In Defense of Helen Thomas - on apologizing to apologists
By Paul Jay
Helen Thomas was the dean of the White House Press corp. She has a fifty-year history of tough-minded journalism and is one of the very, very few journalists in the mainstream press who has had the guts to question US policy towards Israel. On Monday she was pressured into resigning, "effective immediately".
On Friday she was asked by a guy who stuck a video camera in her face, for any comments on Israel and she said, "Tell them to get the get the hell out of Palestine. Remember, these people [the Palestinians] are occupied and it's their land. It's not Germany, it's not Poland." She was asked where they should go and she answered, "They should go home, to Poland, Germany and America". The video has been making its way around the Internet.
This was said days after the Israeli attack on the aid flotilla that killed at least nine activists as their boat sailed in international waters.
She later apologized in a short statement on her website ""I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. They do not reflect my heart-felt 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."
Her apology was not enough to stop calls for her head from those who have wanted to shut Thomas up for years.
Whole article...
First of all the only attack that took place was the attack on the Israeli solders that Fast-roped onto the deck of that ship and got the crap beat out of them by steel bar welding thugs. They were stabbed and beaten and their pistols taken away. Their aim was to force the ship into port in a peaceful manner. They had no intention on shooting anyone which is why they carried paint-ball guns. In the attempt to defend themselves they ended up shooting several of the thugs that attacked them with the pistols they had left.
Secondly....Israel belongs to Israelis and has for thousands of years. They lost most of their lands and only recently took it back in the 40s. They aren't occupiers...the Palestinians used to be brothers and neighbors of the Jews in Palestine but decided that their new religion was more important then peace and harmony.
And thirdly....Helen Thomas wants the Jews to go back to Poland and Germany where they fled the holocaust. Six million of them were put to death. Would you hang around after that? Maybe Helen needs to reread history. Most of the living Jews were born in Israel....they are home now.
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