JERUSALEM (VINnews) The chairman of the World Zionist Organization has invited New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to join this year’s March for Israel parade, drawing sharp criticism from Israel’s top diplomat in New York.

Yaakov Hagoel publicly called on Mamdani to march alongside him at the annual event scheduled for May 31 on Fifth Avenue, describing it as a show of solidarity with tens of thousands of Jewish participants and with the State of Israel.

“I am inviting the mayor of New York City to come and march beside me,” Hagoel on Tuesday said at a conference in Jerusalem, adding that he had previously reached out to Mamdani and urged him to reconsider municipal decisions he opposes, including not banning protests outside synagogues and dropping adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.

But Israel’s Consul General in New York, Ofir Akunis, rebuked Hagoel, saying he had no authority to extend such an invitation.

In a statement, Akunis said Israel’s official delegation at the parade would be led by the consulate and would include ministers, lawmakers and other guests invited through official channels. He said Hagoel attends the march each year as a guest and “cannot invite others who do not recognize Israel as the Jewish state.”

The dispute has exposed tensions between two senior Israeli figures over how to engage with the mayor of the largest U.S. city, home to one of the world’s largest Jewish communities.

City Hall did not immediately respond to requests for comment.