Weekend question II: Should Helen Thomas be fired? Helen Thomas resigns
UPDATE, 6/8, 7:05a: Rabbi Nessenoff has posted his much anticipated complete interview with Helen Thomas… “I’m of Arab background”…
UPDATE, 6/7, 12:05p: From the Associated Press, moments ago…
Veteran White House journalist Helen Thomas resigned on Monday from her position with Hearst Newspapers, following the wave of criticisim she has faced since her recent declaration that “Jews should get the hell out of Palestine.”
UPDATE, 6/7, 9:25a: Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, MD, has disinvited Thomas from giving its graduation speech on June 14, and Thomas’s agent, Nine Speakers has dropped her.
[HT: moderator Carder]
6/5, 6:55a: Off topic but of interest to conservatives….
At the May 27 White House Jewish Heritage Celebration, Helen Thomas said this:
Backdrop, according to the New York Daily News:
The grande dame of the Washington press corps put her foot in her mouth with an answer at the WH last week, suggesting Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” and “go back home to Poland, Germany, America and everywhere else.”
The jaw-dropping words from the 89-year-old Hearst Newspapers columnist hit the Internet on YouTube Friday and sparked a firestorm of controversy.
Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress, sharply rebuked her. “Shame on Helen Thomas. She is certainly old enough to remember the Holocaust and the Second World War. She owes an apology to all victims of the Nazis,” Steinberg said.
Thomas posted a lukewarm apology on her personal Web site.
“I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. They do not reflect my heartfelt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon,” she wrote.
The daughter of Lebanese immigrants who has covered the administrations of 10 Presidents in a career spanning nearly 60 years made her controversial comments at a White House Jewish Heritage Celebration on May 27.
Question: Do you think Hearst Newspapers should fire Helen Thomas?
[Photo via NY Daily News/Getty]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
“Question: Do you think Hearst Newspapers should fire Helen Thomas?”
Yes, then the US should deport her back to Lebanon..
no, there is no law against not being a zionist. I dn’t have a strong opinion either way, I don’t live in the middle east or care to, but outside of the american mainstream this isn’t an uncommon view.
many nations voted against the creation of israel, not because they were anti semites but because creating a state of mainly european jewish peoples in the middle of the middle east is and was a very radical idea. it hasn’t been easy going as you can see if you have followed the news lately or ever.
I think yo uwill find the media not all that willing to cover this not because they care about helen thomas but because they don’t want the idea of their not being an israel to be out there.
Consequences for being a racist/anti-semite only apply to Republicans and Conservatives. Such behavior is the bread and butter of Helen’s crowd.
Palestinians face a daily and relentless form of racism. Using the excuse of fear of terrorism, the Israeli government has marginalized the Palestinians, made it all but absolutely impossible for them to work their regular jobs and educate their children. They steal their water, cut off their electricity, stop the garbage pickup, delay ambulances at checkpoints until the patient gets worse or dies, etc. Yes there is such a thing as terrorism, but the Palestinian people are not all criminal and a whole population should not be treated as criminal. A peaceful way to co-exist must be found, for everyone’s sake. The Holocaust was a most grievous thing, but it is not a license to bully another people.
People have free speech in our country even if they are ‘politically incorrect.’ Just because she blurted out something very unpleasant doesn’t mean she should lose her job. We’d all be fired by that logic.
Gerard, well said and true!
lester and ninek,
I’m afraid much of what you say has truth to it. In my opinion this issue will never be resolved.
People will just have to duke it out until the best man wins, as they do in all wars and civil strife.
Hi Gerard and Bethany,
So true. You have no idea how many times I’ve written to liberal Democrat columnists, often black, to inform them it was Democrats who founded the KKK and instituted segregation. Worse yet, they have Republicans to thank for the passage of the Civil and Voting Rights Acts, which Democrats were filibustering. Talk about having to swallow your bile. I get the response that “they” are now Republicans. OK, name them for me. Crickets.
I for one canNOT understand the blind devotion of Black Americans to the Democrat Party.
I told one of them he should be less concerned about a racist comment then unknown radio commentator Rush Limbaugh made 40 years ago,(and we only know about because he won’t stop reminding his readers) for which he apologized, and concern himself more with an ex klansman sitting in the US senate for the past 40+ years who BTW, never turned Republican. Damn, if only he had!!!
Oh, and imagine if it was Rush or Sean and not Dan Blather who had said Obama couldn’t sell watermelons on the side of a road.
mary in a way that’s how it shold be. not to be too darwinian but that’s the law of the jungle, whoever wants something more has to fight for it to prove it.
I just feel like our government should not be a part of it either way. it’s a rivilary as old as human civilization, we shouldn’ join in it or try to moderate it. the costs in blood and treasure are steep and not something we should subject our selves and families too.
I’m conflicted on this.
On the one hand, we have the First Amendment which ensures that all of us,(and that would include Hitler-In-A-Girdle) to make statements, idiotic or no.
On the other hand, just take a couple of seconds to view a few good shots of Auschwitz or Dachau or Treblinka, and then the conversation changes completely.
But then on the other hand, she’s 89 years old, her time is just about up, and she will go down in journalistic history as Liberal Beauty par excellence.
If anything, I hope this rattles enough Obama-loving jews to get a clue.
The sad reality is that she’s going to remain where she’s at and it’s not going to bother the administration one bit.
Mary, I always enjoy reading your posts!
Nope. I can’t stand her. I think her comments are despicable but she has a right to say them as long as she doesn’t write them in a non-opinion column under the banner of her agency. If we fire her, I can get fired for writing my pro-life columns because they could be considered conflicting with my state institution job. I love free speech. I hate what she says but as long as she can be ignorant, I can speak truth.
Bethany,
You’re very kind, thank you. I hope the new baby is doing well.
I wonder if the rabbi who released this isn’t having some second thoughts about doing so. it’s opened up alot of areas of discussion that are not, I would think ,of benefit to israels supporters
I wonder if she remembers the Holocaust? The Germans and Russians both persecuted and killed the Jews in those lands. America was aware of the persecution of Jews as early as the early 1930’s. Perhaps she has forgotten? If she has then why is she still working?
Isn’t she almost 90 years old? I don’t understand people who never want to retire.
And her comments were way out of line.
By Helen’s logic, we would ALL have to leave the United States and go wherever our ancestors came from, unless one can prove authentic Native American ancestry.
So I guess that means you can stay, Bethany.
And one half of me can stay. The other half of me needs to go back to Spain and Africa.
All you little blondes, pack it up. We’re occupiers, you know.
Hard to say….. maybe she could use some “coaxing” to retire.
Obviously she’s angered many people. Often times, as people get up in years, they lose their sense of discretion. We all may be there some day.
The thing is… the Jewish people had spread through Europe, but were not technically of European descent (as there have always been strict rules against marrying outside of the Jewish faith which, up until recent times, also meant the Jewish race).
People like Helen Thomas fail to remember the simple truth that the Jewish people were either murdered in those European countries or forced out of them. Also, that the Jewish people were in the area currently called Israel (and by some, Palestine) long before they had ever gone to Europe and have deep historical roots in the area. In addition, there are plenty of Jews living in Israel who were living there before the creation of the so called Jewish state.
The current situation is millennia old: God told Abraham that he would bear a child with Sarah who would give him so many descendants that they would be like the sand on the beach or the stars in the sky… too numerous to count. Frustrated for waiting for God’s timing, Abraham tried to do God’s will his own way by having relations with his wife’s handmaiden… producing Ishmael. When Isaac was finally born, the two warring factions were born… and we bear the consequences to this day on a global basis.
May that be a reminder to those of us who grow weary waiting upon the Lord’s timing.
And no, she shouldn’t be fired. But she should have someone close enough to her with the good sense to tell her to retire.
Ishmael and Isaac’s decendants were not in conflict until the 600’s AD when Muhammed (pbuh) was told by Jews and gnostics about the ancient scriptures we call the Bible. Muhammed (pbuh) is the one who decided it was an age old conflict but if the other monotheists had not told him about Abraham and Isaac or if he’d encountered orthodox Christians first, the Hadiths would have turned out differently.
Also the Romans drove the Jews out of Jerusalem around the year 70 or so. Yes, a few stayed behind in the Holy Land, but statistically most were driven out. People can move wherever they like in the world, but if people are already living there, the land is not empty and waiting for them.
The racism going on today is Israel is like Apartheid. I love the Jewish people, but I have to call it like I see it.
carder- “All you little blondes, pack it up. We’re occupiers, you know”
we are occupiers. and does anyone begrudge the american indians for trying to hold on to this land? it’s awesome, I’d try to hold on to it too.
we just happened to be lucky that our forces did and do outnumber theirs. israel isn’t so lucky. they are 6 million pilgrims surrounded by a billion indians who know whats up. These things aren’t gaurenteed success just because the UN says so. demographicly too, arabs are multiplying much faster than israelis who have the western approach with a lmited number of kids and so forth.
elisabeth “there are plenty of Jews living in Israel who were living there before the creation of the so called Jewish state.”
true but I don’t think there is any question that the majority of them came when zionism started in the early 20th century and it was mainly from europe.
the area had been majority arab for 18 centuries. that’s a bit of precedent despite whatever genes people have.
Hi lester,
It may not be so cut and dry. There’s evidence that Europeans may well have been in ice age North America at the time Native Americans began arriving, some from Asia, and others some speculate from the Pacific rim. Europeans may have followed the ice, Asians came across the landbridge, and Pacific rim people may have come by boat.
Its thought that these people battled and decimated each other, again life was a brutal struggle for survival not the Garden of Eden portrayed by the PC crowd. The defeated were likely taken slaves and assimilated into tribes or formed tribes with each other in order to survive. Its thought the Indians encountered by Columbus were the descendents of the survivors of these early conflicts. Of course warfare and genocide persisted among the various tribes. Life continued to be a brutal struggle to survive.
Its not so certain just who was first here anymore or just who beat who. Again, people duked it out until the best man won. The history of the world as a whole.
mary- at any rate it was theirs for a long time before we came here for the perhaps second time. I think when a people has been there for a while, it sets a facts on the ground sort of precedent that makes it de facto theres even if , you know, there are the geneological things.
here btw if you are at all interested is a breif history of jerusalem
http://www.aldeilis.net/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=108:the-founding-of-jerusalem&catid=134:the-question-of-jerusalem&Itemid=355
the author henry cattan was not only palestinian but a lawyer so keep in mind the bias.
Hi lester,
True there were people here a long time but just what belonged to who or for how long or who conquered and decimated who is unknown.
I do not argue that Native Americans suffered grave injustices, as did any conquered people, then and now, who were at the mercy of their conquerors.
Central American Indian tribes aided the Spanish conquistadors against the Aztecs, who had taken their lands and ruled with an iron fist.
The old adage applies universally: the land belongs to whoever can hold on to it.
Hi lester,
An interesting and informative perspective. Apparently Jerusalem always belonged to whoever could conquer it, much like the rest of the world.
I agree with jasper!….well put.
“If the Arabs put down their swords there would be peace. If the Jews put down theirs they’d be dead.”
Dick Morris
Helen may not have been fired, but at least her Speaking agency has dumped her. Good on them.
“It is with a heavy heart that Nine Speakers, Inc. announces its resignation as the agent for Helen Thomas, Dean of the White House Press Corps. Ms. Thomas has had an esteemed career as a journalist, and she has been a trailblazer for women, helping others in her profession, and beyond. However, in light of recent events, Nine Speakers is no longer able to represent Ms. Thomas, nor can we condone her comments on the Middle East. Nine Speakers will continue to enthusiastically represent all of our other current and future clients.” — Diane Nine
Lanny Davis had a few choice words for her as well.
“If the Arabs put down their swords there would be peace. If the Jews put down theirs they’d be dead.”
Dick Morris
Posted by: carder at June 6, 2010 7:42 PM
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Oh, too true.
Should Helen be fired? Eh, frankly I think that’s up to her employers. However, if she’d have made these comments about, say, Muslims, there’d be death threats right now, you bet your boots. And if her comments were against gays, there would be cries of “hate speech” flying across the airwaves from coast to coast.
But hideous speech against Jews or Christians… well, you know how that usually goes, right?
She’s made a complete arse out of herself, all BY herself.
You actually compare the Israeli people attempting to survive the nearly constant attacks on them to Apartheid? Either you know nothing of what goes on in Israel or you know nothing about Apartheid.
Interesting that neither Ms. Thomas, nor any of the commenters, (Lester, et al) giving their interpretation of historical and present-day events in Israel acknowledge that GOD Himself – Yahweh and Lord of Creation – has given the Holy Land, i.e. the Promised Land, Biblical Israel, including and especially Jerusalem, to the children of Israel: Jacob’s descendants, the Jewish people. Forever. Fighting against Him and His will in this is futile. Comments defending Palestinian “rights” to land that God has given to the Jews is a perspective that is not based in the real reality. As for me and my house, we will continue to “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem” according to the command of the LORD.
Helen Thomas is the mouthpiece of Lucifer in this. He hates God and God’s chosen ones. However, free speech and free will are two of my favorite aspects of life on earth. Ms. Thomas’ dark soul has been exposed and is causing other’s ignorance to be manifest as well. Good. It’s helpful to know who to avoid and/or vote out.
“Interesting that neither Ms. Thomas, nor any of the commenters, (Lester, et al) giving their interpretation of historical and present-day events in Israel acknowledge that GOD Himself – Yahweh and Lord of Creation – has given the Holy Land, i.e. the Promised Land, Biblical Israel, including and especially Jerusalem, to the children of Israel: Jacob’s descendants, the Jewish people. Forever.”
Well that certainly settles it then.
Ha! The Beauty Queen has retired!
Can I have an Israeli Happy Dance?
One down, now two more years to go…
Elizabeth, I know firsthand of what I wrote. I would never have made such a comparison based on what the media churns out. The use of terrorist tactics has been the undoing of the Palestinian people, to be sure. However, I stand by what I said, they are not all criminals and what is going on over there is inhumane. Palestinian Christians, who dwindle as we speak, are subject to the exact same treatment as their muslim neighbors.
No apology – only a regret.
Her heart is a probably a good deal harder. Although with her commentary, I couldn’t have imagine there was much room for that.
Helen graduate from cantankerous, to cruel, to inhuman. I sincerely hope that this experience awakens in her the realization of what she has become while she is still living, still in the season of being a recipient of God’s Mercy.
y Helen’s logic, we would ALL have to leave the United States and go wherever our ancestors came from, unless one can prove authentic Native American ancestry.
So I guess that means you can stay, Bethany.
And one half of me can stay. The other half of me needs to go back to Spain and Africa.
All you little blondes, pack it up. We’re occupiers, you know.
Posted by: carder at June 5, 2010 9:53 PM
LOL, Carder…that means I can stay, too. :)
Posted by: Hal at June 7, 2010 9:57 AM
“Well that certainly settles it then.”
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Hal,
More than Rov v Wade has settled the issue of pre-natal homocide.
Israel, the ‘chosen’ people, not the same as the political state, never sold or gave away their birthright. They were either dispossessed or occupied but the hereditary deed is still in their father Abraham’s name.
Why do think it is known as ‘the Promised Land’?
Ishmael, Abraham’s first born, though not God’s first choice, was also the beneficiary of a great blessing, but the ‘promised seed’ was destined to come through the union of Abraham and Sarah, the first manifestation being Isaac and the culmination being one Jesus the Christ, the Messiah.
I am sure if you search the surviving records of antiquity for the land demarcated by Abraham’s walk, you will find parcels of land whose title deed is the name of Abraham’s seed which has become more abundant than the sand of the seashore or the stars in the sky.
The enmity between the two seeds Issac and Ishmael will not be put to rest until they are reconciled in the ‘SEED’ which is the Prince of Peace, not only of Jerusalem, but of the whole world. The child of the promise and the child of the slave will be united in the body of Christ.
In the meantime the struggle continues.
That’s HIS story and I am sticking to it.
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Carla,
I am back. I gave myself time off from my ‘time out’ for good behavior, but I am still on a self emposed period of probation.
Posted by: carder at June 6, 2010 7:42 PM
“If the Arabs put down their swords there would be peace. If the Jews put down theirs they’d be dead.”
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“It works for me!”
Osama bin Laden
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Thank you carder for sharing Morris’s prescient comment.
Abraham, I will bless those who bless you [and your seed] and those who curse you [and your seed] will not enjoy my benefits.
“I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians”. No she doesn’t, or she wouldn’t have said it. She just ‘deeply regrets’ that she got caught!
BS”D
Like Hezbollah Helen, Margaret Sanger made no less vile antisemitic statements about Jewish immigrants (and African-Americans, Slavs, Italians, and people with disabilities), yet she is still considered a heroine by feminists, and especially Jewish feminists.
650,000+ Jewish abortions in the US since Roe (info from Jewish Pro-Life Foundation, based on Guttmacher Institute of PP)
Current Jewish population of US: ~4,600,000 and declining
Average number of children per Jewish woman: 1.2 (info from Scott Shay, Getting Our Groove Back: How to Energize American Jewry)
Which bigot should concern Jews more?
Helen Thomas probably believes it is the woman’s fault when her husband beats her up.
If the woman was not there, then the crime would never have occurred.
Wait, in the Muslim crime it is not a crime to beat your wife. It is a crime for failing to do so.
In the muslim culture if a woman is raped, she has committed a crime for arousing the passion in the man who raped her and as such she must be punished.
I do believe I am starting to see some sort of ‘pattern’ in the way muslims see things.
If the Jews were not where the muslims missles are landing then they would not be harmed, therefore it is the Jews fault just for being there.
All you Jews just go away somewhere out of the range of muslim missles and everything will be perfect unless you happen to cross the path of a Jew hating misguided muslim missle with a bomb strapped to her/his chest.
You Jews just have to keep moving and be ever vigilant so that you do not cause your own death by being where you should not be.
“Works for me!”
Osama bin Laden
Bigots are so predictable.
ps: My mom’s maiden name was Bloomingthol. I am not anti-semitic and I am not a self loathing Jew.
I am a son of Abraham both biologically and spiritually and I am at peace with that fact.
I bless Abraham’s ‘seed’ and Abraham’s sons.
Just a little background I heard on the news today.
The two fellows who posed the questions to Helen were yarmulke wearing rabbis who were at the White House for the White House Jewish Heritage Celebration. One of the enterprising fellows captured the Kodak moment on his cell phone and then posted the candid bigotry on youtube.
Helen Thomas is a stereotypical liberal/progressive/humanist caught neck deep in her hypocrisy.
You go girl!