Helen Thomas veteran US journalist jolts Zionist lobby

[Nahraf]

Helen Thomas, dean of White House press room journalist, was forced to resign after she criticized Israel barbaric occupation of Palestine and blockade of Gaza. This again proves that nobody in US can criticize Israel and then expect any mercy from Zionist lobby.

Helen Thomas tells Jews to go back to Germany

CBC News - Media - White House reporter retires over Israel remarks

Helen Thomas, who has covered the White House since the days of U.S. president John F. Kennedy, will retire immediately, her employer announced on Monday amid a brewing scandal over recent remarks the veteran Washington journalist made about Israel.

Because of her lengthy tenure, the 89-year-old Thomas — who became a columnist for Hearst Newspapers after leaving her longtime employer United Press International in 2000 — had held the privilege of closing all presidential press conferences with the words "Thank you, Mr. President."

She did not attend Monday's daily press briefing, at which White House press secretary Robert Gibbs criticized her remarks as "offensive and reprehensible."

At an event celebrating Jewish heritage at the White House on May 27, Thomas was captured on video remarking that Jews in Israel should "get the hell out of Palestine" and "go back to Poland, Germany, America and everywhere else."

The video, which was posted to the website RabbiLive.com and quickly spread online, and her comments have been blasted by a host of groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and the White House Correspondents' Association.

On the weekend, Walt Whitman High School — located in a suburb of Washington — also cancelled the speech Thomas was scheduled to deliver at its upcoming graduation ceremony because of the remarks.

Thomas, who has previously courted controversy for her confrontational questioning, apologized for her remarks on Friday.

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

"They do not reflect my heartfelt 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 Kentucky-born Thomas began her journalism career in the 1940s. A trailblazer for female journalists, she was the first female officer of the National Press Club as well as the first female member and first female president of the White House Correspondents Association.

She had often been referred to as "the dean of the White House press corps."

 

[pak-yes]

hmm nothing surprising.So much for Obama's Change.

 

[T-Faz]

Helen Thomas has been around for a very long time and has always been one of the most daring and straight forward journalists amongst the many in the White House press corps.

It is unfortunate that her career had to end this way considering that her services to journalism are highly commendable and always refreshing. I only came to know of her after watching this video where she was brushed aside for her excellent question.

 

[xenia]

n i repeat after her.."GET THE HELL OUT OF PALESTINE!"

She did not attend Monday's daily press briefing, at which White House press secretary Robert Gibbs criticized her remarks as "offensive and reprehensible."

On the weekend, Walt Whitman High School — located in a suburb of Washington — also cancelled the speech Thomas was scheduled to deliver at its upcoming graduation ceremony because of the remarks.

Thomas, who has previously courted controversy for her confrontational questioning, apologized for her remarks on Friday.

Freedom of Speech may be!!

 

[hillman32]

Tide is TURNING.................

 

[Parashuram1]

Anti-Semite. If she had possibly said Zionists in specific, the comment couldn't have been as bad. But this is bias against a certain religion by explicitly naming it.

 

[fallstuff]

Journalist like her are dying breed. Sad indeed.

 

[mr42O]

Helen Thomas retires after Israel remark flap - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON – 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.

 

[raleigh22]

Anti-Semite. If she had possibly said Zionists in specific, the comment couldn't have been as bad. But this is bias against a certain religion by explicitly naming it.

She commented on Israel and those who came there from other places, so it was implied that she referred to Zionists and not all Jews.....

The sad part is if she had said the same thing about Palestinians - if she had said Palestinians should go to Saudi Arabia and Jordan, no one would have batted an eyelid and she would still be in her job today.

 

[Spring Onion]

And she had been forced to resign. Whereas Americans are lecturing us that we dont know the meaning of freedom of speech

 

[Musafar]

57 years down the drain for making one true statement- who runs the media again?

Freedom of speech? yeah right, only if you got the" right" opinions..