Toronto's walk with Israel is the largest annual solidarity walk in the diaspora. Today we raised money for citizens of Bat Yam, a city (about the size of St Catharines, Ontario) that is home to many Ethiopian jews.
The walk started off with a long series of speeches (mostly unnecessary, IMHO) by Canadian politicians, Jewish community leaders etc before hearing from the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Now, if I were to place myself in the Israeli political world, I would tend towards the Mapam/Mapai/Labour party end of things. I would not normally consider my political beliefs to fall in the Revisionist stream, represented by Mr Netanyahu's Likud Party. However, he gave a wonderful speech hitting all the right notes. His speech was middle of the road Zionist in tone and content.
I wish I had seen some more union banners there. Unionists should be walking in support of relief of poverty (in Bat Yam as well as elsewhere). Unionists should be walking in support of the only country in the middle east with a strong and independent trade union movement. Unionists should be marching in support of a democracy (as flawed as every other democracy including our own) that shares similar human rights, rule of law and social values. We should have been visible among the 15,000 or more walkers this year. Anyone keen to walk next year as a grop under the Trade Unionists United for Israel banner? If so, let me know.
Sadly, some chose to throw their lot in with Hizbullah (a terrorist group in Lebanon that is committed to genocide and funded and armed by Iran) and Hamas (ditto in Gaza).
(reader's note...I didn't make this video and I am not supportive of the "various kooks" label...)
Here is another video about the walk that was really nice:
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