Mayor Adams offers New York's Jews a 234-year-old bargain

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has broken a 61-year tradition by declining to march in the annual Israel Day Parade. This decision has ignited controversy, with critics accusing him of failing to stand with the Jewish people as a collective. The mayor's office has stated that Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch will serve as grand marshal and that the city will provide a full security plan for the event.

Critics draw a parallel to a 1789 French National Assembly debate where a condition for Jewish emancipation was that they be treated as individuals, not as a nation. "To the Jews as individuals, everything; to the Jews as a nation, nothing," the argument went. This sentiment, they argue, is echoed by Adams's decision: protecting Jewish individuals while refusing to honor the Jewish people in a public gathering.

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To the Jews as individuals, everything; to the Jews as a nation, nothing

The parade is described not as a political rally, but as a "Jewish people parade," according to Rabbi Joseph Potasnik of the New York Board of Rabbis. The mayor's supporters might argue his decision is about policy related to Israel and Gaza, not about the Jewish people themselves. However, this distinction is rejected by those who see the parade as a fundamental expression of Jewish collective identity.

This stance is not new for Adams. On his first day in office, he rescinded his predecessor's orders that barred city agencies from boycotting Israel and adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Israel's Foreign Ministry reportedly characterized this move as "antisemitic gasoline on an open fire."

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It's not a policy parade. It's a Jewish people parade.