A national news figure has once again shown an unbelievable bias against the State of Israel.Here are the questions and comments to which U.S. senators Cornyn and Kerry responded admirably. The full interview is available here.
*Although the details are still murky, it has become clear that Israel killed a U.S. citizen in international waters with this flotilla incident. What should the U.S. response be when an ally kills a U.S. citizen?
*General David Petraeus recently said that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples in CENTCOM's area of operations and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world."
*And the head of the Mossad, Israeli intelligence, Meir Dagan, said this week, quote, "Israel is gradually turning from an asset to the United States to a burden." Do you believe the state of Israel has become a strategic liability for the United States?
*You were there; you were in Gaza in 2009. You found that they could not even bring pasta into Gaza. It was on a list of prohibited items. You went to the Israelis and you said, what gives? They -- I think they bent on that and allowed pasta in. What is the situation in Gaza that the Israelis won't even let pasta in?
No it wasn’t Helen Thomas. It was Jake Tapper of ABC News. And this is not the first time he exploited an opportunity to bash Israel. Is he a non Jewish Anti Semite? Hardly. He is Jew educated in a parochial school. For high school he attended Akiba Hebrew Academy – a pluralistic Jewish Day School in Randor, Pennsylvania.
So he is not some total ignoramus who can be forgiven his ignorance. He knows what Israel is all about. He has to know what the religious viewpoint is even if he does not personally believe in it. And yet he completely dismisses it and never misses an opportunity to make Israel look bad. His attitude is reminiscent of Peter Jennings who used to bash Israel all the time. Thankfully he is dead now and the current ABC anchor, Dianne Sawyer, has a far more sympathetic attitude toward Israel.
Mr. Tapper however wants to make sure that Jennings legacy is continued. This brings me to Helen Thomas. Many people have asked me to comment on her virulent anti Semitic comments about Israel. Her more or less precise comments were that the Jews should get the hell out of Palestine and go back where they came from – like Germany and Poland.
I am not surprised by this daughter of Lebanese immigrants. She has been on the forefront of bashing Israel for years. The problem is her stature. She is a decades long White House correspondent for UPI going all the way back to JFK in the sixties. Her longevity (and perhaps her advanced age) has allowed her to get away with many comments like these in recent years. Who knows how many young reporters she has influenced over this time. She is considered an icon in the news business.
Thankfully in this great country of ours – even an icon like Thomas is not going to get away with comments like that. She was dropped like a lead balloon today by her agent and her employers. And she was strongly criticized by just about everyone including the Obama administration. Her ‘resignation’ was accepted - effective immediately. She is gone! She will turn 90 in a couple of months and her eternity in hell cannot be that far off.
I am far more angered by Tapper. He is young, bright, and telegenic. He hosts the respectable Sunday morning news program ‘This Week’ where the above interviews took place. He has clout and is very clever much like the previous resident Israel basher at ABC Peter Jennings. He is not for example going to tell the Jews to ‘get the hell out of Palestine’. To make matters worse it will be very hard to call a Jew an anti-Semite.
Thankfully the two senators he interviewed didn’t fall for it. They rebuffed his negative attitude with their own very positive one – each from their own political perspective.
Tapper is apparently of that new breed of Jew who lives on J-Street. They buy in fully and gullibly to the Palestinian narrative and generally take a critical view of anything Israel does to defend itself. That was no less apparent with Tapper who just about salivated at the chance to cast Israel as a liability to the United States. One that is endangers America's troops fighting abroad!
I’m not sure there is anything we can do about the Jake Tappers of the world. Thankfully we probably don’t have to as these two senators reminded me. I like senator Cornyn and believe he is a great friend of Israel. I am not a supporter of John Kerry but I salute him in his response here.
Esav Sonei L’Yaakov? Not in any major way in this Medina Shel Chesed. If there is an Esav in this picture it is the very Jewish Tapper. Not Cronyn and not Kerry.
