Ardent supporters of Israel gladly withstood the considerable heat and humidity Sunday afternoon to watch the 25th annual Israel Day Parade.
The Palestinian uprising elicited no vacillation in support for the Jewish State from this crowd of both young families and the elderly.
There were also the infirm. In the shadow of the awning of one of the fine apartment buildings lining the avenue, an old, frail woman in a wheelchair bent over and rubbed her eyes but refused to be taken inside by her companion.
A teen-ager standing not far away was there “because I love Israel, it’s my country,” said Ilana Feldman, 16, born and bred in America.
Her Israeli-born friend, Sally Yosef, said she would prefer to be in Israel, “to fight in the army, but I can’t.”
On another street, Miriam Greenberg reflected on Israel’s meaning to her while trying to keep her little girl in tow. “I think it should be a religious state,” she said.
An older parade watcher, Saly Zloczower, was equally forthright. He called for “annexation of Judea and Samaria.”
As about 30 members of Kach International, devotees of Rabbi Meir Kahane, marched by, an older man, asked how he was affected by Kach’s presence, said, “I wanted to give them money.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
