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Summary
In her half-century as a White House correspondent, Helen Thomas became a journalistic star by asking every American president since John F. Kennedy unflinching, uncomfortable questions on the most sensitive of subjects. How ironic, then, that the dean of the White House press corps has seen her long career end in ignominy by answering an open-ended question that could have been brushed off with a simple no comment. Thomas, 89, announced yesterday she was retiring as a columnist for Hearst newspapers after telling an interviewer Israeli Jews should get the hell out of Palestine and go back to Poland and Germany. The remark prompted a sharp rebuke from the White House and drew collective denunciation by Thomas's journalistic colleagues in the insular West Wing press room, where the octogenarian scribe has commanded a front-row seat for decades. And while she issued an apology, Thomas found herself branded as anti-Semitic by one close friend and cut loose by her longtime agent. I think those remarks were offensive and reprehensible, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday at the daily White House press briefing, which Thomas did not attend. I think she should and has apologized, because obviously those remarks do not reflect certainly the opinion of, I assume, most of the people in here, and certainly not of the administration. Thomas, who has been an outspoken critic of Israel and American foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, ignited the controversy when she was approached last month at a White House event celebrating Jewish Heritage Month. Rabbi David Nesenoff, a correspondent with RabbiLive.com, asked Thomas if she had any comments on Israel. Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine, Thomas replied. Remember, these (Palestinian) people are occupied, and it's their land, not German and not Polish. When asked where Jews should live, Thomas said: They should go home. Poland. Germany. And America, and everywhere else. The brief interview was conducted May 27, several days before Israeli commanders stormed a Palestinian aid flotilla - a raid that left nine people dead.
