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.

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........

© The Times of Israel