Glick on Menendez

Publishing Caroline B. Glick’s defamatory, poorly reasoned column “Senator Menendez and the Pollard effect” (Our World, February 21) did your fine newspaper and the cause of the Jewish people a serious disservice and harm, with Ms. Glick’s ill-informed, ignorant mislabeling of the senior senator from my home state an antisemite.

Anyone familiar with Sen. Robert Menendez knows he has a long, prominent track record that is second to no other American politician of his time as a sincere friend of the Jewish people and an enemy of antisemitism in particular, and bigotry of all stripes. He has all along been a vocal, effective and courageous supporter of Israel as America’s great ally, and has been a most dependable and forceful advocate against anti-Jewish sentiment or action domestically and in the international sphere.

Sen. Menendez has done more for the Jewish cause than ever was or will be done by Ms. Glick.

There are genuine antisemites out there – too many – and this false, insipid mislabeling of such a good and friendly senator gives cover to the real antisemites and alienates those who are decent. STANLEY K. SHAPIRO West Orange, New Jersey

Caroline B. Glick’s column was not a profile of Sen. Robert Menendez, and therefore did not include details of his record vis-àvis Israel. It dealt in the main with Menendez’s negative reaction to the news that David Friedman, who is very pro-Israel, is President Donald Trump’s ambassador-designate to Israel.

It was certainly not “right and proper,” as one letter writer recently claimed, for Menendez to ask Friedman to assure the senatorial panel that, in spite of the fact that he is very passionate about Israel, his loyalty and commitment lie with the US rather than with Israel. It is sheer nonsense and insulting to Friedman to imply that the love of an American for Israel could hinder him in loving America and being totally loyal and committed to its best interests.

Ms. Glick, while condemning the request to Friedman as smacking of antisemitism, did not accuse the senator himself of being an antisemite.

In my view, the nomination of David Friedman as US ambassador to Israel is one of the best things to happen to Israel in a long time. RHONA YEMINI

Givatayim

The column by Caroline B. Glick has an important implication: that the Jew will act in accordance with his passionate love for Israel.

That is a misconception of the antisemite. The standard of a citizen’s behavior, whether Jewish or not, should be in accordance with a blessing in our daily Jewish prayers: “Blessed are You, Lord, King, lover of righteousness and justice.” Righteousness and justice should be the principles to which each person is committed.

It is not a question that “loyalty and commitment lay with the US rather than with Israel,” but that loyalty and commitment are holy matters and are rooted in undisputed human values. SIMCHA RUDMAN Jerusalem

I entirely agree with Caroline B. Glick.

Sen. Robert Menendez is of Cuban descent. What would have been his reaction if he were asked a similar question had he been proposed as US ambassador to Cuba? I suspect the question would not even have been asked.

LARRY REEFE

Netanya