This is the latest in a series on the use of the race card for political gain:
Scratch someone who claims U.S. policy is not sufficiently balanced in the Middle East, find what we always knew to be true:
There are many calls for Helen Thomas to be fired. I disagree.
Thomas is a good, working example not only of media bias, but how the race card is played in the information war against Israel.
The Islamist-Leftist Coalition repeatedly seeks to delegitimize Israel by claiming that Israelis are Europeans who should go back home. This racial component is key to portraying Israelis as European racists and denying the legitimacy of Israel through coalitions with “people of color.”
But the portrayal of Israel as a European implant is false.
In the immediate aftermath of Israel’s War of Independence (after the Arabs rejected the U.N. partition plan which would have created the first Palestinian state ever), approximately 850,000 Jews fled or were expelled from Arab and other Muslim countries, with the majority going to Israel.
What happened in 1947-1949 was an exchange of populations, with roughly equal numbers of non-Jewish Arabs leaving what now is Israel and the West Bank, and Jews leaving Arab and Muslim countries to go to Israel.
Those Jewish refugees from Muslim countries, and their descendants, now account for roughly half of Israel’s population.
Israel also went to great lengths to rescue the Ethiopian and Yemeni Jewish communities, among others. I have embedded video of Operation Solomon below, because the beauty of that event contrasts so nicely with the ugliness and ignorance of Thomas’ comments.
Most of Israel’s Jewish population also has known no other home. As of 2008, 76.4% of Israelis were Jewish, of whom 67.1% were born in Israel, 22.6% in Europe or America, 5.9% Africa, and 4.2% in Asia.
Keep Helen Thomas right where she is. And keep her talking.
Helen Thomas’ greatest accomplishment as a journalist is to have exposed the true, ugly face of Israel’s critics.
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Comments
Yes, yes, keep them all talking. I welcome the racist, putrid insight. Educate me further, with proof, to what is wrong and vile beyond the sphere of my closeted life of middle class taxpaying, the betterment of my childrens education and the heavenliness absorbtion of my heart with the love story I share with my first born grandson. My Jewish born Lord conquers all.
While I understand your reasoning, I disagree with you. By allowing her to continue to work and earn a paycheck. Hearst is acting as if her comments were accurate and acceptable.
Imagine, if you will, that she made these remarks not about the Jews, but about Hispanics or Blacks. That they should go back to where they belong. Would you say she should continue to be employed?
Unfortunately, in today's world, too many people agree with her sentiments. She needs to be made an example for the world to know she is a lying old hag.
I agree. In any case, I'm against the kneejerk calls for people to resign or be fired for exercising their free speech. It really doesn't seem very American. Let the people, the marketplace, decide whether they wish to listen to her or not.
Count Frankula and Charles Blow are able to detect widespread racism at Tea Party events where none exists and Maureen Dowd is able to hear Joe Wilson yell "you lie, boy!" to President Obama when what Joe Wilson actually yelled was "you lie!".
I fully expect the crackerjack opinion shapers at The New York Times will have harsh words for Helen Thomas in tomorrow's paper.
I also expect pigs will fly.
If Helen Thomas' outburst resulted in this excellent summary of the lesser known facts surrounding the founding of Israel, then yes, keep her and people like her in the public eye. However, her remarks need to be investigated in the context of a journalist doing his/her job. "Editorializing" to this extent is ethically against accepted professional behavior (standards that are dying) for a professional journalist.
Thanks to Helen… and to Mosab Hassan Yousef… and to you…. for helping to wake me up!
I have to admit that, until a few months ago, my thoughts were really misguided about the Gaza situation:
http://syd4.blogspot.com/2010/06/not-taking-sides-in-israeli-gaza-matter.html
Ok, seriously, professor, you need to put a big warning on this website. Something that says NSFW or "WARNING: Content may be inappropriate for children under 18."
Either that, or we need to get the FCC to outright ban all extreme close-ups of Helen Thomas. *shudders*
You have succinctly stated what I have attempted to point out to other folks. Thank you.