UK Jewish students hold rally for Aleppo

“Ten years ago Jewish students campaigned against genocides in Darfur.The time has come to do it again," the UJS posted in the Facebook group advertising the event.

 

“When we remember the Holocaust, we say ‘Never Again’, but all too often we fail to act upon our words. Today, right now, Jewish students are standing up to demand that the citizens of Aleppo are afforded the most basic of all human rights – the right to life.

 

“As Jewish students, we have a responsibility to speak up. ‘Lo tuchal lehitalem’ (Deut. 23:2), 'you must not stand by' or 'you must not remain indifferent'. Indifference - to human suffering, to hatred and to genocide - contradicts everything that Judaism holds sacred. Regardless of your opinion on the politics behind the conflict, the reality is that children and innocent civilians are being killed in a war waged by others.”

 

The crowd at the rally was addressed by Mary Creagh, Labour MP for Wakefield, Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, Senior Rabbi for Reform Judaism, and Dr Edie Freedman, executive director of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE).