On Sunday, 22 May, Toronto 4 Palestine, together with Montreal 4 Palestine, Neturei Karta International and the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, organized the “Walk Against Israel” to challenge the “Walk for Israel”, a Zionist, pro-apartheid event that takes place annually in Toronto.
Participants spoke out against Zionist crimes in occupied Palestine. They emphasized their commitment to the right to return of Palestinian refugees and the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea, as well as their support for the Palestinian people’s right to resist by all means necessary. Speakers also demanded that Canada end its ongoing support for the Zionist regime and urged the escalation of the boycott of Israel. They called on the Canadian government to instead side with justice and Palestinian and Arab rights, and to break the siege on the Gaza Strip.
Toronto 4 Palestine was joined by many anti-Zionist Jewish groups, including the Orthodox rabbis of Neturei Karta, who denounced the existence of the Zionist project in Palestine. The participants in the demonstration declared: “We will not allow the celebration of the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people,” labeling the Zionist event the “walk for apartheid.”
The mobilization came amid recent attacks by Zionist organizations against the growing Palestinian and Arab community and solidarity organizing in Canada. Many cities and universities organized large events in support of Palestine, marking the 75th anniversary of the continuing Nakba, and showing solidarity with the Palestinian people amid the recent Zionist aggression on Gaza. Students, organizers, and trade unions have also escalated their calls for boycott of the occupation and the corporations that are complicit in its crimes, and in support of the Palestinian prisoners’ struggle for liberation.