Remembering George Michael

Glen Oaks Village: We have just lost George Michael, who died much too young. Here was an icon whose music brought both joy and tears to those of us who listened to his songs. He even came out about his sexuality, which was a brave thing for him to do. George Michael had his demons, as many of us do. Yet he battled those elements, for which I do respect him. As such, my heartfelt prayers go out to his friends, family and all those who loved him. George Michael, rest in peace. Your music did make a difference. Frederick Bedell Jr. Scarsdale, N.Y.: Tis said, “Music hath charm to sooth a savage beast.” But when we lose these great artists like George Michael, we feel the void in our soul. Fortunately, their music endures long after them. I still enjoy classical music. It makes me sit up straight. And jazz and soul are indescribable. Seeing a live concert is therapeutic. I guess it speaks to my tired soul. Phyllis Murray

Obama’s anti-Israel, pro-Iran

St. James, L.I: The Obama Administration in its final weeks has sealed its legacy of being the most anti-Israel and pro-Iran U.S. administration in recent memory (“UN Security Council condemns Israeli settlements in the West Bank as U.S. holds back veto support,” Dec. 23). The Security Council’s recent censure of Israel will accomplish nothing constructive, in that it will only embolden Palestinians to engage in more unrealistic demands and force Israel to dig in its heels and further defend, expand and potentially annex its settlements.

Ron Weiss

Obama’s move no surprise

Bronx: President Obama’s hatred of Israel, and his finger in the eye to incoming President-elect Trump, was front and center when he abstained from vetoing the United Nations’ vote to condemn Israel. Why are we surprised? He’s been a do-nothing, lead-from-behind President for eight years. He pardons hundreds of legally convicted felons yet he sticks the knife in the back of America’s forever friend, and twists it. Patricia O’Hanlon

UN resolution was anti-Semitic

Margate, Fla.: President Obama, by allowing a virulently antiSemitic resolution to pass in the UN, has figuratively aligned himself and every member of the Democratic party with Muhammad’s Holocaust of the Jews in Medina in 627. All pretense that Obama and the Democratic Party are not foundationally anti-Semitic have been shattered. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said with great wisdom and prescience in December 1967: “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You’re talking anti-Semitism.”

Richard Sherman

A day of infamy

Deerfield Beach, Fla.: Dec. 23, 2016, will go down as a day of infamy. Barack Obama betrayed America and Israel. His abstention at the United Nations Security Council will be his legacy. The 14 members who voted to attack the only free country in the Middle East, the only country where Jews, Muslims and Christians are equal under the law, are pathetic. Not one of the 14 can compare with Israel’s technological or intellectual successes. Not one has as many Nobel prizes. Shame on them all. Len Bennett

Got tough with wrong nation

Whitestone: What a complete and utter joke. The only country in the Middle East that the head of the Democratic party, Barack Obama, gets tough with is Israel.

Jake McNicholas

Symbolic shafting

Cincinnati: Barack Obama’s shafting of Israel is a paroxysm of presidential pique. I’m sure the significance of the timing has escaped the President and his merry band of foreign policy fools, but abandoning Israel on Chanukah, a celebration of Jewish survival against overwhelming odds, carries a symbolism Obama surely never intended. Paul Bloustein

Israel shafted itself

Ridgewood, N.J.: The President did not shaft Israel. The United Nations did not shaft Israel. Israeli leaders shafted Israel. Israel shafted itself. For years, Israeli hardliners have built Jewish communities on the West Bank. For years, Israel has said it would not appropriate Arab lands, and build settlements, on the West Bank. For years, Israeli leadership has lied about its policy on illegal communities on the West Bank. If Israel does not like the consequences of its actions, then it should stop violating its own word. It is past time Israel got out of the occupied lands of Palestine and the Golan Heights of Syria. Peter Peirano

Enough is enough, Israel

Los Angeles: Thank goodness we have a President who has stated “enough is enough.” Four decades of illegal occupation have to end, and never will as long as some feel they have a right to land that no one in modern times has ever ceded. Obama had to send a message: You cannot bully your way to empire in 2016. Maybe you can in 2017, but not this year.

John Kaliski

Maddow vs. Conway was epic

Williamsburg, Va.: I watched Friday evening’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC, on which Rachel had as her guest Kellyanne Conway, the brilliant director of the Trump campaign and a presidential adviser. Without a doubt both women are the best in the business, and Maddow came well-prepared with the most difficult questions she and the network could muster. The resulting interview reminded me of the battle of the Civil War ironclads, the Monitor and Merrimack. Salvo after salvo were exchanged, with Maddow firing away the questions and Conway either answering or deflecting them when there was no good answer to be had. Both women were brilliant and the interview was tough as tough can be, but cordial. To Maddow, I thank you for conducting one of the best interviews I have seen. And to Conway, you continue to impress us all by your ability to take on and overcome the best the media has to offer. John Lemandri

Bring back old Social Security

Hicksville, L.I.: It has come to my attention that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D- Mass.) has a bill providing for a one-time payment of about $600 to each Social Security recipient. People should push their representatives to approve this bill. This is the third year in a row in which seniors have basically seen no increase. This is similar to what President George W. Bush did in his first term. There are changes to the tax code that could help seniors on Social Security, the most obvious one being to return Social Security payments to their pre-Reagan tax status of being non-taxable. Should this prove too costly , then I would suggest we revisit the idea of how the taxable portion of your Social Security Benefit is determined. Joe Squerciati

‘Little Lamb’ was sentimental

Garwood, N.J.: A thank you to the Daily News for Karen Zauytk’s Christmas tale, “O little lamb, who made thee?” (Dec. 24). This article brought tears to my eyes. Setting up the Christmas nativity statues at my home was a highlight every Christmas. The set is 50 years old now. There is a tiny baby lamb, and every year my sister and I wanted to be the one to place it. The comfort the frail, scared lamb found in the manger with the Christ child, no longer afraid or unloved, is so heartwarming. No matter what your faith is, as Tiny Tim would say, “God bless us, everyone.”

Joan Tully

A blubbering mess

North Salem, N.Y.: Every Christmas Eve you print Ms. Zautyk’s beautiful story, and every year I read it and by the end I’m a blubbering, crying mess. This year I actually started crying when I saw the editorial page. Unlike the lamb, I still have not learned to cry silently. Thank you, Daily News, and happy holidays and a Merry Christmas to you all and your readers. Michael Casale

Put ‘Christ’ in Christmas

Getty Brooklyn: Let’s put Christ back into Christmas. After taking the children to see Santa Claus, and after buying presents, take them to church on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day so that they will know what the greatest gift of all is. God so loved the world that He gave us His son. We give gifts to show that same love. Jesus is the reason for the season. Merry “Christ”-mas. Celia John