Helen Thomas had this to say about Israel and the Israelis on Jewish Heritage Day at the White House on May 27:
This is not merely the confused thoughts of a senile old lady. Thomas, though quite aged, is still working at the White House and expressing what she has always felt. She is a fierce critic of Israel. A couple of years back, in answer to a query, she acknowledged that she had never read the Hamas charter, but brushed it off as she continued to condemn the Israelis. (The Hamas charter rejects negotiation as a waste of time and calls for the destruction of the Jewish state-period.
Helen Thomas, of course, has the right to express her views, even as she masquerades as a journalist. One would hope that being a journalist, she might take the time to read the Hamas charter, which is important to anyone wanting to see both sides of the Middle East conflict. She might also try to be a little more sensitive about making statements that Israelis (Jews) should "go home". Setting aside the arguments that there has always been some sort of Jewish presence in the Holy Land and the fact that Jerusalem was a Jewish capital some 3,000 years ago(minor points), Thomas, an Arab of Lebanese origin, might consider how she would feel if one were to tell her she ought to "go home".
One of the many foolish steps taken by George W. Bush in his delusion that "freedom is on the march" was his insistence on "free elections" in the Palestinian Authority, when it was more than obvious that Hamas would win. The reason they were obviously going to win is that Fatah was so notoriously corrupt and gang-ridden, but that doesn't make election of Hamas a great leap forward for democracy in the middle east.
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