Your December 11 article “Chelsea Clinton Will Join Diverse Mezvinsky Clan” briefly discussed me (an uncle of Clinton’s new fiancé) and my views regarding Israel.
You could easily have contacted me and asked me directly about my views but chose not to do so. Instead, you sought for comment a former academic colleague of mine and a second, extremely negative and biased source, affiliated with the group Campus Watch.
Calling me “anti-Israel,” as your article did, because I have criticized some specific Israeli policies and am opposed to political Zionism is misleading and inaccurate. Calling me “the left of left among intellectual scholars,” as Campus Watch’s Asaf Romirowsky did, is vague and also misleading. Moreover, his charge that I use my Jewish background to attack Israel is untrue.
I would have at least had an opportunity to explain all of this had I been contacted regarding the article.
Norton Mezvinsky
New York, N.Y.