New York, New York - New York lawmakers are facing backlash after marching with Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and other officials in the annual Israel Day parade over the weekend.

Smotrich, who has advocated annexing large swaths of the occupied West Bank and called for the "total annihilation" of Gaza, reportedly attended Sunday's parade on Fifth Avenue without being invited to do so.

Last month, Smotrich said the International Criminal Court had sought a confidential arrest warrant against him.

"Bezalel Smotrich is a far-right extremist whose hateful and divisive rhetoric is fundamentally at odds with the values we hold dear in New York," Governor Kathy Hochul posted on X after marching in the parade.

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"Yesterday’s parade was a celebration of Jewish pride, community, and unity. I strongly condemn his participation," she added.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani chose not to join the march, which commemorates the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

"I said on the campaign trail that I wouldn’t be attending the parade, and I've made my views on the Israeli government abundantly clear," Mamdani said at a press conference last week.

On May 15, Mamdani shared a video commemorating the Nakba ("catastrophe" in Arabic), the mass expulsion of the Palestinian People that took place during the founding of Israel.

Palestinians today insist the Nakba is ongoing as Israel continues its deadly siege of Gaza, expansion of settlements in the West Bank, and destruction of neighborhoods in Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian People continue to fight for their return to their homes and land.

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"I've made clear time and time again over the course of the campaign my criticisms of the Israeli government, and you can see in the participation of the far-right Israeli minister Smotrich, as well as a number of other ministers, a vision of annihilation, a complicity in genocide, and frankly, a belief that does not have much value for even the sanctity of children in Gaza," Mamdani said in an interview with MS Now.

"I am offended, as I know many New Yorkers are, by their participation," the mayor added.

The Center for Constitutional Rights said in a statement, "We commend Mayor Mamdani for choosing not to participate in the parade and refusing to give his office’s stamp of approval to dehumanizing rhetoric and war crimes."

"The participation of other New York officials, including Governor Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, and Senator Charles Schumer, served to stigmatize, isolate, and exclude the many New Yorkers who have been harmed and whose family members have been killed as a result of these Israeli officials' actions."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has called on New York officials who marched in the parade to apologize.

"Smotrich and other officials who attended this march have enacted racist and violent policies that would be unacceptable from any other public figure. Their participation in a public celebration American soil, and the willingness of American politicians to appear alongside them, helps normalize hatred, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide," CAIR said.

"New York officials who claim to support human rights, racial justice, and religious freedom cannot credibly stand with figures who have openly advocated the dispossession and dehumanization of Palestinians."

"Every elected official who participated in this event must repudiate Israel’s genocide in Gaza, renounce the racist ideology Smotrich represents, and apologize for validating it."

Israel has killed at least 72,941 people in Gaza since October 2023, according to the territory's health ministry, amid mounting accusations of genocide and ethnic cleansing. It has also killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank in that same time period, and over 3,400 people in Lebanon since March 2.