Tens of hundreds of individuals gathered in Toronto on Sunday for an annual fundraising stroll in solidarity with Israel — an occasion members mentioned is especially wanted this yr as a consequence of rising antisemitism.
The Jewish neighborhood has felt more and more remoted after the Hamas-led assaults on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and a dramatic improve in antisemitism in Canada since then, mentioned Sara Lefton, chief improvement officer for the UJA Federation of Higher Toronto, which hosts the stroll.
“We would like our neighbours, associates and colleagues in Toronto to face with us as a result of it’s a horrific time for our neighborhood,” she mentioned.
Statistics Canada experiences a 71 per cent improve in hate crimes concentrating on the Jewish inhabitants between 2022 and 2023, with the most important improve seen after the Oct. 7 assaults and the next battle in Gaza.
In the meantime, Toronto police mentioned they’ve acquired experiences of 43 “antisemitic occurrences” to date this yr — representing 43 per cent of all reported hate crimes in 2025. That is a 48 per cent lower in experiences in comparison with this time final yr, police mentioned on Sunday.
The solidarity stroll befell days after two Israeli Embassy workers have been shot and killed outdoors a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C. Investigators and leaders all over the world have denounced the killings as a focused, antisemitic hate crime.
“Watching the horrific murders in Washington, D.C., is mostly a dose of actuality for all of us of what can occur when hate is left unchecked,” Lefton mentioned.
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About 56,000 individuals participated in Sunday’s stroll, the UJA mentioned in a information launch.
Stuart Lewis mentioned he joined the occasion as a result of the precise to dwell as Jews in Israel and Toronto is “beneath assault.”
“I am right here to assist our rights right here in Toronto, Canada and in Israel,” he mentioned.
However Molly Kraft, an advocate with the Jews Say No to Genocide Coalition, mentioned she is offended by the thought the stroll is “in some way for Jewish trauma or Jewish security.”
“As a Jewish individual, I imagine in preventing antisemitism as properly, however I feel (the stroll is) about supporting a navy superpower that is hell bent on occupation, genocide and destroying Palestinian life,” she mentioned. Israel has repeatedly denied claims of genocide in its battle in Gaza, which has led to the deaths of tens of hundreds of individuals.
Israel’s Nationwide Safety Council upgraded its journey alert for Canada on Sunday from Stage 1, which suggests no journey warning, to Stage 2, which suggests “potential risk degree.”
The council mentioned deliberate counter-protests to pro-Israel rallies on Sunday have resulted in discourse, “together with what might be understood as calls to violently hurt Israelis and Jews at these occasions.”
It beneficial “that these attending the assist rallies take heed to safety personnel and native police on the occasions, obey their directions and keep away from any friction with the anti-Israel protests.”
Stroll comes after Canada requires support to Gaza
Sunday’s stroll started at Temple Sinai Congregation of Toronto synagogue and continued north on Bathurst Road, ending with a pageant at UJA’s Sherman Campus. There was a heavy police presence alongside the route, together with a lot of officers on bicycles.
Toronto police had mentioned on Saturday there could be a “robust presence” on the occasion, together with police from York, Durham and Peel areas, in addition to the OPP.
A 57-year-old man was arrested at about 12 p.m. after allegedly yelling antisemitic slurs at individuals attending the stroll, Toronto police mentioned. He has been charged with mischief interfering with property and inflicting a disturbance. The investigation is being handled as a suspected hate-motivated offence, police mentioned.
There was a heavy police presence alongside the route for the stroll on Sunday, together with a lot of officers on bicycles. (Spencer Gallichan-Lowe/CBC)
The UJA’s web site mentioned that as of Sunday afternoon, the stroll has raised greater than $670,000. That is greater than in earlier years, Lefton mentioned.
“The occasion immediately is basically about households coming collectively to have fun our identification and stand united,” she mentioned. “It is not a political occasion.”
However Kraft objected to this description.
“You can’t have this stroll for Israel as this informal, household hangout for a state that’s enacting one of the violent genocides that we have ever seen,” she mentioned.
The occasion befell after the leaders of Canada, Britain and France warned on Might 19 that their nations might take punitive motion if Israel doesn’t cease a renewed navy offensive in Gaza and raise support restrictions to the inhabitants.
“The Israeli authorities’s denial of important humanitarian help to the civilian inhabitants is unacceptable and dangers breaching worldwide humanitarian legislation,” a joint assertion launched by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s workplace mentioned.
Earlier this week, Israel started permitting humanitarian support vehicles into Gaza, after putting a virtually three-month blockade on support provides that introduced individuals within the enclave to the brink of famine. However support teams have mentioned provides nonetheless have not reached Palestinians in want.
The United Nations has warned that 14,000 youngsters in Gaza are liable to extreme malnutrition over the following 11 months if crucial support does not arrive.
Nova musical pageant survivor in attendance
The UJA Federation mentioned in a information launch that funds raised throughout Sunday’s stroll “will assist pressing humanitarian reduction and long-term restoration efforts in Israel, with a deal with aiding households and communities nonetheless rebuilding after the trauma of October seventh.”
Lefton mentioned the cash will go partly towards supporting the psychological well being of Israelis with PTSD and rebuilding houses destroyed within the Hamas-led assault.
Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli communities close to Gaza’s border on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 individuals, largely civilians, and seizing 251 hostages, in keeping with Israeli tallies. Hamas continues to be holding 58 captives, about a 3rd of whom are believed to be alive after a lot of the others have been returned in ceasefire agreements or different offers.
Israel’s retaliatory battle has killed greater than 53,000 Palestinians and decreased a lot of Gaza to ruins, Gaza’s Well being Ministry says. Most of them are civilians, together with greater than 16,500 youngsters beneath the age of 18, Gaza well being officers say.
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Omri Kohavi, a survivor of an assault on the Nova music pageant on Oct. 7 that killed greater than 360 individuals and noticed dozens taken hostage, attended Sunday’s stroll.
He was in Toronto with the Nova Exhibition, a world touring exhibit recounting the occasions of that day.
He mentioned he got here to the stroll to assist Israel and was completely happy to see the “partying and good vibe.”
“I am very proud. It makes me robust,” he mentioned.
Omri Kohavi, a survivor of the Oct. 7 Nova music pageant assault, attended Sunday’s stroll. He mentioned he was ‘very proud’ to see the power on the occasion. (Spencer Gallichan-Lowe/CBC)
Suzanne Wintrob mentioned her cousins have been dwelling in a kibbutz in Israel on Oct. 7. Half of their associates have been killed within the assaults, she mentioned.
“They’ve survivor’s guilt…. They’re going to by no means be the identical,” she mentioned. “The entire nation is in trauma.”
Wintrob was amongst a number of individuals on the stroll holding posters of hostages nonetheless in captivity. She mentioned she is praying for security and peace.
“Everybody desires peace on either side of this battle,” she mentioned.
