Pulse
On the White House lawn just over a week ago, veteran Press Corps reporter Helen Thomas was asked by a rabbi* whether she had any words about Israel. She replies: “Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.” For this off-the-cuff comment, the disingenuous response from the site RabbiLive.com and the Weekly Standard is to call her the predictable epithets.Keep in mind that Thomas was asked and responded about Israel, not Jews in general.
Contrary to the video clip (below) — which wields the Holocaust card but conveniently neglects to mention the Palestinians — Thomas already knows a number of indigenous Arab Jews had co-existed in Palestine with Christian and Muslim Arabs.
She was clearly referring to the Jews from outside the Middle East, from Russia, Poland and Germany. There is nothing controversial about objecting to an israeli law that would see any of these Jews automatically granted citizenship where it directly displaces and violates the rights of those actually indigenous to the region, the Palestinians. That is what is controversial.
Thomas has nothing to apologize for. At most, her choice of words may have been unqualifiedly quick and injudicious. But ‘despicable’, ‘beyond disturbing’ and Judeophobic? The attempts to discredit her are laughable and she’ll probably win even more fans with her courage.
*Rabbi David F. Nesenoff interviewed Helen Thomas on the White House Lawn on American Jewish Heritage Celebration Day at the White House.
Uprooted Palestinian
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