He will not attend the Sunday parade, breaking with a decades-long political custom because of his support of Palestinian rights.

Though it has gone by different names over the years, the so-called “Israel Day” parade has always been a must-attend event for mayors, governors and other political leaders eager to win over the throngs of flag-waving revelers who congregate on Fifth Avenue to celebrate the creation of the illegal Zionist regime in 1948.

Not so for Mamdani. Two weeks ago the mayor's office released a video commemorating the Nakba, an Arabic word for “catastrophe” that is used to describe the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed the Israeli regime’s establishment.

“I said on the campaign trail that I wouldn’t be attending the parade, and I’ve made my views on the Israeli government abundantly clear,” Mamdani said at a news conference Thursday.

But he also promised a robust police presence to make sure it went off “seamlessly and peacefully.”

“While I will not be attending, our administration has been preparing for weeks to ensure the parade is safe for all those who take part," he said.

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Support for Israel among Americans has deeply eroded in recent years, a trend that accelerated amid the outcry over Israeli genocidal war in Gaza.

Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, has remained steadfast in his pro-Palestinian advocacy.

He has said he believes Israel has a right to exist but not as a hierarchy that favors Jewish citizens. Simultaneously he has pledged to protect Jewish New Yorkers and highlighted the work of the city’s Office to Combat Antisemitism.

Source: AP