Lanny Davis, the former White House Counsel for President Bill Clinton, weighed in on the Helen Thomas controversy today, calling her an “an anti-Semitic bigot.”
“Helen Thomas, who I used to consider a close friend and who I used to respect, has showed herself to be an anti-Semitic bigot. This is not about her disagreement about her criticisms of Israel. She has a right to criticize Israel and that is not the same as being an anti-Semite,” Davis said in a statement.
Last week, Thomas, the 89-year-old White House Press Corps dean who has covered every president since Dwight Eisenhower, said in an interview that Israelis should “get the hell out of Palestine” and “go back home to Poland, Germany, America and everywhere else.” She made the remarks during a Jewish Heritage Month celebration event at the White House.
Davis, who served as Clinton’s White House Counsel from 1996-1998 pulled no punches when showing his disaffection for Thomas’ remarks, saying she should be stripped of her White House press pass.
“If she had asked all Blacks to go back to Africa, what would White House Correspondents Association position be as to whether she deserved White House press room credentials — much less a privileged honorary seat?,” Davis asked.
In a written statement issued Friday, Thomas apologized for the comment to Rabbi David Nessenoff, saying, she deeply regretted her comments and they “do not reflect” her “heartfelt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance.”
But Thomas’ apology did not go far enough, Davis said.
“In my opinion, her apology was not direct and didn’t address the merits of her belief in the stereotype that Jews are aliens in Israel and don’t belong there. She should be at the least suspended from all privileges in the White House press room since bigots don’t merit such privileges. And I believe Hearst should consider a similar suspension of her position as a nationally-syndicated columnist until she owns up to her bigotry and aplogizes (sic) for it,” he said.
The White House Counsel is responsible for advising the President on all legal matters related to the President and the White House.
Davis’ comments followed those of former President George W. Bush’s press secretary Ari Fleischer who on Saturday called for her Thomas to be fired by her employer, Hearst.
“She should lose her job over this. As someone who is Jewish, and as someone who worked with her and used to like her, I find this appalling,” he said.