Letter: Gov. Cuomo right to boycott the boycott
"Saddened to hear of the senseless mass shooting in Orlando. My thoughts are with the victims, the injured and their loved ones," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Twitter. Credit: Getty Images / Slaven Vlasic
“Guv’s anti-boycott order is disturbing overreach” [Editorial, June 8] raised unnecessary fears. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed an order that bars the state from doing business with participants in a boycott of Israel because of that nation’s treatment of Palestinians.
A boycott of the boycott sends a clear message. The proponents of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement have an agenda that is a threat to Israel.
The prospect that the BDS movement is rooted in anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment is real. The threat of anti-Semitism must be addressed early because history shows what ignoring bigotry can lead to.
Turnabout is fair play, so a boycott of a boycott makes sense.
Steven A. Ludsin, East Hampton
Editor’s note: The writer was a member of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust and the first U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.
Since the BDS movement is “rooted in anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo did the right thing by not just speaking against it. He took action, which speaks louder than words, to help protect the democratic State of Israel, which is continually being attacked by Palestinian terrorists.
Rosalie Malkie, Syosset
