Following your article published in The Oldham Times on July 12 regarding Ferranti Technologies activities and the last conflict in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinians in 2014, it is vital to put the record straight.

Whilst Ferranti Technologies is indeed owned by Elbit Systems - an Israeli company - much of its work is done with the UK Ministry of Defence, the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy developing systems that save British servicemen's lives.

These include work on RAF Typhoons, locator beacons for RAF and Royal Navy Search and Rescue Helicopters and crash landing systems. This is something which should be applauded by the people of Oldham.

To say that Ferranti is "involved in the slaughter of Palestinians" is simply not true. There is no evidence anywhere to suggest this.

Additionally, it is claimed by the Oldham Justice and Peace Group that last Gaza conflict claimed 2,200 civilian Palestinian lives. In fact, detailed research has shown that over 55% of those killed - approximately 1,200 - were Hamas fighters engaged in combat with the Israeli army. A significant number of other deaths were caused by errant Hamas rocket fire that fell on its own civilian population and by Hamas cynically using its population as human shields. Hamas is a proscribed illegal terrorist organisation in the UK.

The group also failed to give any context about the 2014 conflict, instead referring to the "Israeli bombing of Gaza".

What they should have been mentioned is that over the summer of 2014, before the conflict erupted, Hamas kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers in cold blood and also launched over 3,500 rockets at Israeli cities and civilians. Any nation would act to protect its civilians from running to bomb shelters every few minutes.

Adie Mormech, the spokesman for the group provided no evidence that any of the injuries he saw in Gaza were as a result of anything Ferranti manufactured, or indeed that Israel caused.

It is vital that the facts are presented accurately and I am pleased to have been able to put the record straight. Oldham should be proud of the vital work Ferranti is doing for our brave UK Armed Forces. They should also not be misled with inaccuracies about Israel and the conflict in Gaza in 2014.

Raphi Bloom, co-chair

North West Friends of Israel