This Jew once saw the good in Myers

Sir — Mark O’Regan describes Kevin Myers’s column as having provoked a wave of accusations of anti-Semitism (Sunday Independent, August 6). As a Canadian Jew, I read the Irish press during Israel’s war in Gaza in 2009. As Ireland is one of the most pro-Palestinian countries in Europe, I was heartened by those journalists who stood up for Israel. In a letter to the Jerusalem Post on July 12, 2009, I cited the names of those we owed an appreciation — recognising the good someone does for you is a fundamental Judaic ethic. One of them was Kevin Myers.

Jews and Jewish groups who attacked Myers — who seeks controversy, but it is certainly not a journalistic sin — for his alleged anti-Semitism should forgive his minor error, which he acknowledges, close the case, and move on. Forgiveness is another basic Jewish ethic, central to Yom Kippur — Day of Atonement — the most sacred holiday of the Jewish calendar. Jacob Mendlovic, Toronto, Canada