Helen Thomas has now apologized for her remarks that Israelis should just "go home" to Germany or to Poland or to the United States. She has apologized for contradicting a bunch of platitudes about "respect and tolerance," but she has not corrected the basic distortion that makes her remarks so outrageous.
The great majority of Israeli Jews were born in Israel and conduct their daily lives speaking Hebrew. For them, Israel is the only place which is "home" in any meaningful sense. (And by the way, more Israeli Jews had ancestors who came from Morocco than from all the countries Thomas mentioned put together.)
Israelis constitute a unique nationality and for the most part they are natives to their land. (A "native" is someone who was born in a certain place.) There is a country called Germany, but the "home" for Israel's Jews called "Germany" is a chimera, a myth. Calling on someone to return to an imaginary home is akin to calling for him to breath imaginary air. It is a polite way of regarding him as having no legitimate interests, no humanity. Helen Thomas has not renounced her belief in such murderous fairy-tales. Why should she? She is at home in a vast and respectable mob.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad
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