Weeping for Zion

a special exhibition of photographs and stories of those from Manchester who served or volunteered and are asking those involved (or family members) to come forward with their stories.

The exhibition will be displayed at the annual UJIA Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) ceremony.

For more information please contact Sally Halon on 0161 740 1825 ext 3 or sally.halon@ujia.org Sally Halon

Manchester UJIA UK Programme Director I am

up as an active member of the Jewish state of Israel’s fan club. I admired how they made the desert grow and outwitted and defeated those who tried to conquer them. I donated money to them and raised money for them.

I now see a country that has a former president, former prime minister and former chief rabbi in prison for a range of offences.

Does Judaism, the religion that gave the Ten Commandments to the world, no longer stand for morality? There will be those who argue that the convictions could not have happened in neighbouring countries without such a well-developed system of justice, but Judaism should strive for the highest standards if we wish to justify a Jewish state.

We now have the situation where a soldier shot a man who was incapable of defending himself. He may have been a terrorist and mortally wounded, but had it been a member of the Taliban or ISIL carrying out such an execution, there would have been outrage in the western world.

What has happened that we now deny the sanctity of life? Are some lives more sacred than others?

The commandment not to covet thy neighbours’ possessions seems not to apply to settlers who wish to appropriate land belonging to others. The Ten Commandments are surely for the common people. They should not require a degree in semantics to excuse the people’s actions. Malcolm I. Cedar Bromley, Kent