It was last June that longtime White House scribe Helen Thomas was interviewed on camera by RabbiLive.com’s David Nesenoff, an interview that landed Thomas in such hot water that she was ultimately dropped by her employer, Hearst Newspapers, and left the White House press corps.
But Thomas hasn’t exactly gone away. She’s continued to chime in on current events and still occasionally receives honors for her life’s work, albeit not without resulting controversy.
She now pens commentary for the smaller audience of the Falls Church News-Press, and the anniversary provides an opportunity to assess what has transpired and how it’s affected Thomas’s legacy.
“I’ve recovered,” Thomas told POLITICO. “I do miss the White House, I must say. … But I’m getting along.” Thomas said that she has applied for White House press credentials but has yet to hear back and assumes that the answer is “no.”
Many who criticized Thomas at the time of her remarks say the ensuing months have only made matters worse, claiming that she has embraced her controversial views more fully.
“She’s re-emphasized it,” said Nesenoff. “At the time, everybody was saying, ‘Oh, the devil must be in the details, maybe I asked it a certain way or maybe she’s old or was caught off guard.’ They were trying to figure out why she said this. But she spent the last year reconfirming her feelings, and those feelings being that Israel should not exist in no uncertain terms.”
“Whatever served as the trigger to bring her hateful beliefs out into the open is a matter for sociologists and historians to ponder,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. “But it has become clear since the controversy erupted a year ago that her remark that Jews should ‘get the hell out of Palestine’ and return to Europe was anything but a one-off slip of the tongue. We now know from her subsequent remarks that she was, and is, deeply infected with anti-Semitism.”
Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, another frequent critic of Thomas, shares the sentiment. “What started out as sad has only become sadder,” Fleischer said. “In the immediate aftermath of the controversy, Helen admitted she shouldn’t have said what she said, and she apologized, only to later take back her apology while reiterating her horrible statement about Jews. Helen’s views were repugnant then, and they remain repugnant today.”
Thomas rejects such criticism.
“I was called anti-Semitic, which is the automatic reflex for people who don’t think Israel is doing the wrong thing or on the wrong track. … I’ve never shut my mouth about Israel and its aggression and brutality against Palestinians. It’s never been news to people who know me.”
Thomas’s current employer, however, is upbeat about her future.
“She’s been terrific working for me,” Nicholas Benton, owner and editor of the Falls Church News-Press, wrote in an email. “She’s got a great sense of humor and is right on time with her column each week. … Helen acquitted herself very well by sticking to her guns on the Palestinian issue, while insisting she is not anti-Semitic, per se (she’s a Semite, herself). The video used to discredit her a year ago was edited so as to appear she felt Jews should return to concentration camps by excluding or ignoring her reference to ‘going back to America’ as well, meaning that the Israeli government campaign to get new waves of immigrants to come and occupy the West Bank was what she was talking about.”
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9 Responses
She lives so long because G-d won’t have her & the Soton thinks she’s doing a great job here.
What an evil old witch.
Bestbubby…they are just preparing the slow roaster that will sit beside the other rashas or they are trying to get through the list of volunteers to turn the spit.
I challenge Frau Helen tHAMAS or anyone else on this site to answer the following questions:
In what year did “Palestine” first become a sovereign country?
Who was its first President, Prime Minister, King, etc?
What was its capital?
What was the foundation of its economy?
Was this “Palestine” recognized as a sovereign nation by any other country so as to leave no room for doubt?
Can you name one “Palestinian” leader prior to Yassir Arafat (ym”sh)?
And, finally – since no such country exists today, what caused its demise?
I promise to pay $1 million bucks to anyone who can answer all of these questions truthfully and completely.
Thomas Helen would be a more fitting name for this thing.
#3
1 answer to all the questions:
You dont have a million dollars!
In what year did “Palestine” first become a sovereign country?
Unclear, but it certainly was at the time of Avraham.
Who was its first President, Prime Minister, King, etc?
The first one I’m aware of is Avimelech. Presumably there were kings before him.
What was its capital?
Gerar
What was the foundation of its economy?
I’d assume sea-trading, although they also went to war a lot, and had some agriculture (judging from the gifts Avraham got)
Was this “Palestine” recognized as a sovereign nation by any other country so as to leave no room for doubt?
Assuming Avraham counts, yes.
Can you name one “Palestinian” leader prior to Yassir Arafat (ym”sh)?
Avimelech .
And, finally – since no such country exists today, what caused its demise?
It fell to the Assyrians.
Be more careful about your promises in the future.
Mosheemes2. Very cute answer but you’re confusing Palesine with Plishtim which was a country on the coast of Eretz Yisrael. Mik5 is correct. There never was a Palestine so his million is safe. Obviously his questions were rhetorical.
Helen Thomas is just a fact that evil has its players. She is not an institution and she will not endure the ages of righteousness and the call for honor and dignity.
Dear Mr. Benton:
While “semites” refers to a rather large group of people in the middle-east, the term “Anti-Semites” has a specific meaning. In 1880, Wilhelm Marr published “antisemitsmus” and formed the “League of Antisemites” to combat Jewish “power” in Germany. Ms. Thomas is semitic but, yes, she is an Antisemite.