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Jun-09-2010 16:38printcomments

As Israel kills and Maims, Outrage is Directed at Helen Thomas

In Thomas's lifetime Israel has ethnically cleansed over a million people, replaced them with colonists from around the world, committed dozens of massacres, tortured thousands, killed and maimed untold numbers of children...

Salem-News.com
The one and on Helen Thomas, has been covering White House Affairs for half a century; like Dan Rather's report about George W Bush's shoddy and shameful military past,

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Whenever Israel commits yet another atrocity, its defenders are quick to redirect public attention away from the grisly crime scene.

Currently, there are headlines about allegedly anti-Semitic comments made by senior White House correspondent Helen Thomas. Pundits across the land evince outrage at her off-the-cuff 25-second statement made to a man who appears to be holding a camera right in her face.

Thomas issued a public apology for her words, but this was insufficient to assuage the wounded feelings of powerful antagonists, and she has now retired from a long and distinguished career.

Before we examine her comments and evaluate their possible validity, let's look at other recent events having to do with Israel.

On May 31st Israeli commandos killed at least nine unarmed volunteers attempting to take humanitarian supplies to Gaza.

According to eyewitness reports and forensic evidence, many of these aid volunteers were shot at close range, including a 19-year-old American citizen killed by four bullets to the head and one to the chest fired from 18 inches away.

Israel immediately imprisoned eyewitnesses and hundreds of other aid participants, confiscated their cameras, laptops, and other possessions, and prevented them from speaking to the press for days. Among the incarcerated were decorated U.S. veterans and an 80-year-old former ambassador who had been deputy director of Reagan's Cabinet Task Force on Terrorism.

When they finally emerged and were able to tell their stories, many described horrific scenes of Israeli commandos shooting people in the head, of those tending the injured being shot in the stomach, of people bleeding to death while flotilla participants waved white flags and pled for help.

They also described being beaten brutally by Israeli forces, again and again - including those on ships that, in the U.S. media's judgment, experienced "no violence." A 64-year-old piano tuner from California, Paul Larudee, described hundreds of Israeli commandos boarding his ship. When he refused to cooperate with them, soldiers then beat him numerous times both on board the ship and after he was imprisoned on land.

Eventually he was taken by ambulance to an Israeli hospital. He wasn't treated, however, and Larudee believes he was taken there because Israel didn't want media to see his black eye, pronated joints, bruised jaw and body contusions.

Marine veteran Ken O'Keefe described similar beatings while in Israeli custody. In his case, the public was able to see his bloodied, battered face in video clips and still images - but only on the Internet, since American mainstream media failed to report on his press conference or to publish the many still photos of his injuries.

Other gruesome photos available to the American public only on the Internet are of Emily Henochowicz, a 21-year-old American student whose eye and eye socket were recently shattered by Israeli forces. She has since had her eyeball removed, three metal plates inserted in her face, and her jaw wired shut.

Henochowicz was not on the flotilla; she was taking part in a nonviolent demonstration against the Israeli assault when an Israeli soldier shot a high-velocity teargas canister into her face.

A Swedish citizen standing with Henochowicz said, "They clearly saw us. They clearly saw that we were internationals and it really looked as though they were trying to hit us. They fired many canisters at us in rapid succession. One landed on either side of Emily, then the third one hit her in the face."

Henochowicz is not the first to have been shot by such a canister.

Thirty-year-old Basem Ibrahim Abu Rahmeh died when an Israeli soldier shot one at him at close range while Abu Rahmeh participated in a demonstration against Israeli confiscation of Palestinian farmland. A video of this is also available on You Tube; U.S. networks have also chosen not to broadcast this.

Californian Tristan Anderson was shot in the head by a similar canister while he was taking photographs following another demonstration. Part of Anderson's brain was removed and he was in a "minimally responsive state" for 6-7 months.

He is now in a wheelchair, has almost no movement in his left arm and leg, is blind in one eye, and his mental functioning is significantly reduced. Photos of the shooting are also available on the Internet.

Since at least 2006 Israeli forces have closed off Gaza to the outside world, essentially imprisoning 1.5 million men, women, and children, and denying them foodstuffs, medicines, and building materials, as documented by such agencies as Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Christian Aid, which said that Israel was using food and medicine as weapons.

One of the multitudinous victims of this illegal siege is five-year-old Taysir Al Burai, who suffers from an acute neurological disorder and requires round-the-clock care. According to the UK Guardian, he could be cured if Israel would allow him to leave Gaza, but to date his parents' repeated requests have been denied.

Another victim is 7-month-old Mohammad Khader, whose swelling in the brain required specialized treatment unavailable in Gazan hospitals depleted by the Israeli siege. His distraught parents' applications asking Israel to allow them to travel abroad were similarly denied. Their tiny son died a few days ago.

Such stories go on and on.

Thomas's "outrageous" statement

Yet, the rage we see in the U.S. media is directed against none of this. People shot in the head, eyes and brain parts destroyed, the elderly beaten, small children and infants caused to suffer and die, parents to grieve - none of this has caused a hint of anger. In fact, most of it has been considered of too little importance even to report.

Instead, media reports are filled with outrage at "anti-Israel" words spoken by 89-year-old Helen Thomas.

In Thomas's lifetime Israel has ethnically cleansed over a million people, replaced them with colonists from around the world, committed dozens of massacres, tortured thousands of people, killed and maimed untold numbers of children, mangled limbs, and committed outrages on women, old people, the weak and the infirm.

It has assassinated people throughout the world, invaded numerous countries, spied on the U.S., killed and injured 200 American servicemen (the anniversary is this week), and tortured and imprisoned Americans. All while receiving more American money than any other country on earth.

For years, long before her recent words, Thomas has been the target of Israel's vicious American volunteers, the Zionist blogosphere abounding with nasty slurs on her looks and her Lebanese ancestry, this latter also consistently emphasized by the media, despite her Kentucky birth and upbringing.

One of the reasons for the ferocious animosity toward her is the fact that Thomas is one of the very few mainstream reporters to challenge the neocon engendered lies that led the U.S. into wars that have caused massive death, destruction and tragedy and to continue to expose ongoing policies of violence and cruelty.

As the same groups and individuals who pushed the US into attacking Iraq have in recent years been escalating their efforts to push the U.S. to now similarly decimate Iranians under the pretext that Iran might be developing nuclear weapons, Thomas's questioning attempted to elicit from Obama the fact that Israel already posses nuclear weapons. While the rest of the press corps has conspired in the cover-up of this fact and others, Thomas worked to expose them.

Not surprisingly, the many people complicit in these manipulations, such as former Bush spokesperson Ari Fleischer, have led the charge against her.

It is useful to examine the video and context of Thomas's allegedly "anti-Semitic" comment.

A man, apparently holding a camera right in her face, asks for her comments about Israel. She says, "Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine. Remember, these people are occupied. And it's their land..." He interrupts her and asks where they should go. She responds, "They should go home. To Germany, Poland, America, and everywhere else."

While Thomas has since apologized for her hasty words and many Israelis have the right to continue living where they are, the reality is that Israeli settlers did, indeed, come from elsewhere; they are, in fact, illegally occupying Palestinian land (a fact acknowledged even by the U.S. State Department); and international law does require that they leave.

Many commentators evince particular anger at Thomas's inclusion of Germany and Poland as places to which Israeli colonists should return, suggesting that Hitler is still in control and waiting to pounce.

The happy fact is, however, that World War II and the Nazi holocaust ended well over half a century ago. In Poland today there is a vibrant Jewish revival with a 10-foot tall Menorah being lit in the center of Warsaw during Hanukah, and Germany has become, according to the New York Times, "a country where Jews want to live." In fact, in recent years more Jews have chosen to immigrate to Germany than to Israel.

Thomas's call for colonists to return to America (this destination was left out of many articles) is far from outrageous given that a great many West Bank settlers are from the U.S.

Overall, reporting on the incident has largely departed from the standard journalistic practice of quoting people from both sides of an issue. Quotes from Thomas supporters are missing, even though the You Tube page featuring the infamous video contains a large number of comments supporting her. In contrast, quotes from Thomas's detractors, almost all of them Zionists, are ubiquitous, but generally fail to divulge the speakers' frequent conflicts of interest.

For example, the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz quotes Jeffrey Goldberg without mentioning that Goldberg is an Israeli citizen who served as a prison guard at an Israeli prison that held hundreds of Palestinians without charge, some killed in cold blood by the prison commander.

Mainstream media organizations do not seem to have investigated reports that the man who videotaped Thomas, Rabbi David Nesenoff, also made an offensive video featuring himself and another man impersonating a buffoonish Catholic priest and Mexican immigrant.

Similarly, news reports that a high school had disinvited Thomas as a graduation speaker almost never inform readers that many of the school's parents and students wished Thomas to remain, even though this unreferenced group may represent a majority of the school. Members of this group have created a Facebook page, "Helen Thomas should have been our graduation speaker," that states:

"The purpose of this group is to quietly but firmly protest the ability of a small minority to impose its will on the larger group through engaging or threatening to engage in disruptive discourse. This group affirms a belief in reasonable discussion and feel that in this scenario, a clear minority was able to override a larger majority by distorting the issues and discussion."

Replacing Thomas at the upcoming graduation ceremony will be CBS's Bob Schiefer, who has close family ties to George W. Bush and has rarely, if ever, challenged administration falsehoods that sent the nation to war and that keep it there still.

Regarding his reporting on Israel-Palestine, media watchdog Fairness and Accurate In Reporting (FAIR) issued an alert in 2006 objecting to Schiefer's "shallow, dismissive coverage of complicated and tragic events."

It is not known who will take over Thomas's front-row seat at White House briefings. Given the record of the current press corps, it is likely that Israel partisans are breathing a sign of relief.

One more obstacle to the Zionist juggernaut has just been removed.




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Llyn ap William June 12, 2010 3:58 pm (Pacific time)

The sad thing about the attack on the Aid Convoy by Israel is not just that 9 people are confirmed dead and so many were injured but that when Israelis attacked they threw many of the aid workers overboard from the Mavi Marmura. We are still missing up to 17 Aid Workers. Also we now have definite proof that the video footage shown on World TV Stations was not of the Mavi Marmara but of it's sister ship, recently sold and was used by the Israeli Military for training. Yes the Israeli Video was a fraud.


NooR June 12, 2010 10:01 am (Pacific time)

Let a distinguished Jewess with the chutzpah to say what she knows is true, with the strength of one who has seen it all right up close and personal for so many years, and she poses a real danger to the credibility of the dishonest djinn threatened by her insight. Coming from her, those words carry more weight than from some "do good peacenik" or even the bodies of people of strength. Ah the power of the press. It turns like a rabid dog on one of its best at the first flea bite of truth. I am only sorry she felt the need to apologize for being honest!


Mike June 11, 2010 1:48 am (Pacific time)

Jimmy don't waste your time. The authorities wont do a thing. my brother was jumped after school by a group of Mexicans and when an assault complain was filed they said that it had occurred on school grounds and due to the age of the attackers, that they simply believed it was a 'high school tussle' and weren't going to do anything about it. Same as here. "Oh, you mean to tell us that somebody was talking smack on the internet to you? Okay, he is going to have some severe consequences." Regarding the recent events, I think the Elites in the US are backing Israel and funding all this nonsense for a reason...they have some sort of agenda. What it might be we may never know, but don't count on the US doing anything about it, other than continuing to fund Israel.


jimmy June 10, 2010 11:41 am (Pacific time)

warren - Did you just threaten my life? And you wonder why Jews in general get a bad rap? You may be able to pull that kind of crap in your corner of the world but not here buddy . I am hereby demanding SNC provide the IP address of this racist POS so I may take this to the authorities (not the ones you regime controls).


eddie zawaski June 10, 2010 7:49 am (Pacific time)

After reading this story, I checked out Rabbi David Nesenhoff and discovered that he is quite the racist himself and thus the perfect person to "set up" Helen Thomas on charges of racism. Rabbi Neshoff has posted on youtube a video of his called "Holy Weather" in which an actor portrays a Hispanic gangster dressed like a Catholic priest who makes inane comments that are commented on by a character dressed as a rabbi who portrays a reasonable counterpoint to the latino buffoon. It is an incredibly crude piece of anti-hispanic racist propaganda. Rabbi Nesshoff, the racist who entrapped Helen Thomas, then gave an interview on Fox news in which he tried to portray himself as an innocent passerby who just happened to have a camera when he spotted the journalist for some innocent and friendly questions. As the Fox interview goes on, Nesshoff reveals his true motive in publishing the Thomas video when he states, "This is not a person who is giving a story of what the rest of the world should be hearing..." Thus another soldier in Israel's information army has struck yet another blow against truth and justice. It doesn't matter that the man is a racist idiot; what matters is that his message, that Helen Thomas may be a racist, is the story that people will remember and ultimately believe. Like the IDF commando/assassin who executed six peace activists aboard the Mavi Mamara, Nesshoff will probably be given a medal by the state of Israel.


Anonymous June 10, 2010 4:29 am (Pacific time)

Elwynd Did you know any thing about Nakba??? yes Why they have to still and KILL so many people the way they can have their home?? Shame of those people!!


Amanda June 9, 2010 8:43 pm (Pacific time)

Free Press? The media is politically sensitized, and that has absolutely nothing to do with informing the public with unbiased truth. Helen Thomas was not afraid to speak out openly.


Bel Ballard June 10, 2010 1:54 am (Pacific time)

There are no excuses in an honest scenario, to account for the way these events unfolded. I am generally very pro-Israel, but I have to admit that this act confirms much of what I keep hearing, from co-workers, about the deaths and the kneejerk reaction of Israel to act without impunity. It is very alarming.


warren June 9, 2010 6:23 pm (Pacific time)

Here is another story from a person who is godless in belief who is against the Jews. Doe's it ever cross any ones mind that Israel has drawn a line in the sand and said no more. Then we have Americans that think that they are special and they join the other side to get their name in the papers. Well they get their names on head stones and people like this bias reporter get all up on herself thinking a social injustice has been done. Here's a hint LEVE ISRAEL ALONE AND YOU WON'T GET KILLED.

Tim King: Well that is a threat you wouldn't make in person you racist scumbag.  Here's news, people are coming to change things over there.  Some day America will come to its senses and if not, then nations in the Mid East will.  I hope every SOB who ever hurt a Palestinian is locked up.  The world has seen enough of the criminal nonsense.  I have your IP warren, | IP 71.222.92.153 


Lies June 9, 2010 6:13 pm (Pacific time)

HAHA. I stopped reading after this  On May 31st Israeli commandos killed at least nine unarmed  Stop pretending to be a journalist

Editor: Everything in this story is accurate.   To an Israeli like this unnamed wonder, any criticism of Israel equates to not being a journalist. 


Elwynd June 9, 2010 4:53 pm (Pacific time)

Jewish people have every right to go to Jerusalem and buy a house and live there. Why do they have to steal the homes and land of the other people that live there now? Do we condone what was done to the native americans? How can we not see this in the same way? Some people of african heritage choose to return to africa from america and other countries, to live in the land of their heritage, do they amass an army to steal the land of the natives and bomb them because they will not give up their land? My ancient people were the celts and the britts, do i have the right to take back my ancestors spiritual center stonehenge by force? The holocaust certainly makes a good excuse to do this I suppose, I would have to say that we conducted a holocaust of sorts on the african people that were enslaved and killed(as many or more were killed in this than the holocaust on the jewish people), they however have not formed a state akin to Israel to 'take back the homeland' by force.

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