I have been living in Montreal for just a few weeks shy of 50 Years,
and I have participated in and attended many rallies, marches and other
events of similar nature, but have not seen this kind of outpouring
of enthusiasm and energy as at the Israel rally last week. I salute the
young and the old who were so friendly, welcoming and peaceful.
No words of any hatred or any unkindly nature were spoken - just
beautiful songs, what a spectacle. I salute the organizers and the
participants.
I must add here that the participants may have been mostly from
the Jewish community but there were people from other communities as well,
especially it was nice to see the flag of India fluttering among
a sea of Israeli flags. It reminded me of how close the two - the Hindus
and the Jewish people - have been for close to 3000 years. I am
not sure how many people of Jewish faith would remember that after
the fall of Jerusalem when the Jewish people were targeted for
persecution, they sought refuge in India in the hundreds of thousands.
Like the Zoroastrians they were also like sugar is to milk. Anybody
who knows even a bit of Mumbai would have noticed that both these
communities lived there in close proximity of each other.
I must also congratulate those who thought of taking the flag of India
to this rally because it represents the good wishes and sentiments of
most of the people of India, especially the Hindus who have a long history
of tolerance, inclusiveness and non-violence - these three words
epitomize the entire Hindu philosophy and the cornerstone of the vows
that The Democratic Republic of India took in 1947 and their peers had
espoused for thousands of years before that so much so that India
has never sent a soldier across its border to conquer any country or
to spread their faith by converting others that some religions strongly
preach and practise. It is sad to see a country like India suffer the
terrorism unleashed on it by its neighboring country.
I must close by saying long live India-Israel unity and friendship, and
also the friendship of these people here in Canada.
Rajinder Sud
Montreal
source (2017): https://www.thesuburban.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/unique-israel-rally/article_7ca99ea7-b4f1-5a4a-ad64-7c0fa2c7a314.html