{"id":489738,"date":"2026-06-12T19:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T19:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/489738\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T19:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T19:02:12","slug":"tel-aviv-holds-first-pride-parade-since-oct-7-cops-impede-some-anti-government-marchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/489738\/","title":{"rendered":"Tel Aviv holds first Pride parade since Oct. 7; cops impede some anti-government marchers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tel Aviv on Friday hosted its first Pride parade in two years, with the municipality reporting over 100,000 people in attendance after urging marchers to \u201cvote with your feet\u201d for more rights.<\/p>\n

The seaside parade followed a procession of eight floats sponsored by leading corporations and staffed, respectively, by the city\u2019s LGBTQ community center, the Tel Aviv University students\u2019 union and six leading lines of Pride parties.<\/p>\n

With thumping music in the background, participants danced, cooled themselves with rainbow-pattern fans, and watched as performers \u2014 most of them scantily clad, muscular men \u2014 partied on the floats.<\/p>\n

The seventh float, organized by the PAG TLV line, featured among its dancers trans model Uri Hashin, who had on Thursday led a 250-strong anti-bullying march down Tel Aviv\u2019s Rothschild boulevard, where a gang of boys pelted her with stones last month.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s parade was secured by some 1,000 law enforcement officers, police said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n

As the parade was getting started, police announced the arrest of a 37-year-old Haifa resident\u201damid concern of intent to harm participants of Pride Month events across the country,\u201d after the unnamed man alluded in a social media post about needing to \u201cannihilate\u201d the \u201csick people.\u201d Police said they would ask the Haifa Magistrate\u2019s Court to extend the man\u2019s detention.<\/p>\n

People dance on a truck that leads the first Tel Aviv Pride parade in two years pic.twitter.com\/DJLrLn0gpP<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Noam Lehmann (@noamlehmann) June 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

The figure of 100,000 participants cited by the Tel Aviv municipality marked a drop from past parades, with an estimated 250,000 attending in 2019 and 150,000 turning out at the last march in June 2023, months before the Hamas-led invasion of Israel and subsequent wars.\n<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s parade went ahead despite a roughly 12-hour exchange of fire between Israel and Iran starting Sunday night. The violence, renewed after a two-month truce in the latest Iran war, caused some events in Israel to be canceled, but Friday\u2019s parade went ahead.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s Pride event, which was scheduled for June 13, was canceled just hours in advance after Israel launched a surprise bombing campaign against Iran, triggering a 12-day war. The central Pride event in 2024 was scaled down as a sign of mourning following the October 7, 2023, atrocities eight months before.<\/p>\n

Some marchers denied entry over anti-government material<\/p>\n

Officers in Tel Aviv on Friday sealed off some 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) of coastal boardwalk from Gordon Beach, where the parade kicked off at 1 p.m., southward to the Charles Clore park, where the march ended with a large party.<\/p>\n

Among the pop stars who performed there was 2018 Eurovision winner Neta Barzilai. On Friday, she and Nibar Znati debuted Tel Aviv\u2019s official 2026 Pride song, \u201cBarbura<\/a>\u201d (female swan), which recounts an ugly duckling-like story with lyrics that include \u201cThank you for what I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

People entering the boardwalk for Friday\u2019s parade had to pass through police barricades and have their personal belongings inspected. Some people were cited in Hebrew media saying officers denied them entry for carrying anti-government paraphernalia, including protest signs and masks of government supporters known for hostility to LGBTQ people.<\/p>\n

Footage showed officers stopping a woman because she was wearing a shirt emblazoned with an insult against National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees police.<\/p>\n

\u05d2\u05d1\u05e8\u05ea \u05de\u05e7\u05e4\u05dc\u05df \u05e2\u05dd \u05d7\u05d5\u05dc\u05e6\u05d4 \u05e4\u05d0\u05e7 Fuck \u05d1\u05df \u05d2\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8 \u2013 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d4\u05db\u05e0\u05e1 \u05dc\u05de\u05e6\u05e2\u05d3 \u05d4\u05d2\u05d0\u05d5\u05d5\u05d4 \u05d1\u05ea”\u05d0. \u05e6\u05e4\u05d5 \u05dc\u05e1\u05d5\u05e3 \u05d4\u05de\u05e4\u05ea\u05d9\u05e2.???????? pic.twitter.com\/LV7F6m0Col<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 \u05de\u05d4 \u05d7\u05d3\u05e9. What’s new\u2753 (@Gloz111) June 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Opposition lawmakers and LGBTQ groups slammed the officers\u2019 conduct, noting the High Court of Justice ruled<\/a> last year against a police directive barring political slogans at the Haifa Pride parade.\n<\/p>\n

Police acknowledged an \u201cisolated event\u201d of people being inappropriately denied entry to the parade, saying they were ultimately let on to the boardwalk.<\/p>\n

Political messaging was also visible at the boardwalk itself. A reporter for The Times of Israel saw marchers hoist masks like those that were said to be banned, as well as derogatory signs with pictures of conservative religious politicians MK Simcha Rothman<\/a> and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another rainbow-themed sign read: \u201cAll orientations are equal, except the orientation toward fascism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tActivists from the Pink Front protest group march in the Tel Aviv Pride parade with a sign reading \u2018all orientations are equal except the orientation toward fascism,\u2019 June 12, 2026. (Noam Lehmann\/The Times of Israel)<\/p>\n

Officers did confiscate a sign that had made its way onto the boardwalk and suggested gays could be \u201csaved\u201d by Jesus. An officer escorted the man holding the sign away from the boardwalk.<\/p>\n

As the parade began, dozens of members of the Israeli Gay Youth group, as well as activists from the Pink Front protest group and the Hoshen anti-homophobia group, beat drums and chanted \u201cdemocracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The youth group members occasionally crouched, counted down from 10 and then jumped, chanting their slogan: \u201cWe\u2019re here and everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

The left-leaning Democrats party also sent a contingent of activists and politicians, including MK Gilad Kariv, who thanked police for their service but warned them not to force lawmakers to make sure officers behaved appropriately.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tDemocrats chair Yair Golan (right) and MK Gilad Kariv attend the annual LGBTQ Pride Parade in Tel Aviv, June 12, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Activists for The Democrats handed out fliers that stated, \u201cin a Jewish democratic state everyone is equal\u201d and said the party would ban so-called \u201cconversion therapy<\/a>,\u201d legalize civil marriage and ensure LGBTQ families equal rights to traditional ones.<\/p>\n

No other party appeared to have shown up in an organized manner.<\/p>\n

Charlie Summers contributed to this report.<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tWe can’t do this work alone.\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident \u2013 ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded \u2013 I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.<\/p>\n

There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.<\/p>\n

As a Times of Israel reporter, I\u2019m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit\u2019s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Stav Levaton, military reporter<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tYes, I’ll join\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tYes, I’ll join\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tYou’re a dedicated reader\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re really pleased that you\u2019ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why we started the Times of Israel – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.<\/p>\n

So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven\u2019t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.<\/p>\n

For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n

Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a>
\n\t\t