May all their memories be a blessing
JVL Introduction
We publish here a statement published in the Scottish Herald newspaper signed by dozens of Jews appalled by the deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester last Thursday, and also by the weaponisation of their grief by those alleging that to stand for justice for Palestinians is to pose a danger to Jews.
It makes clear:
Jewish security will never be achieved by silencing Palestinian voices; it will only be achieved through justice, accountability, and the building of genuine solidarity between communities. Two people were murdered in Manchester on October 2, and at least 53 people were murdered in Gaza on the same day. We mourn them all. May all their memories be a blessing.
The full text plus signatories appears below video of a speech at a demonstration in Manchester on October 4 by JVL member Robert Lizar.
NWI
This article was originally published by The Herald (Scotland) on Tue 7 Oct 2025. Read the original here.
As Jews we beg you: do not let the Manchester attack be weaponised
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The words below, from this article, express the sentiment that the Leeds pro-Palestinian march on the 4th October brought home to those of us who were there. We were remembering the deaths and maiming of Palestinian children. But as the drums beat out a funeral march and the chanting fell silent it left us all: the public, police and marchers to reflect on death and wasted lives all around us today.
“ At an impromptu rally for the kidnapped Global Sumud flotilla members in Edinburgh last week, which was attended by many Jews who condemn the genocide, there was a minute’s silence for the victims in Manchester. What is “un-British” about mourning the deaths of worshippers at a synagogue while also mourning the deaths of many thousands of Palestinians and calling for an end to the genocide and our government’s complicity in it? ”
A worthy statement indeed. As a Jewish man I’m with you.
“un-British”, a recent Starmer utterance and what he implies comes perilously close to Senator McCarthy’s “un-American Activities Committee’s paranoid period of spreading hate and fear especially among politicians and members of the film and broadcast community.