Joy Behar Interviews Helen Thomas -- Infection Spreads

Joy Behar last night interviewed disgraced and deposed White House Press Corps matriarch Helen Thomas.   An unrepentant Thomas repeated her anti-Semitic slurs and then added even more vile embellishments to her repertoire of Jew-hating rants. She defended her statement that Jews should "go back" to German and Poland, and this time added in Russia and the US for good measure.

What is almost as troubling as the fetid wind-passing from the hateful windbag is CNN's clipped teaser for the interview:

"Here's a sneak peek from tonight's interview with legendary White House reporter Helen Thomas. She got in a bit of trouble last year for her candid views about Jews and Palestine. Does she regret what she said? Apparently, not in the least. What is your take on this highly controversial subject?"

Was CNN the beneficiary of a special Mideast tutorial from Helen Thomas?  Who gave CNN the right to rename the sovereign nation of Israel as Palestine?  And why does it choose to characterize Thomas' views as "candid" instead of "cancerous" or "odious?" Would CNN have been as benevolent had Ms. Thomas directed her ugly racism against blacks or invoked age-old libels against any other minority? And tossed off such baseless stereotyping and defamations against any other historically-oppressed people?

Commentary's Alana Goodman's got the highlights on the interview with the crusty journalist who again blasted the Israel "lobby", as she did during her speech before Arab Detroit which ignited  the firestorm of controversy and ultimately led the Society of Professional Journalists and Wayne State University to retire  awards in her honor.

One wonders why Thomas is getting the extended play, especially since her message is patently anti-Semitic. It really is painful to hear, especially her ramblings on the Holocaust or Palestinians being "pushed from their homes" in the middle of the night. And while Joy Behar did try -without success -- to nail Thomas to admit the "insensitivity" of her remarks, she failed to challenge or correct Thomas' gross anti-Semitic biases and factual misrepresentations.

Giving Thomas a stage for her repugnant anti-Semitism is bad enough.  But the standing ovation it elicited from Detroit area Arab and Muslim organizations and individuals is worse still. Shame on those Jewish organizations that turn a blind eye and continue to partner with these same Helen Thomas-hate-boosters and in the process, dignify such vile anti-Semitism.