“For a Zionist and a Jew, Yom Ha’atzmaut is the most important holiday on the Jewish calendar,” Ofir Akunis, the consul general in New York, told JNS.
After a seven-year hiatus, Israel’s Consulate General in New York revived its official Israeli Independence Day celebration with an event in Midtown Manhattan on Sunday night that blended solemn speeches with Israeli folk dancing, themed cocktails and reflections on the country’s resilience in the wake of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
As many as 800 guests attended, including the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams; Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.); and Ofir Akunis, the Israeli consul general in New York, who addressed the crowd alongside video messages from Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Israeli-Arab pop singer Nasreen Qadri entertained the crowd, and an Israeli troupe performed beneath a large screen projecting archival footage of Israelis dancing in the streets on the night that the modern-day State of Israel was declared on May 14, 1948. Guests sipped themed cocktails named for key figures in the founding of the nation—Theodor Herzl, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir—under blue-and-white decorations, the colors of the Israeli flag.
Akunis told JNS that the consulate’s first Independence Day event in seven years was a chance to celebrate Israel’s resilience post-Oct. 7.
“The Jewish people have a lot of enemies who prefer to see us sad, not happy and proud,” he said. “Despite their wishes, this year is the right time to strengthen the Jewish community in New York and celebrate along with all the Israelis who live here.”
Since the five boroughs of New York City combined are home to the largest Jewish community outside of Israel, it makes it all the more important to recognize the day, according to Akunis.
“For a Zionist and a Jew, Yom Ha’atzmaut is the most important holiday on the Jewish calendar because we waited over 2,000 years and 70 generations, praying from all around the world that our people would be reunited in the Holy Land,” he said. “We finally accomplished this in 1948 when the State of Israel was established.”
The ceremony also featured remarks from Agam Berger, a musician and former hostage held by Hamas in Gaza for 482 days, who spoke publicly for the first time. She shared how her religious faith helped her survive captivity.
Image - JNS/Vita Fellig