Helen Thomas and the Jews

Helen Thomas, the nearly 90-year-old columnist and White House correspondent, stirred up a lot of trouble after some statements she made at a Jewish Heritage Celebration. Thomas complained that the Jews are occupying Palestine and should go back where they came from. She clarified this to mean Germany, Poland, and the US.

Thomas issued her regrets over the weekend but this was too little and she announced her immediate retirement today. Good ridance.

There are still several disturbing things about this. Thomas is old enough to remember first-hand the persecution of the Jews in Hitler's Germany. She should be very aware of why the Jews felt the need for a defensible homeland and why it had to be Israel. As a member of the White House press core, you would think that she would know that "Palestine" was part of Turkey when she was born and became a British possession after WWI.

The matter of fact way that she said this shows that her statements were part of a long-held belief. This echoes statements by the rulers of Iran that the Jews' homeland should be in Europe instead of the middle-east.

Thomas's statement shows that she does not believe that modern Jews are related to the biblical Jews and that Israel does not have a right to exist. Since she didn't think twice about blurting this out, she is either senile or is so used to being among like-thinking friends that it didn't even occur to her that she said anything wrong (or possibly both).

Ironically, a new genetic study of the Jews shows that they are what they have always claimed to be - the biblical Jews, forced to scatter by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago but still a distinct people.