Journalists covering the anti-Israel protests in America generally ignore the depth of the antisemitism built into the protest. But they cover up the hatred of all the Jewish people by only talking about their hatred of Israel. It is reminiscent of a series of reports I once covered. In 2010, I discovered the senior member of the White House press pool, Helen Thomas, was a vicious anti-Semite. Despite the evidence, much of it on video, her peers hid her hatred of Jews by describing it as ‘anti-Israel sentiment.’
The results of using one to hide the other is an element of the Palestinian Authority’s war against Israel. My friend Karma Feinstein Cohen, Executive Director of World Magshimey-Herut and World Herut, explains:
It would not be the hardest case to claim that one of the most anti-Semitic institutions remains the Palestinian Authority.
There is not a day that passes when an official from the PA, or its official media, spews out vitriol against Jews. Not Israelis, or Zionists, frequently used by many as a substitute, but Jews.
(…)Antisemitism in the PA is the fuel that drives their over-100-year war against Jewish sovereignty in its ancestral and indigenous homeland.
It is not a side issue or a distraction. It is the central driver of terror and war against Jews.
There is no chance of peace. However, one sees a resolution to the conflict without addressing Antisemitism and incitement in the PA.
It cannot be moderated or compromised with; it must be defeated
But here in the U.S., I believe it may be a weapon of reporters to calm their fear of upsetting their far-left base.
This narrative started on June 4, 2010, when a friend, Rabbi David Nesenoff, shared a striking video he recorded of Helen Thomas during Jewish Heritage Day at the White House. In the video, the veteran correspondent shockingly told Jews to “”go back to Germany or Poland,” “the deadliest for Jews during the Holocaust. This was one of the tamest comments she made about Jews in the years leading up to her death on July 20, 2013.
David asked if I could help get the video seen. He had already offered it to several mainstream outlets like Newsday and The Jewish Week. Still, none were willing to take on Thomas, who was the senior person of the White House press corps, many of whom still held her in high esteem for years after she passed because it was easier to claim she was anti-Israel than anti-Semitic.
By the time he checked, it had exceeded 750,000 views. I quickly wrote an article for The Lid and BBreitbart’sBig Journalism and submitted it to Scott Baker at Breitbart TV. To boost its visibility, I sent emails and tweets to major media platforms, including the Drudge Report, which mattered back then.
Just two hours later, as I was heading out for a long car ride, I learned the video I fed to the Breitbart platforms, Drudge, and many other websites proved the power of the internet was astonishing. When I turned on the TV five hours later, the same video disregarded by the mainstream media was now front and center in the news.
Two days later, I published a follow-up post suggesting that Thomas should keep her job. She was a symptom of a larger issue—reporters reluctant to write about antisemitism. Firing her would be a superficial solution. Nonetheless, she soon lost her position.
What I didn’t anticipate post-exposure was the media’s fierce defense of Thomas. Within days, David faced slander from Mediaite, while Juan Cole accused me of distorting the video. The backlash included a barrage of hateful emails and comments directed at me.
A friend who covered the WH at the time told me off the record that he was not surprised by her comments. He had heard her make similar ones before. But they did not matter to him because that friend considered her a mentor and was angry that I had the nerve to tell the truth about Thomas. Others were also upset and sent similar emails.
I also received emails from a few prominent White House Press Corps members that used a phrase I thought I would only hear in movies: ” You will never work in the town.” I did.
In the time that followed, despite her retirement from frontline journalism, Thomas continued to make antisemitic remarks, and the media continued to shield her. They insisted her statements were politically motivated rather than hateful, attempting to normalize her bigotry by framing it as anti-Israel.
The reporters I knew and called Ms. Thomas, their mentor, sent me. In the years afterward, Thomas, unencumbered by a “”front line”” media job, made new anti-Semitic comments, but her colleagues in the media were still protecting her. They claimed her slanders were political, not hateful. They refused to say she was anti-Semitic but merely anti-Israel—trying to make her bigotry look better. What they didn’t realize is that hatred of Israel is Antisemitism. She was simply spewing the historic Jew hatred like Jews control the banks, media, congress, or others.
Two years after TThomas’hatred was exposed, Michael Calderone wrote in the Huffington Post:
Two years after the exposure, journalist Michael Calderone noted in the Huffington Post that Thomas, a past president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, retired from Hearst Newspapers due to her “controversial comments about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”” HE LIED! It was due to antisemitism.
Meanwhile, Charles Lewis, a former investigative producer at ABC and CBS, launched a website to celebrate “”independent”” journalists, featuring Thomas among its honorees. The site lied about what she said, stating that she retired after making controversial comments regarding the conflict instead of being pushed out because of antisemitism.
Part of his award page:
Denying Jews the right to a homeland is undeniably anti-Semitic, a sentiment echoed by leaders like the late Pope Francis. Urging Jews to return to the countries where they faced persecution escalated the hatred toward them. The mainstream media continues to downplay Thomas’s anti-Semitic assertions solely related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is misleading at best.
Saying the Jews have no right to a homeland is anti-Semitic; just ask Pope Francis. Telling the Jews to go back to the countries of the Holocaust upped the Jew-hatred ante. The mainstream media continues to whitewash Ms. Thomas’statement that it was only about the “”Israel- Palestinian conflict.“” That is a lie.
If false and defamatory statements about Israel warranted termination, the New York Times newsroom would be nearly empty. In fact, even in Israel, expressing anti-Israel sentiments isn’t grounds for dismissal (just take a look at the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz).
On December 2, nearly six months after the original video surged in popularity, Helen Thomas spoke at a workshop in Dearborn, Michigan, addressing anti-Arab bias. Proving once again that old habits die hard.
At the December 2, 2010 conference, Thomas was asked about her statements in the original video, which ultimately damaged her career. “”paid the price for that,”” she said,” “but it was worth it to speak the truth. The Zionists have to understand that’s their country, too. Palestinians were there long before any European Zionists.”” Alluding to the anti-Semitic claim that Jews control the media,
Thomas went on,”” you cannot say anything (critical) about Israel in this country.”” That was one of the milder things she said that night. She blamed anti-Arab prejudice on Jews, launching into an anti-Semitic tirade about how wealthy Jews control America. In a speech that drew a standing ovation, Thomas claimed that Jews own Congress, Hollywood, and Wall Street, stating that money is deeply involved in politics. “”e are owned by propagandists against the Arabs. TThere’sno question about that. Congress, the White House, Hollywood, and Wall Street are owned by the Zionists. Some of the traditional claims of anti-Semites.
The video below is her full 12-2 speech in Dearborn.
PLAYBOY: That stereotype of Jewish control has been around for more than a century. Do you actually think there’s a secret Jewish conspiracy at work in this country?
THOMAS: Not a secret. It’s very open. What do you mean secret?
PLAYBOY: Well, for instance, explain the connection between Hollywood and what’s happening with the Palestinians.
THOMAS: Power over the White House, power over Congress.
PLAYBOY: By way of contributions?
THOMAS: Everybody is in the pocket of the Israeli lobbies, which are funded by wealthy supporters, including those from Hollywood. Same thing with the financial markets. There’s total control.
(the full Playboy interview is embedded at the end of this post)
Why am I writing about Helen Thomas fifteen years ago? One reason is that if you follow mainstream media reports about the protests of today, they are always called pro-Hamas or anti-Israel, but just like in the days of Helen Thomas, they rarely point out the specific hatred of the Jews. It’s as if reporters are frightened to talk about hatred of Jews.
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) is an intergovernmental organization that has compiled a specific definition of antisemitism. That definition has been endorsed by 35 Member Countries, two UN committees, the European Union Organization of American States, and two international human rights. Many items in that definition endorsed by the U.S. apply to the antisemitic protests. Those items include:
- Accusing the Jews as a people or Israel as a state of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust
- Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
- Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as a collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government, or other societal institutions.
- Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide than to the interests of their own nations.
- Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
- Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
- Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis
All of the above are spewed by the pro-Hamas protestors. All of the above are ignored by the mainstream media.
The story of Ms. Thomas is a case study about the mainstream media targeting Israel to avoid antisemitism. Today, the mainstream media reports about the protests of today; they are always called pro-Hamas or anti-Israel, but just like in the days of Helen Thomas, they rarely point out the specific hatred against Jews. It’s as if they are frightened to talk about hatred of Jews. Mainstream media targets Israel to avoid talking about antisemitism. The truth is that anti-Israel IS antisemitism. But the media targeting of Israel is promoting hatred of Israel. Ignoring antisemitism promotes the false idea that American Jews are part of the majority, making them easier to attack.
Note: Many links for the fifteen-year-old pages used to send readers no longer exist; therefore, the link has been removed.
As promised, below is the entire Playboy interview.
Interview Helen Thomas by Jeffrey Dunetz on Scribd]
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