Menendez praised in rabbi’s full-page NY Times ad
By Jesse Byrnes
Self-described “America’s Rabbi” Shmuley Boteach and his group have taken out a full-page advertisement in Saturday’s New York Times praising Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) as “the scourge of tyrants everywhere.”
The ad mentions the senior Hispanic politician’s “audacity to speak truth to power” and willingness “to reach across party lines on issues of conscience,” according to a press release provided Friday afternoon.
Menendez gets praised in the ad on two issues where the ranking Senate Foreign Relations Committee member has been critical of the Obama administration: on moves to normalize relations with Cuba and hopes to secure a deal over Iran’s nuclear program. The administration hopes to strike a preliminary deal on Iran by March 24.
On Iran, the ad says Menendez “stood up for the American and Israeli people against the Administration’s rush to conclude a deal with Iran that would endanger the security of both nations.”
“Senator Menendez is the vital, bi-partisan link against a deal with the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism that would leave Iran with a one-year breakout capability toward a nuclear bomb,” the ad reads.
The rabbi’s ads have previously caused pushback.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/235713-menendez-praised-in-rabbis-full-page-ny-times-ad
