sure that the Jewish people here in the US and in Israel are safe. Combating antisemitism here on our college campuses is imperative. Containing the threat from Iran and its terror proxies is paramount. So I'm proud to be here today and show my solidarity with the Jewish people seventy-seven years after the founding of the state of Israel.”

Yisrael Ganz, Chairman of the Yesha Council and Governor of Binyamin Regional Council, added that, “It warms our heart to see the hug, the partnership between US and Israel and specifically with the hostages’ families, with the soldiers. The hug that they got from you guys warms our heart. We know together we will share common values. We will defeat our enemies, and we will build a better future for our country.”

Haim Taib, Founder and President of the Menomadin Group, concluded, “First of all it's very emotional. What we see here is all the Jewish people, showing the power of the Jewish people in the world, mainly in these days when a lot of change happened in the Middle East and we still have 58 hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza.”