Bittersweet Salute to Israel Parade focuses on four words: Bring the hostages home | amNewYork

The annual Salute to Israel Parade on Sunday looked very different nearly eight months removed from the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks.

The NYPD kept a tight lid on the event as over 153 groups participated in the march along Fifth Avenue, with many calling for the remaining hostages currently being held captive by Hamas to be returned home.

It was unlike any other parade in New York City. Two avenues were cordoned off with police barricades. At the same time, fences were erected along Central Park from 56th to 78th Streets, all in an attempt to keep away protesters who have fumed for months over the ongoing war in Gaza that has seen thousands of people killed.

Even those permitted to spectate the festivities from the sidewalk contended with two additional barricades that socially distanced them from marchers.

Inside the parade zone, hundreds proudly waved the blue-and-white Israeli flag as well as signs bearing the faces of 120 hostages still being held captive by Hamas, demanding that they be returned home. The march went on days after President Biden announced that the Israeli government agreed to a roadmap for a peaceful end to the war, and the release of the hostages, and was now waiting on Hamas to agree to the same terms.

‘One People, One Heart’

The theme of this year’s parade emphasized solidarity — “One People, One Heart” — to keep in mind those still in captivity since Oct. 7, 2023.

Marcelo Garzoa son-in-law, Dolev Yahou, was one of the 120 hostages taken when Hamas attacked. He joined dozens of other families at the parade to call for their safe return during the parade.

Garzoa recalls waking up to the sound of missiles while in Israel, and his first response was to call his daughter. She was 38 weeks pregnant hiding in a neighbor’s safe room with their three children, but his son-in-law, who works as a paramedic was responding to aid in the attack zone.

The last messages Garzoa’s daughter received from her husband urged her to flee toward a neighbor’s safe room upon learning about the attacks, and then his last message said ‘I love you.” She never heard from him again.

“My son-in-law made sure that my daughter was in a saferoom because he’s a paramedic. He went to give first aid to the people that are defending the kibbutz Re’im. From that morning, we have not heard anything [from him,]” Garzoa said.

Garzoa implores Hamas to let the hostages go.

“We must return them to Israel,” Gatzoa said.

Twenty-nine-year-old Noam Safir was set to attend a Bruno Mars concert in Tel Aviv, and then the Hamas attacks occurred. She swiftly met up with her siblings and hid in her brother’s dorm room at the Tel Aviv University as they waited out the attack.

Hours later, she learned from family members that a Hamas group entered her grandparents’ home and beat her 86-year-old grandfather Shlomo Mantzur before kidnapping him and stealing his car.

“They handcuffed him, they slapped him, and they demanded the car keys from my grandmother. They took my grandmother and grandfather out toward the car, that when my grandmother managed to escape. She ran back to a neighbor’s safe room. They took my grandfather in his own car to Gaza and we have not heard from him,” Safir said.

“I broke down. I started crying,” Safir said describing how she felt learning about what happened to her grandfather.

“Imagine that your relative that you speak to on a daily basis goes missing over half a year. You can’t speak to them, you know nothing of their mental or physical state. People can’t really imagine what I am going through for me and the other families of the other hostages. Having no information for 239 days is difficult,” Safir said.

“We don’t want this war. We don’t want to fight the Palestinian people. I am speaking for myself, and I believe every other person here. All we want is our relatives back. Just let them go, free them. That was the reason this war started,” Safir added.

Yael Navsker also joined in the chants “Bring them back home” because her uncle, Ohad Yahalomi, is also one of the Israelis still held hostage by the terror group Hamas.

Yahalomi turned 50 while in captivity, and Navsker told amNewYork Metro that they hadn’t heard anything since he was kidnapped on Oct. 7. 2023.

Yahalomi owns a camel farm and researches scorpions, Navsker shared. She has fond memories of visiting her uncle, whom she described as an amazing person and one of the funniest people she knows.

“He would take us barefoot at night to look for scorpions with UV lights in the desert. And we do that right after going to the camel farm,” Navsker shared.

“All I really care about is bringing my uncle home. Whatever needs to happen to do that, as long as everybody stays safe, I just want him home,” Navsker added.

In the afternoon, a small group of Pro-Palestine Protesters—unable to get to the parade route—peacefully marched from 79th Street and Fifith Avenue up to 86th and Lexington Avenue.

While there were a few arguments between those who finished their celebration at the Israel parade, the small group kept to the sidewalk as they called for Gaza to be freed.