Preparations are well underway for New York City’s annual Celebrate Israel Parade, to be held this year on Sunday, June 4, beginning at 11 am.
This year’s event is being expanded to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the rebirth of the Jewish State, with the theme “Israel @ 75: Renewing the Hope.”
The parade has taken place every year since 1965 and draws hundreds of thousands of spectators each year, along with top city and state officials and politicians, as well as multiple representatives of the Israeli government.
This year’s nine-member ministerial delegation, the largest ever to attend the parade, is set to include:
* Economy and Industry Minister Nir Barkat;
* Innovation, Science and Technology Minister Nir Akunis;
* Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel;
* Labor Minister Yoav Ben-Tzur;
* Diaspora Affairs and Social Equality Minister Amichai Chikli;
* Information Minister Galit Distel Atbaryan;
* Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer;
* Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu; and
* Jerusalem Affairs and Jewish Tradition Minister Meir Porush.
It will be the task of Israel’s New York Consulate to secure accommodations, travel arrangements and security for every official and his or her entourage.
More than 40,000 marchers, floats, marching bands and musical performers will make their way up the city’s iconic Fifth Avenue from 57th Street to 74th Street, with the parade being carried live on FOX My9 and CelebrateIsraelNY.org, beginning at 12 noon.
The parade is sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York (JCRC-NY), CelebrateIsraelNY.org, the State of Israel and United Jewish Appeal (UJA) Federation of New York and Greater New Jersey.
