Veteran reporter retires over Israel comments

hassam

MPA (400+ posts)
Veteran White House journalist Helen Thomas, who has covered every U.S. president since John F. Kennedy, abruptly retired on Monday amid a storm of criticism over her controversial remarks about Israel.
The departure of Ms. Thomas, 89, as a Hearst Newspapers columnist was announced after she was captured on video saying Israelis should get the hell out of Palestine and suggesting they go home to Germany, Poland or the United States.
The comments drew widespread condemnation, including from the White House.
Ms. Thomas, long considered the dean of the White House press corps, apologized for her statements, recorded in an impromptu interview dated May 27 and posted on the website www.rabbilive.com.
The controversy prompted Ms. Thomas to be dropped by her public speaking agency and also led to the cancellation of her plans to deliver a high school commencement address in suburban Washington.
Helen Thomas announced Monday that she is retiring, effective immediately, Hearst News Service reported. Her decision came after her controversial comments about Israel and the Palestinians were captured on videotape and widely disseminated on the Internet.
The Hearst statement came shortly after White House press secretary Robert Gibbs called her remarks offensive and reprehensible.
Ms. Thomas was absent from Mondays White House briefing, where she has a reserved seat in the centre of the front row.
The White House Correspondents Association called her remarks indefensible and, before the announcement of her retirement, scheduled a meeting on whether an opinion columnist should have a front-row seat in the West Wing briefing room.
Many in our profession who have known Helen for years were saddened by the comments, which were especially unfortunate in light of her role as a trail blazer on the White House beat, the associations board said in a statement.
Ms. Thomas had issued a statement over the weekend saying: I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. They do not reflect my heartfelt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon.
Ms. Thomas became a columnist for the Hearst newspaper chain in recent years after working for decades as a White House correspondent for United Press International.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...-retires-after-israel-remarks/article1595025/
 

gazoomartian

Prime Minister (20k+ posts)
Freedom Of Speech in the US??? NOT

Speak the truth to lose your job. So much for the first amendment. Its a joke :)

msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 10:03 a.m. PT, Mon., June 7, 2010



Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas is retiring in the wake of controversial comments she made about Israel.



Hearst News Service, for which Thomas is a columnist, reported her retirement announcement Monday.Her retirement is effective immediately. She began covering the White House in 1960.



Thomas has apologized for the comments, which were captured on video by an interviewer for the website RabbiLIVE.com.


On the May 27 video, Thomas says Israelis should "get the hell out of Palestine," suggesting they go to Germany, Poland or the U.S.


Those remarks drew sharp criticism from the Obama administration earlier Monday, as well as the cancellation of a high school graduation speech she was to deliver.


White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked at his daily briefing with reporters about President Barack Obama's reaction to Thomas' remarks. Gibbs called them "offensive and reprehensible."


"She should and has apologized," Gibbs said. "Because obviously those remarks do not reflect certainly the opinion of most of the people here and certainly not of the administration."
Thomas had been scheduled to speak at the June 14 graduation of Walt Whitman High School in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Md., but Principal Alan Goodwin wrote in a Sunday e-mail to students and parents that she was being replaced.


"Graduation celebrations are not the venue for divisiveness," Goodwin wrote.


Thomas wrote on her website that "I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians."


She added: "They do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon."


The national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham H. Foxman, said Sunday that Thomas' apology didn't go far enough.


"Her suggestion that Israelis should go back to Poland and Germany is bigoted and shows a profound ignorance of history," Foxman said in a statement. "We believe Thomas needs to make a more forceful and sincere apology for the pain her remarks have caused."


Thomas, 89, began her long career with the wire service United Press International in 1943, and started covering the White House in 1960, according to a biography posted on her website. She became a columnist for Hearst in 2000.
 

Ammad Hafeez

Minister (2k+ posts)
6-8-2010_33962_1.gif

http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/jun2010-daily/08-06-2010/u33962.htm
 

Saladin A

Minister (2k+ posts)
USA is not a Christian state but a Zionist Jewish state controlled by wealthy Jews. You are allowed to breathe and live there only if you do not utter a word against Jews and the Zionist state of Israel. The Jews hold the jugular vein of America.
 
Fawad Digital Outreach Team US State Department



امريکہ ميں اظہار راۓ کی آزادی کے ضمن ميں اپنے موقف پر قائم ہوں کہ امريکی معاشرے ميں رائج قوانين اور آئين اس بات کو يقينی بناتے ہيں کہ بغير کسی تفريق کے ہر شخص کو اپنی سوچ کے مطابق بات کہنے کا حق حاصل ہے۔ اس ايشو پر ميں نے مختلف فورمز پر جو پوسٹنگز کی ہيں ان ميں يہ جملہ بھی شامل تھا



"امريکی حکومت کسی مخصوص گروہ کے خلاف دانستہ تشدد کی ترغيب کے سوا آزادی راۓ پر کوئ پابندی نہيں لگاتی"۔



يہ درست ہے کہ صحافی ہيلن تھامس کو کسی بھی ايشو کے حوالے سے اپنی راۓ دينے کی آزادی ہے۔ ليکن ان کے بيان نے ايک غير جانب دار صحافی کی حيثيت سے ان کے کردار پر کئ سوالات کو جنم ديا۔ اس کے علاوہ امريکہ ميں ايک طبقے کے نزديک انھوں نے ايک مسخ شدہ تاريخ کو دہرانے کی بات کی ہے۔


قانونی نقطہ نظر سے صحافی ہيلن تھامس نے کسی جرم کا ارتکاب نہيں کيا اور محض اپنے حق کا استعمال کيا ہے۔ اسی آزادی راۓ کے حق کا استعمال وہ اپنے پورے صحافتی کيرئير کے دوران بارہا کر چکی ہيں۔ امريکی حکومت کا صحافی ہيلن تھامس کے استعفے کے واقعے سے کوئ تعلق نہيں ہے اور ان کے مستقبل کے حوالے سے مختلف افواہوں سے قطع نظر يہ بات يقينی ہے کہ انھيں امريکی حکومت کی جانب سے کسی تاديبی کاروائ کا سامنا ہرگز نہيں کرنا پڑے گا۔


يہ حقيقت بھی پيش نظر رہنی چاہيے کہ جو آئينی حقوق صحافی ہيلن تھامس کو اس بات کی اجازت ديتے ہيں کہ وہ اپنی راۓ کا اظہار کريں وہی حقوق دوسروں کو بھی اس بات کی اجازت ديتے ہیں کہ وہ ان کی راۓ پر تنقيد کر سکيں۔


صحافی ہيلن تھامس نے اپنے اوپر کی جانے والی تنقيد کے پيش نظر بذات خود اپنے عہدے سے مستعفی ہونے کا فيصلہ کيا ہے۔ انھيں اپنی راۓ دينے کی پاداش ميں قانونی چارہ جوئ کا سامنا نہيں کرنا پڑا۔ امريکہ ميں ايسا کوئ قانون موجود نہيں ہے جو کسی بھی شخص کے خلاف کسی مخصوص مذہب، فرقے يا سياسی نظريے کے خلاف بولنے کی پاداش ميں قانونی مقدمے کا سبب بنے۔


فواد ڈيجيٹل آؤٹ ريچ ٹيم يو ايس اسٹيٹ ڈيپارٹمينٹ



 

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