To Expand A Bit on The Helen Thomas Thing (Now With Update!)

Helen did not use the word, "Jews." The Rabbi interviewing her did. And when she heard that, it seemed to dawn on her what was up; she cut her eyes at the person she was talking to and expanded her wish that Israelis would "go home" to "America and everywhere else."

She has long stated her guiding principle in the Middle East: innocent people should not be forced to pay for or die for the crimes of others.

It's the essence of her view of decency and justice. It's not a hard concept to understand, it's just rarely observed by the contending forces in the Middle East or anywhere else.

In fact, the universal policy in the Middle East and elsewhere seems to be that innocent people will always be made to pay or die for the crimes of others, at a ratio of hundreds to one.

If Helen's principle were observed in Europe during that Unfortunate Period of the 20th Century, there wouldn't have been a Holocaust, and if there wasn't a Holocaust, there probably wouldn't have been an Israel, either. The Palestinians might be living in peace and happiness, who knows.

Wouldn't want that.

In trying to seek some understanding of Israel's victim mentality -- and the violence that is Israelis' constant way with regard to their subjugated minorities and neighbors -- I came across a link to a brilliant documentary by Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir called "Defamation". In it, the filmmaker tries to make sense of a term he has heard all his life in Israel but has never experienced: "Antisemitism." He goes on a long journey and learns many things. One of them being that Israel lives on the corpses of the Holocaust, something that happened long ago and far away, and which is now used as an excuse to deflect any criticism of Israel or Israeli military/political action and declare it "Antisemitism." The picture is remarkable for what it bravely shows of human nature, and for the hope it gives that a less froughtful future is possible. Not easy. Possible. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Part I (of 9) embedded below:



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UPDATE The Rabbi has posted the entire interview with Helen Thomas. Watch it, and then tell the world what a hideous antisemitic old hag Helen is. Just tell the whole wide world. The Rabbi should be ashamed.

Sometimes I just want to scream.