Papered over?
Sir, – Gil Troy (“Stop calling American critics – including Hagel – ‘antiIsrael,’” Center Field, February 20) poses an interesting question as to what determines the difference between a critic and an opponent.
The Hagel case is an example of the latter. It should be obvious from the acid tone and, indeed, vulgar nature of Hagel’s past hostile pronouncements that he is emotionally antagonistic to Israel.
The fact that US President Barack Obama selected him belies the president’s statements of concern for Israel and the Iranian threat, and should be very worrisome to anyone not taken in by clever rationalizations designed to paper over the obvious. DAVID KATCOFF Jericho, Vermont
Sir, – Ben Levitas is right when he says that the “Christian response has been muted and restrained.” In Scotland, warnings such as those highlighted by Civitas are often ignored, if not dismissed, by the Church of Scotland (CoS).
Not long ago, a Scottish Christian woman wrote to the CoS of her concerns not only over the Islamic threat to Christians in the Middle East, but the antiSemitism endemic in parts of the Church. The response from the moderator of the General Assembly of the CoS, the Right Rev. Albert Bogle, was to evade the basic questions and label her concerns as “deeply offensive” and “Islamophobia.”
Presumably, Rev. Bogle would find the concerns of Levitas to be the same.
STANLEY GROSSMAN
Glasgow The writer is a member of Scottish Friends of Israel
EDITOR’S NOTE An analysis published in The Jerusalem Post (“Al Qaida’s increasing presence in Lebanon: Reality or Syrian/Iranian propaganda?” January 30, Page 3) erroneously identified the website Al-Monitor as being “connected with pro-Hezbollah and proAssad circles.” Al-Monitor, an independent US media company that publishes diverse perspectives from the Middle East, was not given the opportunity for comment prior to the publication. It rejects these “absurd” allegations. The Post also disassociates itself from the opinions expressed about Al-Monitor in the article.