Hilton Beach at Tel Aviv Pride, Tel Aviv Israel 1640001 > Ted Eytan, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in central Jerusalem on Thursday last week for the Jerusalem Pride parade.
An estimated 30,000 people turned out for the parade amid heavy security and the presence of some 2,000 police and riot police officers, as well as several lines of police barriers separating the parade from a far-right protest across the road.
The event took place without any security incidents.
The organisers reported the highest number of attendees since 2016, the year after a 16-year-old attendee was killed in a knife attack by an ultra-Orthodox extremist.
The parade exhibited calls for tolerance towards the LGBT+ community typical of Pride marches, but also expressed anti-government sentiments and opposition to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s currently paused judicial reform package.
T-shirts reading “I love the High Court of Justice” were on sale at the event, while participants held signs declaring “There’s no pride without democracy.”
Small counter-protests of around 30 people took place in Jerusalem’s Liberty Bell Park and Bridge of Strings, both organised by far-right extremists.
The march was formally started and attended by US ambassador to Israel Tom Nides.