Tel Aviv's annual Pride celebration considered the Middle East's largest is set for June 25, the municipality announced Monday, one year after the coronavirus pandemic forced its cancellation.
In 2019, approximately 250,000 Israelis and tourists attended the parade, making it by far and away one of the largest gatherings of its type in the Middle East and Asia.
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Revelers celebrate along a seaside avenue in Tel Aviv during the city's annual Pride Parade on June 8, 2018
(Photo: AFP)
The celebration will also mark one of the world's first mass gatherings since such events were canceled globally on public health grounds in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
"Pride events in Tel Aviv-Yafo are a long-standing tradition, centered on a message of equality, acceptance, and human and civil rights," said the city's mayor Ron Huldai in a statement.
Tel Aviv, whose first Pride march dates to 1998, is "proud to be a groundbreaking city in its approach to the LGBTQ community" the mayor said.
Tel Aviv is considered among the world's friendliest cities for LGBTQ+ residents and visitors, and Israel among the Middle East's more progressive countries when it comes to gender equality.
But activists have voiced concerns over what they see as a growing segment of Israeli lawmakers who espouse anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and oppose equal rights measures.
Jerusalem's smaller-scale Pride march that hosted some 8,000 participants took place under heavy security over fears of violence, with ultra right-wing groups calling for counter-demonstrations.
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Shira Banki, who was murdered by an ultra-Orthodox Jew during the Jerusalem Pride parade in 2018
On July 30, 2015, an ultra-Orthodox Jew stabbed to death teenager Shira Banki during the parade and wounded six others, since when the annual event has been heavily protected.
Some 55% of Israel's population has been fully vaccinated with two doses.
The country has lifted many of its public health restrictions, with the indoor mask rule set to expire June 15, according to the health ministry.