The major of Tel Aviv, Ron Huldai, has announced the city will not hold its annual Pride Parade in June. Instead of the regular parade, Huldai said that Tel Aviv and LGBTQ organisations have decided to hold a rally for “pride, hope, and liberty.”
“This isn’t the time for celebrations,” Ron Huldai wrote on X. “132 of our sons and daughters are still hostages in Gaza, the bereavement circles keep widening, and every day we (remain) in the midst of one of the State of Israel’s most difficult times.”
Normally drawing tens of thousands of locals and tourists, Tel Aviv Pride Parade has been considered a highlight of the city’s annual calendar for the last 25 years, with street festivities celebrating Israel’s LGBTQ communities in a display of fun and tolerance that marks a point of pride for many Israelis.
“Tel Aviv is the home of the LGBTQ+ community. It always has been and always will be,” Huldai said.
The cancellation of this year’s Tel Aviv Pride Parade is the second time in four years that it has been cancelled, after organisers were forced to call it off due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions in 2020.
To make up for cancelling the parade, Huldai said that the budget that was intended for the parade would instead be given to the municipal LGBTQ+ community centre.
“We are feeling the pain of an entire nation, and at the same time, we’re not stopping our struggle for equality and liberty for everyone,” he said. “We’ll see you at the Pride Parade of June 2025.”
