Sunday, December 05, 2010

Helen Thomas Uses Anti-Arab Bias Podium To Show Her Anti-Israel Bias--Again

I'm not sure what kind of mentality it takes to speak out against one kind of bias by indulging in another, but that is what Helen Thomas did in Detroit. She was known as the doyen of the White House press corps, it is helpful to remember that title indicates nothing more than age and seniority--and not any special knowledge or expertise.

So it's not surprising that in her ignorance, Helen Thomas perpetuates the myth of Jewish-only roads in Israel:
"I can call a president of the United States anything in the book but I can't touch Israel, which has Jewish-only roads in the West Bank," Thomas said. "No American would tolerate that -- white-only roads."
Michael Totten, who--unlike Helen Thomas--speaks from firsthand knowledge, notes that there are no Jewish-only roads in the West Bank, though there are roads where Israelis are forbidden to drive:

The roads she’s referring to in the West Bank are Israeli, and they’re not just for Jews. Israeli Arabs can drive on them, and so can non-Jewish foreigners, including Arab and Muslim foreigners. Palestinians were once able to drive on them but have not been allowed to do so since the second intifada, when suicide bombers used them to penetrate Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in order to massacre people.

There are also, by the way, Palestinian roads in the West Bank that Israelis can’t use.

I don’t know if Helen Thomas knows this and is lying or if she’s just an ignoramus. What I’ll bet she doesn’t know is that Arab residents of Jerusalem can use both the Israeli roads and the Palestinian roads. They’re the only people who live in the area who can do this. (Foreigners also are allowed to use both.)
Somehow, from Thomas's "I can call a president of the United States anything in the book" comment, it is already apparent that she is not the kind of person who is used to being held accountable for what she says--and without that sense of accountability, there is no sense of responsibility to report the truth.

A pity for her sake that Helen Thomas did not retire earlier, before this did not become so evident.

More at Memeorandum.
Even More at Memeorandum here

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