You and Senator Chuck Schumer marched alongside Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich at NYC’s Israel Day Parade. Smotrich is a self-proclaimed “fascist, homophobe, racist” who has called for Palestinians to be “encouraged” to leave Gaza and suggested that starving two million Gazans to death could be “justified and moral”. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called his words “shocking and appalling” and warned they incite war crimes. The Palestinian National Council called his Gaza plan “an explicit acknowledgment of genocide and ethnic cleansing” and “a complete war crime”.
Smotrich is not a fringe figure—he is actively integrating Israel’s military into America’s. Section 224 of the NDAA would formally merge U.S. and Israeli defense production, co-development of AI and autonomous weapons, and “network integration” of military data. This would give the Israeli government extraordinary influence over U.S. military decisions, stripped of congressional oversight. Your march with Smotrich signals acceptance of this merger—and of the genocide it enables.
Some say Smotrich’s presence was a surprise. But you stayed. Some say marching supports Jewish pride, not his politics. But you legitimized a man who equates homosexuality with “bestiality” and says every Arab is a “terrorist”. Some say engagement is needed. There is no engagement with fascism—only complicity.
This is a grassroots demand. New Yorkers protested your presence. The Center for Constitutional Rights condemned your support for war criminals. In 2026, voters are watching—and they will remember who stood with a genocidaire.
We demand:
· An apology and public repudiation of Smotrich.
· A call for Sen. Schumer's vote against Section 224 of the NDAA.
· An end to New York’s complicity in Israeli war crimes.
We believe New York leaders must never march with fascists—period.
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