thenoobyorker:

shortformblog:

Not what you think: Helen Thomas appearing in Playboy in April: “I knew exactly what I was doing — I was going for broke,” the disgraced Dean of the White House Press Corps says in her first major interview since being fired. (via producermatthew) Follow

To quoth Gandhi (from Clone High), “say whaaaaaaat?”

I’d really love it if my followers would read this exchange.

On the aftermath of her May 27 remarks about Israel: “I went into self-imposed house arrest for two weeks…Every columnist and commentator jumped on me immediately as anti-Semitic.  Nobody asked me to explain myself.  Nobody said, ‘What did you really mean?’”

On the situation in Palestine: “Everybody knows my feelings that the Palestinians have been shortchanged in every way.  Sure, the Israelis have a right to exist – but where they were born, not to come and take someone else’s home.  I’ve had it up to here with the violations against the Palestinians…[The Palestinians] are incarcerated and living in an open prison.  I say to the Israelis, ‘Get out of people’s homes!’  It’s unacceptable to have soldiers knocking on a door at three in the morning and saying, ‘This is my home.’  And forcing people out of homes they’ve lived in for centuries?  What is this?  How can anybody accept it?  I mean, Jewish-only roads?  [She later corrected herself to say Israeli-only roads.]  Would anyone tolerate something like that in America?  White-only roads?”

On Palestinian violence against the Israelis: “Of course I don’t condone any violence against anyone.  But who wouldn’t fight for their country?  What would any American do if their land was being taken?  Remember Pearl Harbor.  The Palestinian violence is to protect what little remains of Palestine.  The suicide bombers act out of despair and desperation.  Three generations of Palestinians have been forced out of their homes – by Israelis – and into refugee camps.”

On American support of Israel: “We keep giving Israel everything.  Our government bribes the Israelis by saying, ‘Please come to the [negotiating] table and we’ll give you this and we’ll give you that’…Why do you have to bribe people to do the right thing?  I don’t want my government bribing anybody.  I want them demanding.  Stop all this aid to Israel when they’re killing people!…Why do they send my American tax dollars to perpetuate it?”

On Jews: “I think they’re wonderful people.  They had to have the most depth.  They were leaders in civil rights.  They’ve always had the heart for others but not for Arabs, for some reason.  I’m not anti-Jewish; I’m anti-Zionist.”

On Jewish persecution and victimization: “The slaughter of Jews stopped with World War II…They were liberated since then.  And yet they carry on the victimization.  American people do not know that the Israeli lobbyists have intimidated them into believing every Jew is a persecuted victim forever – while they are victimizing Palestinians…Why do they inflict the same pain on people who did nothing to them?”

On memorializing the Holocaust: “There’s nothing wrong with remembering it, but why do we have to constantly remember? We’re not at fault.  I mean, if they’re going to put a Holocaust museum in every city in Germany, that’s fine with me.  But we didn’t do this to the Jews.  Why do we have to keep paying the price and why do they keep oppressing the Palestinians?  Do the Jews ever look at themselves?  Why are they always right? Because they have been oppressed throughout history, I know.  And they have this persecution.  That’s true, but they shouldn’t use that to dominate.”

On the Jews’ influence and power: “[The Jews are] using their power, and they have power in every direction…Power over the White House, power over Congress…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…It isn’t the two percent.  It’s real power when you own the White House, when you own these other places in terms of your political persuasion.  Of course they have power.  [To the interviewer] You don’t deny that.  You’re Jewish, aren’t you?”

On what her obituary will say: “[Eyes suddenly fill with tears] Oh, I know what they’re going to say: ‘anti-Semite’…They don’t give a damn about the truth.  They have to have it their way, and they’ll be writing my obituary…I don’t care what they write about me…Because of what happened recently, people are going to remember me a certain way.  The truth is, I don’t hate anybody.  I care deeply about people.  I care for the poor, the sick, the lame, the harmed, those who’ve been treated unjustly.”

You should read what Ralph Nader had to say about this too.

A quick blurb on questioning Israel’s legitimacy by Chris Hedges.

“…no matter the occasion, no matter the question, no matter the newspaper or TV or radio journalist, every question must first be answered with a few basic points about the military occupation that has been in place for 34 years since 1967. This is the source of violence, this is the source of the main problems, and it is the reason Israel can never have real peace. Our entire political position must be based on ending the occupation and this must take precedence over any and every other consideration. When Erekat or Shaath or Ashrawi or Khatib is asked something, for example, about the Mitchell report or the Powell visit, the answer should always begin, “so long as there is a military occupation of Palestine by Israel, there can never be peace. Occupation with tanks, soldiers, checkpoints and settlements is violence, and it is much greater than anything Palestinians have done by way of resistance.” Something like that. (More here)

-Edward Said wrote this in 2001, still relevant?