Saluting Israel on Fifth Avenue

Thousands of people and a handful of New York elected officials waved blue-and-white flags and sang Hebrew songs as they gathered along a police-lined Fifth Avenue Sunday for the 54th annual Celebrate Israel Parade.

Gov. Cuomo, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Mayor de Blasio separately walked in the fivehour procession while a group of pro-Palestinian protesters shouted from the sidelines.

Cuomo, the parade’s “Honorary Grand Marshal,” walked alongside New York Jewish community leaders and rabbis while staff handed out campaign literature embossed with an Israeli flag.

“I think this is a very important time to stand up and say we support Israel and we want to make that loud and clear and we want Israel to hear it,” Cuomo said. “Israel is a reliable ally in a very dangerous part of the world . . . and we understand how important that alliance is, culturally as New Yorkers.”

The NYPD took no chances in light of heightened tensions in the Middle East after the Trump administration opened a new US Em- bassy in Jerusalem last month, erecting metal fencing along the parade route hours before it started. An estimated 1,000 officers staffed the parade and confined protesters to a small area in Grand Army Plaza south of Central Park.

Zev Berman, 58, a tech worker from Queens, said he’s been attending the parade with his family since he was 12 years old.

“I see a lot more local politicians than recent previous years,” he noted. “This is a public support of the state of Israel.”