This is actually not accurate either.  She said the ISRAELIS should leave
Palestine.  Or rather, the young man asked her what she had to say to the
Israelis and she said "they should get the Hell out of Palestine".   She did not
say that "the Jews" should leave anywhere. She was obviously talking about the
occupation and the settlements, but some media in the US are shouting that she
had said that "the Jews" should "leave Israel" and go to Poland.  The spin is to
equate the Israeli government and its supporters with "the Jews" everywhere and
Palestine with Israel.

Emile Schepers

===========================
Emile Schepers' comment is much appreciated.

It would be entirely appropriate to send a note to Granma directly making these same points.

Israel actually claims to speak for and represent the Jewish people EVERYWHERE. This is why those
to defend Israel try to smear everyone who is critical of Israel as being anti-Semitic. 

In fact, the HEADLINE of the YouTube video says: 

"Helen Thomas tells Jews to go back to Germany" 

But in the actual interview she is asked about ISRAEL, not about "the Jews" and where the 
ISRAELIs should go. She responds that they should get out of Palestine. Remember, these
people are occupied. 

She is then asked where should they go. Her response is: Poland, Germany, America and 
anywhere else.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQcQdWBqt14

As is obvious, the supporters of Isreal on the Internet and elsewhere ambushed Helen
Thomas. 

They were thus momentarily successful in diverting public attention from Israel's KILLINGS of the humanitarian aid flotilla
toward what Helen Thomas SAID about the Israeli blockade and occupation of Gaza.

Granma's e-mail address: correo@granma.cip.cu

Walter Lippmann
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
===========================================================

I will send a note to Granma pointing out the mistake, after checking to make
sure the problem was not merely in the translation.  The major propaganda thrust
is indeed to try and psychologically equate the state of Israel and, by
extension, its politicies, with the entire Jewish people everywhere.

This is designed to put pressure on Jews in and out of Israel not to be critical
of the actions of the Israeli government, because to do so is to attack the
whole Jewish people (I am happy to say that this ploy does not work 100%).

Another subtle attempt is to make the terms "Palestine" and "Israel" seem like
the same thing. At one time this was in fact the political reality, in the sense
that under the Ottoman and British League of Nations/UN mandate governments,
there was not a territorial or political separating out of "what is Israel" from
"what is Palestine".

But since the creation of the independent state of Israel in 1948 (or was it
49?) "Israel" and "Palestine" are recognized by the world as two entities.
Exceptions are extreme Zionists who do not recognize the right of the
Palestinian people to have a state or even exist, and the extreme Islamists who
do not recognize the reality of the Israeli state as something that can't just
be made to vanish.

Actions like this disgusting "gotcha" ambush of 89 and ongoing auto-da-fe for
year old Helen Thomas are designed to create and reinforce a mind set which
makes these simple minded and dangerous identifications.

I move we organize a 90th birthday party for Helen, the only member of the White
House press corps who has consistently asked the hard questions.

Emile Schepers