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While it took Helen Thomas decades to build her reputation and status, it took her mere seconds to mortally wound her career. While I will not side with or against her in this matter, it is worthwhile to examine her remarks and the criticisms presented against them.
Thomas was asked if she had any comments on Israel. Her response was “tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.” When asked for a better comment, she said, “remember, these people are occupied and it’s their land. It’s not German’s. It’s not Poland’s.” When asked about where she thought the Jews should go, she made it clear that “they should go home” and that she regarded their home as “Poland, Germany … and America and everywhere else.”
These remarks led her to be accused of being an “anti-semitic bigot” as well as being ignorant of history.
In terms of the first charge, the main basis for this is an argument by analogy. For example, Ari Fleischer claimed that “If this isn’t bigotry, what is? What she said is as bad as someone saying all blacks should leave America and go back to Africa.”
This analogy does have some merit. After all, saying that people should go home simply because they are a specific ethnicity or faith would seem to be a prejudiced remark. However, the analogy does have some weak points.
One weak point is that the history behind the two compared situations is a bit different. The ancestors of many black Americans were forcibly brought to America. In any case, the blacks who came to America generally did not willing chose to take an active role in the displacement of the native population. Nor did the blacks who came to America use military force to occupy land for the (alleged) protection of a black nation in America. As such, there does seem to be some relevant differences between the two situations. After all, someone could argue that the Israelis who are not descended from the original inhabitants and who are occupying territory that belongs to descendents of other original inhabitants should go back to the lands of their ancestors. If so, a better comparison would, perhaps, be to someone who said that white people should leave America and go home to Europe and the land should be restored to the natives.
Of course, these differences might not be enough to actually break the analogy. After all, it could be argued that what matters is that a group of people were told they should “go home” based on a specific identity and perhaps that is enough to establish a claim of bigotry.
In terms of the second charge, it might be wondered if her remarks show that she is ignorant of history. On one hand, she is correct that many of the people who went to found the modern state of Israel came from other parts of the world including Poland, Germany, and America. As such, that aspect of the claim is accurate. On the other hand, her claim can be challenged. First, it could be easily argued that the Israelis are home. Using her own claim about America being a home, it would seem to follow that Israel is also a home. After all, America is composed of people from around the world and clearly acquired much territory via conquest. As such, if Americans are home in America, Israelis are at home in Israel. Second, it can be argued that modern Israel has a link to the past that makes Israel the historical and legitimate home of the modern Israelis.
Of course, both these replies can be countered. After all, it can be argued that conquest does not make a land into a home and, of course, the notion that modern Israel has such a justifying link to the past can be debated. This does raise the rather large ethical question of what justifies a claim that a land is the home of a group. Is it history? Conquest? Purchase? Long occupation? Being the first there? Or something else (or nothing at all?). Unfortunately, while I have time to raise these questions, hashing them out would go way beyond the scope of this blog.
However, it would seem that the Israelis are legitimately at home-at least as legitimately as the people of many other countries. Which might not be very legitimate at all.
My own view is that Thomas’ remarks were (to say the least) rather unfortunate. However, I am not sure that they prove conclusively that she is a bigot or ignorant. After all, I have learned not to judge a person’s character by a few words but to look at the overall patterns of behavior and expressed belief. Thomas does not seem to have a record of bigotry or ignorance, so perhaps it is unfair to judge her harshly on this one incident. Or perhaps not-perhaps it is fair and just to judge a person on the basis of a single incident such as this.
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Seems to me that she was advocating ethnic cleansing.
Well, she didn’t advocate killing anyone. Just that they go “home.” Perhaps that still counts as cleansing, though.
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:
ethnic cleansing
The creation of an ethnically homogenous geographic area through the elimination of unwanted ethnic groups by deportation, forcible displacement, or genocide. Ethnic cleansing also has involved attempts to remove physical vestiges of the targeted group in the territory through the destruction and desecration of monuments, cemeteries, and houses of worship. Although some critics of the term have claimed that ethnic cleansing is simply a form of genocide, defenders of the usage have noted that, whereas the murder of an ethnic, racial, or religious group is the primary intention of a genocidal policy, the chief goal of ethnic cleansing is the establishment of homogenous lands, which may be achieved by any of a number of methods including genocide. The term was widely employed in the 1990s to describe the brutal treatment of Bosniacs (Bosnian Muslims), ethnic Serbs in the Krajina region of Croatia, and ethnic Albanians in the Serbian province of Kosovo during the conflicts that erupted in the wake of the disintegration of Yugoslavia.
Cleansing it is, then.
I’m going to abstain from judgment here. I hear most on the left and right condemning Thomas for her statements and their condemnations seem justified.
For what it’s worth, Thomas has a Lebanese background. That may inform her views. I remember Thomas as an outspoken critic of Bush at the inception of the Gulf war, so (my opinion) she can’t be all bad. My opinion–for what it’s worth: There’s obvious and superficial bigotry that’s disgusting, and there’s bigotry that infects an entire organism to the degree that the organism could be eliminated with no great loss to the world.
Would someone supply a link to a (hopefully brief) and accurate, unbiased accounting of Israel’s history (One that omits references to “the chosen people” and the Bible except where the ref. is corroborated by confirmed substantial historical reference points, please). I’d like to be able to formulate my own judgments about Israel, Palestine, and Helen Thomas based on facts.
She just said what most media people think.
Maybe she was drunk.
En Vino Veritas….
The media seems to be rather critical of her.
Yeah, they’re pretty sympathetic to Israel…
I respect her for at least being truthful. Most of those in the Left Wing Media do not have as much of a set as she does. Truthfully though, I think she is a toll collecting troll that forgot where her bridge is.
The spirit of her statement seems to be that the Israelis are in someone else’s house at the moment (ala Gaza) and should give it back to them.
Her comment doesn’t seem to be about Jews per se, but rather the Israeli military — who just happen to be Jewish.
Really, I think you have to interpret her in bad faith in order to be offended by anything other than her bluntness on this one.
I don’t think people are offended, just grateful that she is honest and not pretending to be “objective.”
Hmmm. Even she said that what she said was wrong. So is she being honest or less blunt?
Wrong in what sense? That she doesn’t believe what she said, or that her choice of words was unfortunate?
Remember that she’s under duress at the moment.
I didn’t know liches really existed. Is she a 20th level magic user, Mike?
Nope. Liches can be much lower level.
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