Helen Thomas retires after Israel remark flap

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Longtime Washington journalist Helen Thomas abruptly retired Monday as a columnist for Hearst News Service following remarks she made about Israel that were denounced by the White House and her press corps colleagues.

The 89-year-old Thomas, dean of the White House press corps, has long been a fixture in Washington and has been lauded as a pioneering journalist who has covered presidents since 1960.

Known for her confrontational questioning, Thomas apologized for comments that were captured on video and have spread widely on the Internet. On the May 27 video, Thomas says Israelis should "get the hell out of Palestine," suggesting they go to Germany, Poland or the U.S.

Hearst announced her retirement, effective immediately, shortly after White House press secretary Robert Gibbs called her remarks "offensive and reprehensible."

The White House Correspondents Association also issued a rare statement, calling her comments "indefensible."

"Many in our profession who have known Helen for years were saddened by the comments, which were especially unfortunate in light of her role as a trail blazer on the White House beat," said the statement, signed by journalists who are officers of the association.

Thomas had been scheduled to speak at the June 14 graduation of Walt Whitman High School in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Md., but Principal Alan Goodwin wrote in a Sunday e-mail to students and parents that she was being replaced.

"Graduation celebrations are not the venue for divisiveness," Goodwin wrote.

Thomas wrote on her website that "I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians."

She added: "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."

The national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham H. Foxman, said Sunday that Thomas' apology didn't go far enough.

"Her suggestion that Israelis should go back to Poland and Germany is bigoted and shows a profound ignorance of history," Foxman said in a statement. "We believe Thomas needs to make a more forceful and sincere apology for the pain her remarks have caused."

Thomas began her long career with the wire service United Press International in 1943, and started covering the White House in 1960, according to a biography posted on her website. She became a columnist for Hearst in 2000.
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While she made a mistake I don't thinks she should be forced to retire. The mistreatment of Palestinian by Israel is often ignored.
 
[quote name='RAMSTORIA']a stupid comment but an even more stupid reaction.[/QUOTE]

I would be more apt to read your posts if you had a pic of Joan Holloway sans the accordion.
 
She resigned. Don't expect people on the other side who said the same thing about Palestinians to resign though. What she said got her in trouble, but only because she was talking about the wrong group of people.

EDIT: Like I said, the wrong group of people:
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn0508.html
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well, just to repeat, you believe that the Palestinians who are now living on the West Bank should get out of there?
DICK ARMEY: Yes.


Happily employed at FreedomWorks, only a bunch of terrorists condemned his statement.
 
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Helen Thomas says something like this, suddenly she hates jews. Rand Paul says he has issues with how far the civil rights act goes, and he's just championing the rights of business owners.
 
[quote name='Clak']Helen Thomas says something like this, suddenly she hates jews. Rand Paul says he has issues with how far the civil rights act goes, and he's just championing the rights of business owners.[/QUOTE]


Yeah, rand paul might as well have said those darkies should go back to Africa!!

Helen Thomas didn't say anything like that!

Oh, wait...
 
You realize they just because Jews think of Israel as their homeland, not every Jew in Israel is actually from Israel, right? By saying to go home she meant to go home to whatever country they're actually from. German Jews go to Germany, Polish Jews to Poland and so on. I've never understood why Jews even need a "homeland." No other religious group has a homeland, there is no Christian homeland for all Christians, nor Muslimland for Muslims. It makes no logical sense why they needed this land. The British simply carved up the land of a people who were already there and said "This is Israel, deal with it." Imagine if someone tried to do that to a US territory, there would be war. Of course we don't have to worry about that because we are actually able to defend ourselves against such a thing.

Honestly it's no different than if a Native American told all non-natives to go back to wherever their ancestors came from. They didn't want us here just as the Palestinians didn't want their land taken from them either. The only difference is that the Native Americans were able to do little about it, but the Palestinians refuse to give up.

Let me save you the keystrokes: JEW HATER!!!!lolz
 
[quote name='Clak']No other religious group has a homeland, there is no Christian homeland for all Christians, nor Muslimland for Muslims.[/QUOTE]

As far as Islam goes, there are plenty of countries living under the law of Sharia. America is already pretty Christian, and if American Christians get their way our law will forbid anything condemned by their personally held moral philosophy (IE pro-life, anti-gay, creationist, anti-euthanasia...)

I don't see the need for a homeland either but let's be honest, all Abrahamic religions are guilty of pushing this rhetoric.

EDIT: For the record, I think they should just deal with the situation they have over there and try to find a way to make peace. However I don't think either side really wants peace, they want a holy war.
 
This woman is such a fool. She says something like this while she and all of us live on land taken from Native Americans. What a hypocrite. I didn't see anywhere where she was going to give her property back to Native Americans and go back where ever the hell she came from.
 
It says it in the bible Clak. Don't you know ANYTHING?

HUCKABEE: There was a little bit of a lame apology given by Helen Thomas, but it was pretty lame. Her comments were outrageous, anti-Semitic, racist, indefensible. She says that the Jews ought to go home. Helen, they are home. They are home. Read Genesis 15, Exodus 23, Numbers 34, that’s why they are where they are. Helen, I’ve got a suggestion, maybe it’s time for you to go home.
 
The Jew I'm married to prefers warm weather.

My coworker that knows absolutely nothing about politics walks into my office yesterday and says I have to go to the news on Yahoo! I get there and he points at a picture and goes "does that not look exactly like the Joker"? It was Helen Thomas. Jesus H that old bag is rough on the eyes.
 
[quote name='camoor']As far as Islam goes, there are plenty of countries living under the law of Sharia. America is already pretty Christian, and if American Christians get their way our law will forbid anything condemned by their personally held moral philosophy (IE pro-life, anti-gay, creationist, anti-euthanasia...)

I don't see the need for a homeland either but let's be honest, all Abrahamic religions are guilty of pushing this rhetoric.

EDIT: For the record, I think they should just deal with the situation they have over there and try to find a way to make peace. However I don't think either side really wants peace, they want a holy war.[/QUOTE]
Oh I know plenty of Middle Eastern countries have laws and government based around Islamic law, and I know all too well the influence of Christians in the US. In fact there are times that I wish the fundies in the US would get their own land and leave the rest of us alone. Jews are still the only people with a homeland, and like you I really don't understand why.

[quote name='IRHari']It says it in the bible Clak. Don't you know ANYTHING?

HUCKABEE: There was a little bit of a lame apology given by Helen Thomas, but it was pretty lame. Her comments were outrageous, anti-Semitic, racist, indefensible. She says that the Jews ought to go home. Helen, they are home. They are home. Read Genesis 15, Exodus 23, Numbers 34, that’s why they are where they are. Helen, I’ve got a suggestion, maybe it’s time for you to go home.[/QUOTE]
:lol: Huckabee.
 
[quote name='speedracer']The Jew I'm married to prefers warm weather.

My coworker that knows absolutely nothing about politics walks into my office yesterday and says I have to go to the news on Yahoo! I get there and he points at a picture and goes "does that not look exactly like the Joker"? It was Helen Thomas. Jesus H that old bag is rough on the eyes.[/QUOTE]

But she shags like a minx.
 
[quote name='speedracer']My wife or Helen Thomas?[/QUOTE]

2364.jpg
 
I agree with her... if people bothered to listen to the entire clip and not just react on the two lines quoted in the mainstream press then they would understand the context.

Yes, they need to get out of Palestine. This is a 40+ year old ILLEGAL occupation. If you cannot get along with the inhabitants and need to steal more of the little land they have left, YOU should get the fuck out. Not the indigenous population. To have an idea of what land concessions the Israelis have attempted to force watch this excellent flash presentation.
http://www.gush-shalom.org/media/barak_eng.swf

And who exactly is she talking about should go back to "Germany, Poland, AMERICA, and other countries"? The settlers! You know, the ones that are ILLEGAL according to international law? Not all Israelis. Most Americans do not know that if you are Jewish, never lived in Israel, you have a right to live there. And get this, you get a plot of land. And guess what, it is often Palestinian land. Hence the modern day settler. But, lets see... 5 MILLION displaced Palestinians and according to Israel, they have NO RIGHT OF RETURN. This is the level of fascist control over the OCCUPIED territories.

Even if you want to take this as some anti-Semitic statement (as any criticism of the state of Israel is OF COURSE anti-Semitic), what are words compared to action? So, people allegedly call for "the destruction of Israel." (I know what you will cite and those were reported incorrectly and our stellar media does oh so good a job of researching allegations.)

What is indisputable is that a certain little country is ACTUALLY engaged in the destruction of a land and people. We call this ethnic cleansing. What is the ILLEGAL occupation for? What are the illegal settlements for? What is the ILLEGAL blockade for?

So, we live in a world where words (that aren't pro-Israel) are worse than actions (crimes of Israel). Crimes according to Amnesty Intl, Human Rights Watch, the UN. Even the Goldstone report labeled war crimes by Israel. But, I guess this man who has been a Zionist is now a self-hating Jew Zionist.
 
[quote name='Clak']You realize they just because Jews think of Israel as their homeland, not every Jew in Israel is actually from Israel, right? By saying to go home she meant to go home to whatever country they're actually from. German Jews go to Germany, Polish Jews to Poland and so on. I've never understood why Jews even need a "homeland." No other religious group has a homeland, there is no Christian homeland for all Christians, nor Muslimland for Muslims. It makes no logical sense why they needed this land. The British simply carved up the land of a people who were already there and said "This is Israel, deal with it." Imagine if someone tried to do that to a US territory, there would be war. Of course we don't have to worry about that because we are actually able to defend ourselves against such a thing.

Honestly it's no different than if a Native American told all non-natives to go back to wherever their ancestors came from. They didn't want us here just as the Palestinians didn't want their land taken from them either. The only difference is that the Native Americans were able to do little about it, but the Palestinians refuse to give up.

Let me save you the keystrokes: JEW HATER!!!!lolz[/QUOTE]
:applause: Let me add to this: fuck Israel and the people who feel it's their duty to protect the bullshit this nation perpetrates on a daily basis.

[quote name='GuilewasNK']This woman is such a fool. She says something like this while she and all of us live on land taken from Native Americans. What a hypocrite. I didn't see anywhere where she was going to give her property back to Native Americans and go back where ever the hell she came from.[/QUOTE]
:applause: Personally, I don't know which nation I'd rather go back to if given a choice. Father's family is Russian, Mother's family is Polish. Decisions, decisions.:D
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']The cool thing about mature porn is you know it isn't kiddie porn.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, but American porn will still always be 30 year old teenagers and 22 year old childless MILFs.

[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']
:applause: Personally, I don't know which nation I'd rather go back to if given a choice. Father's family is Russian, Mother's family is Polish. Decisions, decisions.:D[/QUOTE]

If it helps, Russian sausage sucks.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']The cool thing about mature porn is you know it isn't kiddie porn.[/QUOTE]

Famous last words, look up progeria.
 
[quote name='Msut77']Famous last words, look up progeria.[/QUOTE]
That's the disease that Robin Williams' character had in the movie Jack, right?

The ending to that movie was SO sad.:cry:
 
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