Letters to the Editor

Silent McCarthy not a friend

To the Editor:

I feel let down as a constituent by my elected Congresswoman, Carolyn McCarthy. For more than a week a blood libel has been perpetrated against Israel over its efforts to stop a terrorist "humanitarian" flotilla from docking in Gaza. Our two NY Senators and many NY Congressmen (some with smaller numbers of Jewish constituents) have eloquently risen to Israel's defense.

Representative McCarthy has been supportive of local Jewish causes by obtaining grants from the government. That is something any congressman would do. On her website she boasts of her support for Israel. Yet, at a time when blind hatred has robbed the world of its vision of the footage of what happened on the Marmara, Congresswoman McCarthy has lost her voice. Israel, the most moral of nations, and the IDF, the most moral of armies, have been viciously and falsely accused of murder. Where has been Carolyn McCarthy during this time?

She expressed tepid lip service support for Israel while she deeply mourned the death of the terrorists killed on the boat. The Jewish people have been the victims of the silence of the world in the past. A silent friend in a time of need is not a friend.

Representative McCarthy owes her constituents a clear explanation for her silence. She has failed to represent her many Jewish constituents as well as non-Jewish constituents who understand that Israel is on the front lines, along with the US, in fighting the war on terror.

Rabbi Hershel Billet

Woodmere, NY

The writer is rav of Young Israel of Woodmere, one of the largest Orthodox shuls in the United States.