‘It feels so good': Toronto's Walk with Israel breaks record with 56,000 participants

Yahoo

25-05-2025

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Toronto on Sunday for the annual Walk with Israel, breaking the event's attendance record for the second straight year.
Local law enforcement estimated there were roughly 56,000 participants, surpassing the previous benchmark set last year by 6,000.
A rally and concert held shortly before the walk in the parking lot of Temple Sinai, a synagogue bordering a major highway, was packed with Israeli and Canadian flags and people of all ages. The Magen Group, a prominent local entertainment company run by Persian Jewish brothers, emceed the event and Jewish rapper, Kosha Dillz, made a brief appearance on stage.
'It feels so good,' Sara Lefton, the chief development officer of the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto (UJA), the group that organized the event, told National Post minutes before it began. 'I think the Jewish community is really seeking togetherness. The more isolated we've been feeling, the more that we are seeking a moment like this to come together as the Jewish community, but also with our friends and allies.'
A contingent representing the Nova Music Festival Exhibition, an art installation honouring concert-goers massacred by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which is currently on display in Toronto, was also present. For Omri Kohavi, a survivor of the atrocities and co-founder of the Tribe of Nova Foundation, a group dedicated to helping other survivors of the attack, the public display of support for Israel was deeply moving. He echoed Lefton's feeling of positivity at the sight of so many Canadians showing their solidarity.
'It's a good feeling to see all of you guys. Very nice people,' he said with a heavy Israeli accent. 'We are brothers. We are from the same roots, so it's a great feeling.'
Kohavi was joined by Ilan Faktor, an organizer of the Nova exhibition and a prominent Israeli trance figure. Faktor spoke of the cultural inheritance Canadians and Israelis share and underscored the Walk's importance for Jews 'to be proud, stand for themselves and not hide or feel bad about themselves.'
'To stand for what we believe in, which is freedom, dance, (and) the love for people, we find it easy to relate to Canadians,' he said. 'We just want people to be sensitive to what happened to us as human beings.'
The air was crisp as patches of early morning clouds gave way to blue skies and sunshine warming marchers as they made their way north along Bathurst Street through the predominantly Jewish neighbourhood in northern Toronto.
Anti-Israel protesters were notably fewer in number compared with last year's event. The side streets lining the path were virtually absent except for a moderate-sized gathering of picketers at the intersection of Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue. Red, white and green smoke bombs, evoking the colours of the Palestinian flag, were ignited when the head of the column passed through the intersection but police quickly surrounded and isolated the incendiaries.
Several protesters carried posters showing Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov kissing a Hamas terrorist on a stage in Gaza prior to his release at a public ceremony. Another carried a handwritten sign proclaiming: 'The Torah was Noah's Ark, Israel is (the) Titanic for you.' The inverted red triangle, a symbol frequently used by Hamas in propaganda videos to denote Israeli combatants, was displayed on multiple occasions.
There was a heavy police presence lining the route, particularly at the Bathurst and Sheppard intersection, which slowed marchers down during the walk's final stretch, just south of its endpoint at the Prosserman Jewish Community Centre (JCC). Tensions flared in the logjam as police did their best to distance the two camps from one another. No arrests were witnessed at the time.
The pro-Israel crowd was diverse and boasted many non-Jews. Several Iranian flags featuring a lion — an icon embraced by members of the diaspora critical of the current regime — were spotted often. Members of Allies for a Strong Canada, a group of non-Jewish advocates established after October 7 to combat antisemitism in the country, were also present.
'On the question of antisemitism, on the question of the rights and freedoms of the Jewish people, you need to stand up right away,' the chair of the organization's board, Tim Egan, said. His comments came just hours after Israel's National Security Council elevated its Canadian travel advisory level from 'no warning' to 'potential threat' posed to Jews and Israelis.
'As a Canadian, I've been horrified for a very long time about how antisemitism is on the rise,' Egan continued. 'I've always seen Israel as an ally, we should stand with our allies. Israel is an ally under attack and with the attack on Israel has come, I think, a disgusting attack on the Jewish people within Canada.'
National Post
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.