Helen Thomas is retiring after her racist remarks

TPP wrote: As I would like to point out that we closed our ports after 9/11, and there wasn't a problem.
Also, Israeli has every right to stop and search these boats, or do you agrre with helen.
If you lock your door, and somebody with a gun comes in, would you react? I sure as hell would.

Israel didn't have a right to stop and board the ship in international waters. If you're on a ship and you are boarded against your will by armed soldiers you are defending not only your ship but the country whose flag it flies under.

The video was clearly edited to show Israel as the "victim." You'll notice there is no mention or "circling" of the actions of Israeli soldiers, such as "Soldier fires at unarmed person." The American on the boat was shot four times in the chest and once in the head.

A member of the Israeli parliament who on board the ship told reporters the Israeli soldiers started shooting before they boarded the ship. Why did they seize all the cameras of the reporters who were on the ship? The only video released was taken by the Israeli army.

[youtube:pm25hedy][/youtube:pm25hedy]

And, no I don't agree with Helen Thomas, although I think she should be free to give her opinion when asked for it -- just as any other American.

First about the raid on the flotilla: The flotilla was asked to dock at the Ashdod Port and allow their supplies to continue to Gaza over land, after it has passed security checks. The flotilla refused. Yes, Gaza does receive aid, over land, every week.

For those who have drunk the kool-aid and think that this was for humanitarian purposes, I would like to point out that an average of 371 truckloads of food products were delivered per week to Gaza in 2009 and 310 per week so far in 2010. A Palestinian living in Gaza has also stated that Gaza doesn't need "the flour or the rice or the dolls that people bring for kids." The U.N. is taking care of those in Gaza. No one was asking for this flotilla. It was sent by a country which does not allow food or other aid for their ethnic Kurds - whom they are slaughtering wholesale. No U.N. investigations there. Fortunately, Israel is sending it's own "Kurdish Freedom Flotilla", Turkish laws be damned. I'm already laughing.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-E ... 8page%29/2
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/ ... newsletter
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/ ... a_open2010

The Gaza Flotilla was meant to cause a media war and unfortunately, Israel helped comply.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said Saturday the flotilla carrying aid and activists to Gaza is a victory for his government and signals the end of the Israeli naval blockade, whether it reaches its destination or is intercepted by the Israeli navy.

"If the ships reach Gaza, it's a victory for Gaza," Haniyeh told some 400 supporters after touring Gaza City's small fishing harbor, where several smaller vessels breaking the blockade have docked in the past. "If they are intercepted and terrorized by the Zionists, it will be a victory for Gaza, too, and they will move again in new ships to break the siege of Gaza."

http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=176812

This is the point. It has always been the point. How many Middle Eastern experts on this board were even aware that the U.N. has been on the ground in Gaza, getting aid and that Gaza had truck loads of aid coming in every week? Hamas is a reality in Gaza - as even the Gaza reporter states. There is only one reason they want "aid" to come in that isn't searched. We can all guess why. Those who don't have a problem with this don't tend to want Middle Eastern countries securing our ports....... But make an exception for Israel.

This is not to say that I agree with all of Israel's policies. The more a group of people is marginalized, de-humanized and set aside, the more radical and violent it becomes. This is how terrorists are bred. The Likud, unfortunately, is not going to make any concessions. The more Jews who are threatened, the more powerful Likud becomes. Both extremes have a vested interest in the status quo. I am not a huge fan of Benjamin Netanyahu. I utterly detested Ariel Sharon. Still, it would be utterly numbnuts to think that all Islamic terrorist acts or dialog are directly or indirectly related to Israel. Just ask some Danish cartoonists, or Salmon Rushdie, or the South Park guys, or any of the millions of girls who have suffered FGM, or those girls who were gassed or mutilated with acid for simply wanting an education. There is a difference here. There are those who feel we are subhuman. They do not like us and this will not change even if every Jew suddenly died. We should also face the reality that Israel deals with this on a daily basis on does much of our dirty work for us. Those who complain about America's military might don't seem to mind when they need our help. Ditto for Israel. We often take the dirty jobs which other countries do not want and will never admit are sometimes necessary.

Regarding Helen Thomas: It is fascinating how people on this board and on other sites are projecting their own opinions into Thomas's words.

There was no nuance. There was no balance. She was not criticizing Israel's policies but was criticizing Israel's existence. She is under the opinion that all Jewish Israeli's came from Europe after WWII and that all Arabs living in Israel are native-born. This is hardly the case. Some of the most outspoken Muslims in Israel were too radical for their own countries and fled to Israel because it was welcoming. (Some of you might also want to check which Middle Eastern country has the largest community of open Gays. Then you might want to ask why. Here's a hint: They're not all Jewish. Here's another hint: The answer is the Middle Eastern country which doesn't execute or otherwise torture to death anyone suspected of being gay. It ain't the UAE, folks and it sure as hell ain't Turkey.) In addition, she is also telling European Jews who were slaughtered to go back to the places where they were slaughtered, by the millions and slaughtered again after the Holocaust after they decided to try and return home. Feel the love, anyone?

Israel has had Jews since there have been Jews. Yes, there were non-Jews in Israel before the bible said that God told Moses to lead the Jews there. No, those people were not Muslims. After several thousand years, there has been intermarrying, converting and otherwise changing of all those involved. It really wasn't Jews versus everyone else. Still, since there were Jews, there have been Jews in the Middle East and Israel. Many of the Jews now living in Israel came from other Middle Eastern countries but had to flee for their lives due to the radicalization of Islam.

Wayne, that was a silly comment. Sorry but it was. Even the Koran states that Israel was given to the Jews. Never once was Jerusalem mentioned in the Koran, though Muslims built their temple on top of the Jews most sacred site.
It might be a good idea for some of you to Google how many Jews in Israel are refugees who have lived in other Middle Eastern countries for thousands of years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_exo ... slim_lands

Oh yeah, there has also been a large number of Muslim immigrants to Israel, mostly from Bosnia, Darfur and parts of Africa:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 672059.ece
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/18/world ... ugees.html

Any chorus of outrage over this?

The saddest part about the whole Helen Thomas affair is that she had a long and rather colorful history of covering the White House. This ended not because she had a complex and nuanced view of a complex and nuanced situation but because she said an extremely ignorant and rather bigoted thing, without any comprehension of history - or reality. I can't help but wonder how this attitude has biased her opinions.