I do not know where to start. I have a great many conflicting views. There are no easy answers. Many early immigrants, not all, came to the US to avoid religious persecution. JFK was the first Catholic president and he had to deal with biases against Catholics. Electing a Muslim to congress was considered by many to be a sin. President Bush ran in part on the "bible." Romney was criticized because he was a Mormon. Lord forbid that a Jew, a Muslim, an agnostic, or an atheist run for president. While the US may not persecute people of a given religion, the anti sentiment is strong and alive today.
So what does this have to do with the retirement of Helen Thomas? I think a whole lot. Much more below the fold.
I continue with background. In the 1930s the world was in a great depression. In the US many were antisemitic and spoke strongly of their antisemitism. Father Coughlin is the name that comes to mind. And then there is Henry Ford among other antisemitic people. Antisemitism ran rabid in the US. So strong were the feelings that FDR in 1940 refused to allow the ship, St. Louis, to dock and accept Jewish immigrants.
After WW II people of Jewish heritage in Europe had no place to go. The US wouldn't accept them. The people in the European countries such a Poland killed Jews. No one wanted people of Jewish heritage or religion. The problem was what to do? Forming a state where people of Jewish heritage could come and live without fear was really the only choice. Given Israel's place in the Torah, the state of Israel was born.
There is no question that shortly before the time of Israel's founding people of non Jewish heritage dominated the land that was to become Israel. Many of those people were forced to evacuate Israel due to violence some Jewish settlers. Violence from their point of view to guarantee a state where Jewish people would not be persecuted. No surprise there. But this also created the "refugee" problem.
The refugees believed, correctly, that they had been expelled from their homes. Granted without the genocide perpetrated by the NAZIS, but expelled none the less. No country was willing to accept them other than as refugees and and that remains the case today. Hence, their desire to return home.
And then came the 1967 war. Arabs Egypt, Jordan, and Syria attacked Israel. The war lasted six days with a crushing defeat for those countries. Israel took over the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip - occupying both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since then Jewish settlements have continued to grow and grow. While greatly under reported Jewish settlers have killed Palestinians and pushed them off what had been Palestinian lands. This continues today.
The blockage of Gaza can be viewed by Palestinians as an attempt to push them off the land. The wall and settlements in the West Bank can also be viewed as an attempt to push Palestinians off their land. After all if Israel annexes those lands, non-Jews would greatly outnumber Jews in Israel. Terrorism under these circumstances is impossible to stop.
One must view Helen Thomas' comment in this context. Her remark "tell them (Israelis) to get the hell out of Palestine" needs to be viewed from the point of view of a people, Palestinians, who see the Israelis as occupiers of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Israel itself. The same is true of her comment "remember these people are occupied and its their land." Finally in response to the question of where should they go, she said "they should go home, . . . to Poland, to Germany, to America and everywhere else."
This ignores the history of the holocaust and antisemitism in the world. Yet, from a Palestinian point of view this is exactly what should happen.
Helen Thomas is the greatest White House correspondent of all time. Her career is legendary. She is of Lebanese heritage and understands well the Palestinian perspective on Israel. The failure of Israel and the US to recognize Hamas as duly elected to represent Palestinians is a failure to recognize the role of elections in society.
So what is the solution? I wish I knew. Nothing is simple or straight forward. With NAZISM on the rise in the US, anti-Muslim sentiments breaking out all over, with terrorism continuing to raise its ugly head, with the US having tortured people in the not so distant past, with Pakistan having nuclear weapons, with a world depression around the corner, and on and on, I know of no easy answers.
Tell me, what do we all do?