“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. No Americans would tolerate that — white-only roads." - Helen Thomas
The alma mater of journalist Helen Thomas will not bestow an award that had been given in her name, making the decision after the 90-year-old scribe made more controversial comments about Jewish people.
Wayne State University, the Detroit, Michigan, institution that Thomas graduated from in 1942, said in a statement Friday that the school will no longer give out the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity in the Media Award.
“Wayne State encourages free speech and open dialogue, and respects diverse viewpoints,” the school’s statement said. “However, the university strongly condemns the anti-Semitic remarks made by Helen Thomas during a conference yesterday.”
Thomas abrupty retired earlier this year from her position as a White House columnist for the Hearst media chain after a YouTube video circulated in which she told a rabbi that Israel should “get the hell out of Palestine.” She also said Jewish people should leave Israel and go home to “Poland, Germany … and America and everywhere else.”
Then, at a diversity conference Thursday in Dearborn, Michigan, Thomas voiced her opinion on Jewish people in the United States.
According to the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News, she said, “Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are owned by the Zionists. No question.”
Zionist is a term used to describe those who pushed for the creation — and today champion the current state and future existence — of modern-day Israel.
Related story:
ADL slams Helen Thomas as ‘Vulgar Anti-Semite’
Helen Thomas’ Alma Mater Pulls Eponymous Award After Anti-Semitic Remarks
