NEW YORK — New York Governor Kathy Hochul, the state attorney general, leftist Jewish groups and a New York congressional candidate on Monday condemned far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s participation in New York City’s annual Israel parade.
The march, called Israel Day on Fifth, saw more than 50,000 participants march down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue on Sunday, in a display of solidarity for a pro-Israel Jewish community that has felt increasingly besieged in recent years.
Smotrich marched in an Israeli delegation led by Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana. Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party also participated.
“Bezalel Smotrich is a far-right extremist whose hateful and divisive rhetoric is fundamentally at odds with the values we hold dear in New York,” Hochul said in a statement. “Yesterday’s parade was a celebration of Jewish pride, community, and unity. I strongly condemn his participation.”
Smotrich and Eliyahu have a long history of inflammatory statements, with the former declaring in 2021 that Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, should have “finished the job” and kicked all Arabs out of the country when it was founded. Eliyahu suggested that one of Israel’s options in the recent war against Hamas could be to drop a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip.
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Hochul is supportive of Israel and the Jewish community. She addressed a crowd at the start of the event on Sunday alongside other New York leaders and marched at the head of the parade.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, center, and New York City Speaker Julie Menin, right, at the Israel Day on Fifth parade in New York City, May 31, 2026. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)
New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who also backed the Jewish community in a speech at the parade, said, “Islamophobia has no place in New York. I unequivocally condemn Bezalel Smotrich’s hateful rhetoric.”
Smotrich also opened another wedge in the race for New York’s 10th Congressional District, covering lower Manhattan and part of Brooklyn.
Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is challenging incumbent US Representative Dan Goldman for the coveted seat. Lander and Goldman are both Jews who identify as Zionist and are critical of the Israeli government, but Lander is running to Goldman’s left on Israel issues in the heated race.
The two candidates are largely aligned on many other issues, such as immigration and opposition to the Trump administration.
“We’re both proud Jewish New Yorkers. But there are sharp and clear differences between us on Israel/Palestine,” Lander said in a statement. “For example, Dan Goldman marched alongside war criminal Bezalel Smotrich yesterday, who called it ‘just and moral’ to starve Gaza. I did not.”
No Israelis have been convicted of war crimes.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander speaks against Israel at a rally led by leftist Jews in New York City, August 4, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)
Leftist Jewish groups also condemned Smotrich’s participation, including the progressive, Zionist New York Jewish Agenda, and the far-left Jews for Economic and Racial Justice, an ally of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Mamdani said in a statement that Smotrich’s “presence in our city is an affront to everything New York stands for.”
The parade organizer, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, said ahead of the parade that it was unaware who would be marching from the Israeli government, and that the decision was up to the Israeli consulate in New York. The consulate did not immediately provide comment.
Smotrich also did not appear in the Knesset’s statement or video about the delegation’s participation in the parade.
The head of the JCRC-NY, Mark Treyger, said on Monday, “While some individuals who attended were neither invited by JCRC-NY nor known to us in advance, participation in the parade is not an endorsement of any political figure or ideology.”
“We reject rhetoric that dehumanizes others, fuels division, or diminishes the dignity of any human being,” Treyger said, without naming Smotrich.
Smotrich and Eliyahu had not been anticipated at the event. The consulate’s list of expected participants ahead of the parade did not include either lawmaker.
The Israeli delegation marched as its own group in the parade, and it did not appear that any New York elected officials marched with the far-right lawmakers or were aware of their presence during the event.
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