Longtime White House press correspondent Helen Thomas has offered an opinion about the Israeli-Palestinian situation that is, well, deeply offensive. Thomas was recently asked at a White House Jewish Heritage Celebration what her thoughts were on Israel. “Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine,” said the near-90-year-old as she laughed. “Remember, these people are occupied. It’s not (Israel’s) land.” Asked by a rabbi what the Jews should do, Thomas said “[Go] home. Poland. Germany.” “Home,” of course, being where six million Jews were murdered. The B’nai B’rith issued a statement saying Thomas “demonstrates an outrageous and complete lack of understanding of history.”
Helen Thomas works for Hearst Newspapers A Hearst spokesman emailed ABC on Saturday with a halfhearted “We deeply regret Helen Thomas’ remarks, which in no way reflect the views of Hearst Newspapers or its employees.” Put aside where you stand on the conflict in Israel for a moment and wonder: Were she have to told any other minority to “go home,” would the reaction have been the same? It’s hard to find this story in the MSM – although Fox News did devote some time to it. Bloggers are doing a decent job spreading the word. Thomas did apologize, sort of, writing on her blog that she regretted her comments.
Here’s Helen Thomas, in her own words.
Ari Fleischer, the former Bush White House Press Secretary, has called for Thomas to be fired. “As someone who is Jewish, and as someone who worked with her and used to like her, I find this appalling,” Fleischer said in an email to the Huffington Post. “How can Hearst stand by her?” Fleischer asked. “If a journalist, or a columnist, said the same thing about blacks or Hispanics, they would already have lost their jobs.” Former Clinton spokesman Lanny Davis issued a statement calling for Thomas to be suspended from the White House press room and suspended from Hearst.
UPDATE: Politico reports that the speakers’ agency that represents Thomas, Nine Speakers, has dropped her. From the company’s statement: “Nine Speakers is no longer able to represent Ms. Thomas, nor can we condone her comments on the Middle East.” (Via @lostremote tweet follower @gabbycat.)
UPDATE: Thomas bows out as high school commencement speaker because of controversy.