Salute to Helen Thomas

SUBHEAD: She started with JFK, survived Bush, but not Obama. It has became politically correct to condemn Helen Thomas.

Image above: Detail from photo in Kennedy Oval Office. Helen Thomas at center. From (http://www.jfklibrary.org)

By Juan Wilson on 8 June 2010 -

Six months ago I wrote an article titled "Israel as Failed State". I still believe that what I once admired as a progressive nation has become its own worst enemy. That is what veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas was attuned to when she made here indelicate remarks that ended her career this week.

Here's a report from www.jta.org (http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/06/08/2739500/helen-thomas-enter-the-maverick-exit-the-bigot):

"Teenager Adam Nesenoff and his father, Rabbi David Nesenoff, are pretty far down the media food chain.

The son, an active member of the National Council for Synagogue Youth, the Orthodox Union’s affiliated youth group, runs his own newsy site, Shmoozepoint.com. Dad operates a website called RabbiLive.com and sometimes portrays the satirical character of Julio Ramirez, a Hispanic priest who teams with a rabbi to deliver “Holy Weather” reports.

So it was impressive enough that both managed to snag media credentials for the American Jewish Heritage Month celebration May 27 at the White House. But in the past week, the senior Nesenoff took things to another level, turning his few hours as a hobnobber into 15 minutes of fame as the YouTube journalist who brought down a media icon.

It was the rabbi, armed with a camera and accompanied by his son and his teenage friend, who went around asking notables if they had any "comments on Israel."

As the world now knows, Helen Thomas sure did. "Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine," the doyenne of the Washington press corps said, and laughed. "Remember, these people are occupied, and it's their land."

Nesenoff asked where she thought they should go. "Go home," she responded. Asked to elaborate, Thomas said, "Poland, Germany and America, everywhere else."

Well, the attack by Israel on unarmed ships attempting bring goods to Gaza reinforces my sense that Helen Thomas had it right. The European diaspora of surviving Jews after World War II to Palestine to was a mistake. It has contributed greatly to the growing catastrophe that is Middle East politics. Since WWII thre has been continued emigration from USA a(nd then the collapsed USSR). In my opinion all incursions of Israeli settlements in the occupied lands of West Bank should be dismantled. Plans should begin to dismantle Israel as a nation that is mistakenly intertwined with race and religion. That is what Zionism is - the equivalence of race, religion and nation. It is the antithesis of how we interpret our own founding principles. The unfortunate truth is we are allies with the Israel government not because it shares what are our principles. We are allies because they share our military and geo-political strategy to dominate the Middle East. They are partners in our imperial interests. Our pitbulls in a bad neighborhood. Helen Thomas was born in Detroit, in 1920, of Lebanese immigrant parents. After almost two decades as a reporter for United Press International she began her role in the White House Press Corps in 1960 with the inauguration of President John Kennedy. She never pulled her punches, and touched such embarrassing issues with G. W. Bush that be stopped taking her questions. Helen is almost 90 and it may be a good time for her to retire. She was not pretty and she was very thorny. But I hail her perseverance, courage and dedication to dealing with the tough issues. The "Gotcha!" moment that destroyed her reputation in the end may be seen as what is likely an uncomfortable truth. The current nation of Israel should not exist. It was really not much more than a convenience for Europeans who wished the whole "Jewish Problem" would just go away. Well, it hasn't. .