For First Time, Muslim Group Slated to March in Israel Parade

Anila Ali told JNS that she and many others support the Jewish community and Israel’s right to exist.

By Debra Nussbaum Cohen, JNS

The Israel parade on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue this year is slated to have a Muslim group marching alongside Jewish organizations in what is believed to be a first time in the parade’s 61-year history.

It will also be the first time in memory that New York City’s mayor will not participate in the parade, which shows support for the Jewish state. The annual event, scheduled this year for May 31, typically has thousands of participants, with groups marching from Jewish day schools, yeshivas and organizations.

Anila Ali, board chair and president of the nonprofit American Muslim & Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council, intends to lead group that she expects will include about 30 people in the annual event, which takes place on New York’s iconic Fifth Avenue, alongside Central Park.

In an exclusive interview with JNS, Ali said that the anti-Israel protesters, who have recently whipped up angry crowds in Jewish neighborhoods and fomented fear, do not represent all Muslims.

She and many others support the Jewish community and Israel’s right to exist, she told JNS.

“After 9/11, the first faith community that reached out to us were the Jewish people,” she said, of the time after Islamist terrorists attacked the World Trade Centers and other sites, killing closing to 3,000 people, and Muslims became afraid of retaliation.

“As the largest Muslim women’s civil rights organization standing against bigotry within and without, we had a very close relationship based on trust that we shared common heritage,” she told JNS.

Now, at a time when Jewish people are being targeted by anti-Israel, antisemitic protesters, she wants to return that support, she said.

JNS asked if she is worried about what will happen when she marches in the Israel parade.

“A lot of people are afraid, but we are not,” Ali, who is Pakistan-born, told JNS.

Sources at the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, which runs the parade, were unable to confirm that no other Muslim groups have participated in years past. The JCRC has long had a policy of not commenting on participating groups for security reasons.

Zohran Mamdani, the first Muslim mayor of New York City, has made his belief clear since he was a college student that he does not think that the State of Israel has a right to exist.

As a member of the New York state Assembly, before becoming mayor, Mamdani introduced the “Not On Our Dime” Act in 2023, seeking to prohibit New York nonprofits from funding Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria or be stripped of their nonprofit status.

Although re-introduced in 2025, the bill was roundly opposed in the Assembly and never came to a vote.

The mayor has also said that he would have the Israeli prime minister arrested in New York City.

New York City is home to about 1 million Jews, which is the largest population of any place outside of Israel.

Nevertheless, immediately upon being sworn into office on Jan. 1, Mamdani revoked many of his predecessor’s executive orders, including those providing legal protections against antisemitism and anti-Zionism.