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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neeka who wrote (367835)	6/7/2010 4:59:47 PM
From: gamesmistress	5 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793955

Now that Thomas has "retired" it may be old news, or "we're picking on poor Helen, she's lost her job already." But the rabbi who took the video has been in contact with Hearst and says Part 2 is very interesting to watch. So I don't think he'll be bought off. In fact, Part 2 may be the reason Thomas "retired" with such a brusque announcement. We'll see. Rabbi sat on Thomas scoop as webmaster-son took exams When veteran journalist Helen Thomas made inflammatory remarks about Israel, the comments weren't captured by a major news organization. Instead, a rabbi and his 17-year-old son broke the story. Right now, Rabbi David Nesenoff is drawing lots of new visitors to RabbiLive.com and its video of the dean of the White House press corps (now abruptly retired) telling Israel to "get the hell out of Palestine." Although Nesenoff's site is getting buzz and media pickup, the rabbi actually sat on the big scoop for a week. On May 27, Nesenoff attended the Jewish American Heritage Month celebration at the White House with son Adam and a friend of Adam's. While walking across the front lawn Nesenhoff and the boys saw Thomas, and decided to ask her about her thoughts on Israel. Here's the video: Nesenoff, speaking Monday with Yahoo! News, said he didn't know about Thomas's strident Israel views but approached the 89-year-old journalist for an interview because she "is an icon of the White House." So when Thomas suggested that Jews leave the disputed lands for Germany or Poland, the rabbi said he was "shocked." Even though Nesenoff had the story, he still needed to get it online. But Adam, the webmaster for RabbiLive, had to get through finals first. "So we waited, and of course, during the waiting of it, the flotilla happened," Nesenoff said, referring to the deadly raid on Gaza-bound ships last week. The video was posted online Thursday night, and since, has been viewed more than a million times on YouTube. The ensuing controversy over Thomas's remarks raised questions about whether Thomas should keep her seat in the briefing room or even her job at Hearst Newspapers. Nesenoff said Hearst had "to get rid of her," adding that he'd spoken with the newspaper chain since the video aired. "I was contacted by Hearst, and I'll just say that I'm interested in continuing the conversation with them and interested in putting my advice into the mix," Nesenoff said. Nesenoff said that given such "anti-Semitic" statements, Thomas should not have the honor of sitting front-row center at the White House. Although she has apologized, Nesenoff said "the only way to fix it is to become a poster child for tolerance and non-hatred." Nesenoff said that in a day or so, he'll release Part 2 of the interview. But he was tight-lipped about what else Thomas said that day. "Part 2 will be very interesting to watch," he said, adding that Thomas is in it "100 percent" of the time. — Michael Calderone is the media writer for Yahoo! News.