More Than 60,000 Expected at Salute to Israel Parade; Rabin and Amir Honored Guests

The sixth annual Salute to Israel Parade–this year celebrating Israel’s 22nd anniversary with the theme “Israel: Blossoming From 4,000-Year Roots”–will get under way Sunday morning, with more than 60,000 marchers expected to join in the 29-block walk uptown. The marchers, essentially students and members of more than 300 schools and youth groups, are sponsored by the American Zionist Youth Federation, representing 76 national and local Jewish organizations. The parade will be led by the state’s four gubernatorial candidates–Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller, Arthur J. Goldberg, Howard J. Samuels and Robert M. Morgenthau.

Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli ambassador to the United States, and Israeli Consul General Rehaveam Amir, will be honored guests at the parade. Ed Sullivan, the newspaper columnist and television host, will be honorary reviewing officer. (Mr. Sullivan’s wife is Jewish.) The grand marshals will be Dr. William A. Wexler, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and Marc J. Rosenstein, chairman of the North American Jewish Youth Council. Mayor John V. Lindsay will be represented by Deputy Mayor Timothy V. Costello. The more than 50 organization floats will be keyed to themes of Jewish history and the State of Israel. (A similar parade, sponsored by the Jewish Federation-Council of Greater Los Angeles, the American Zionist Council and two dozen other Jewish organizations, will be held the same day in the California city. The speakers will be Israeli UN ambassador Yosef Tekoah and Consul General Michael Ravid.)