May 26, 2011: An Evening with Helen Thomas and Flashback to John Lennon and Vanunu Mordechai
My one evening with Helen Thomas remains one of the highlights of my life; so much so that I dedicated my fourth book to her:

When I heard the call to “Move Over AIPAC: Building a
New US Middle East Policy” I immediately became one of over 100 organizations to endorse it;
but I didn’t commit to attend the event until I learned that journalist Helen
Thomas was to be the keynote speaker.
By the time I booked my flight, Ms.
Thomas had been “disinvited” because of the
pressure from a few particular people who had still not gotten over her flaming
honesty expressed on 27 May 2010, in a courtyard at the White House. As “life is what happens while you are
making other plans” [John Lennon] their shortsightedness led to one of the
highlights of my 57 years of life.
On 20 May 2011, I enjoyed an evening with
Ms. Thomas and was introduced to my new favorite aperitif; a mix of Vodka,
Lemoncello and strained raspberry juice which was followed by an exquisite
dinner prepared in the home of Ms. Thomas’s friend and assistant, Michelle Cohen, who is in the middle of Rich Forer and Helen Thomas:
 eileen fleming with Helen Thomas-her new best friend of the old Fourth Estate
Only
because of my new best author friend, Richard Forer, was I even invited to that
dinner!
Ms.
Thomas had recently reviewed Rich’s book, “Breakthrough: Transforming Fear Into
Compassion – A New Perspective on the Israel-Palestine Conflict.”
Ms.
Thomas wrote, “People need to be informed so we can make good decisions
regarding our involvement in the Middle East, and ultimately support the right
governments. Forer offers a viewpoint that is not available in the mainstream…I admire Forer’s courage to not being silent. He openly shares his
personal transformation, and encourages the reader to be willing to ‘assess
one’s beliefs with honesty and to follow wherever the facts lead’. The
truth cannot be silenced.” [1] This member of the New Fourth Estate/Internet muckraker, not only admires Ms. Thomas for her truth telling, I contend that she
is in the same league with Edward R. Murrow! In 1958, Murrow warned that as television became more about entertainment and
not about shows of enlightenment, this republic would be dumbed down; but only an
informed and engaged citizenry can preserve a democracy, which thrives on
dissent! During
Jewish Heritage Month in 2010, in a courtyard at the White House, blogger and
Long Island Rabbi David Nesenoff approached Ms. Thomas and introduced her to
two young boys with him who were interested in a career in journalism.
Nesenoff
asked, “So what do you think of Israel? Got any advice? Go for it” as he
pointed his camera at Ms. Thomas like a “jackknife” and she readily replied, “They
should get the hell out of Palestine.” In
an interview with Playboy, Ms. Thomas elaborated, “I knew I’d hit the third
rail. You cannot say anything about Israel in this country. But I’ve lived with
this cause for many years. Everybody knows my feelings that the Palestinians
have been shortchanged in every way. Sure, the Israelis have a right to
exist—but where they were born, not to come and take someone else’s home. I’ve
had it up to here with the violations against the Palestinians. Why shouldn’t I
say it?” [2]
 eileen fleming with Ms. Thomas who is sporting her Palestinian flag bracelet and one of the saints.
Flashback
to John Lennon: In
the summer of 1966, it was reported that John Lennon made a comment to a friend
and reporter that the Beatles were more popular with my generation than Jesus
was. Lennon
endured a firestorm of media attacks, but none inquired as to WHY kids like me
who went to mass every Sunday and catechism every Wednesday afternoon, never
quoted Jesus but knew every lyric to every Beatles song.
Because
of Ms. Thomas’s truth telling the ‘occupied’ media relentlessly attacked her
and although she issued an apology, Ms. Thomas abruptly “resigned” from Hearst
Newspapers on 7 June 2010. Her speaking agency dropped her, journalism schools
and organizations rescinded awards named in her honor and she lost her front
row seat in the White House press-room; and it was all because she audaciously
spoke her heart and mind-- as did John Lennon!
The
old Fourth Estate spins the illegal colonies/settlements as ‘neighborhoods’ and
never mentions such things as Aliyah, which I learned about during my first of seven trips to Israel and
occupied Palestine in June 2005 from an American Jewess who had taken the deal.
She informed me:
“I get
fifteen hundred shekels or about thirty-six hundred dollars a year in
increments to help with my expenses. I can apply for unemployment benefits
after seven months, as long as I look for a job. I just completed Ulpan, which
was five hundred hours of Hebrew language immersion studies that took five
months, five hours a day, for five weeks. I get subsidized rent and just moved
out of the Absorption Center Projects. All the new immigrants get room,
utilities, and three meals a day for the first five months in Israel. We also
receive free medical care and all the doctors here are dedicated. We can go to
the university with 100 percent of the tuition paid by the government. College
is much cheaper here; it’s about three thousand to four thousand dollars a
year. Until I am thirty years old, I can receive up to three years of education
for my master’s degree.”[3] Any Jew without any historical connection to the so-called Holy Land is
encouraged by the state of Israel to colonize legally owned Palestinian
property. On 16 July 2007, while I was in Jerusalem, I learned from
an Israeli citizen and volunteer with ICAHD/Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions:
“There is an advertisement that runs in the USA that reads:
‘Have a Holiday Home in Jerusalem.’ The ad does not mention this home is 100%
ILLEGAL! There are forty-two illegal settlements in the Muslim, Christian and
Armenian quarters of Jerusalem. The only green area for [Palestinian] children
to play will soon have a high rise for the settlers, which will be 7 meters
taller than the walls of the Old City! The Wall has been deemed illegal by the
International Court of Justice [in 2005] but America continues to allow it to
grow. The wall is way over the Green Line proving it is not about security but
about grabbing Palestinian land. Israel’s policy of Quiet Transfer: getting rid
of the Palestinians is a huge humanitarian crisis. It is clear how the wall zig
zags that it is not about security but about grabbing the maximum land with
minimal Palestinian occupation.” [IBID] My view from a rooftop in Aida Camp, in the little town of Bethlehem which is Occupied Territory, June 2009
During my conversation with Ms. Thomas I
filled her in on my distress over Amy Goodman’s failure to follow up on her 2004
interview with Mordechai Vanunu which resulted in his being sentenced to 6
months in jail in 2007 which was reduced to 78 days back in solitary in 2010; just
because he dared to speak to foreign media after he was released from 18 years
in jail for telling the truth and providing the photographic proof of Israel’s
WMD Program. In April 2007, I had lunch with Amy
Goodman-not because we have ever been friends, but only because I had once been
a generous donor to Democracy NOW! was I invited to have lunch with Amy. I accepted the invitation only so I could
fill Amy in on the fact that her 2004 interview with Vanunu was major testimony
against him in his FREEDOM of SPEECH trial-which began the same day Hamas was
democratically elected on 25 January 2006- and also to ask her to follow up
asap! Amy acted interested and jotted down notes
in her Blackberry, but she didn’t bother to call Vanunu until July 2007 after
he was sentenced to 6 more months in jail essentially for speaking to foreign
media in 2004! Vanunu refused to speak to Amy again because she
–like all THE MEDIA-hadn’t done anything to raise awareness about Israel’s
continuing persecution of him and to this day Vanunu is still waiting for his
inalienable right to fly to freedom. After I filled Ms. Thomas in on my anger
with Amy she replied, “She used to be better.” I then brought up Ms. Thomas’s first and
last question to President Obama regarding Middle East nuclear weapons when he
blew her off claiming he didn’t want to ‘speculate’ and her ‘peers’ remained
mute, although the State Department has reams of documentation about Israel’s
WMD. Ms. Thomas replied, “They have no
conscience.” I also claim their lack of integrity borders
on treason! I was not a reporter when I met Vanunu for
the first time in June 2005, but I knew I had to become one when he told me:
“Did you know that President Kennedy tried to stop Israel from building atomic
weapons? In 1963, he forced Prime Minister Ben Guirion to admit the Dimona was
not a textile plant, as the sign outside proclaimed, but a nuclear plant. The
Prime Minister said, ‘The nuclear reactor is only for peace.’
“Kennedy insisted on an open internal inspection. He wrote letters demanding
that Ben Guirion open up the Dimona for inspection.
“The French were responsible for the actual building of the Dimona. The Germans
gave the money; they were feeling guilty for the Holocaust, and tried to pay
their way out. Everything inside was written in French, when I was there,
almost twenty years ago. Back then, the Dimona descended seven floors
underground.
“In 1955, Perez and Guirion met with the French to agree they would get a
nuclear reactor if they fought against Egypt to control the Sinai and Suez
Canal. That was the war of 1956. Eisenhower demanded that Israel leave the
Sinai, but the reactor plant deal continued on.
“When Johnson became president, he made an agreement with Israel that two
senators would come every year to inspect. Before the senators would visit, the
Israelis would build a wall to block the underground elevators and stairways.
From 1963 to ’69, the senators came, but they never knew about the wall that
hid the rest of the Dimona from them.
“Nixon stopped the inspections and agreed to ignore the situation. As a result,
Israel increased production. In 1986, there were over two hundred bombs. Today,
they may have enough plutonium for ten bombs a year.”
After cheese cake, I asked Ms.
Thomas what she would advise anyone who wanted to go into the field of
journalism and she stated:
“Go for it! It’s the greatest profession in the world because you are always
learning and you are aware of the world, so you just might be able to affect
change.
“You cannot have a democracy without an
informed people. “Information is everything; it enlarges your
intellect and that guides you. “The job is to follow the truth and report
where it leads you! “Right and wrong is not relative. Empathy is
fine but kindness and sympathy do not change the facts and conscience is
everything! “Leaders are suppose to do the right thing
and we should back up the president when he does the right thing; but drop him
when he doesn’t. “The WHY is the most important question-not
that something happened- but WHY did it happen? “Somewhere along the way America lost its
soul. “People have to rise up but Americans have
become so passive and power overwhelmingly abusive.” I responded, “So how do we fix this
situation?” Ms. Thomas replied, “It’s being done!” And when I asked Ms. Thomas if she had
always wanted to be a journalist, her persistent smile broadened and the gleam
in her eyes sparkled with unshed tears as she replied, “When my first article
was published in the high school paper and I saw my byline, I was hooked!” I shot back, “I had a similar but opposite
experience!” I explained that when I was a child, my
dream was to grow up and become Brenda Starr, the red headed, ace investigative
journalist and star reporter for the metropolitan daily, The Flash.
The fictional Brenda traveled the world solving mysteries and unearthing scoops
and she intuitively knew when somebody was not telling the truth. But when my first assignment for the high
school newspaper was edited beyond my recognition but my name was attached, my
Irish temper erupted and I immediately confronted the faculty member on the
paper and inquired, “Why did you publish an article with my name but with words
I did NOT write?” I was told that it was just standard
procedure for the faculty to edit all of the student’s work and I replied, “Not
mine you don’t! I quit!” Ms. Thomas pointed her finger at me and
said, “That’s ethics!” And that comment is the second highest
compliment I have ever been paid in my life! The first remains the one Mordechai Vanunu
graced me with when he said, I was "always good to remind him of JC" meaning Jesus
Christ. JC was never a Christian, but a social
justice radical revolutionary nonviolent Palestinian devout Jew who rose up
against a corrupt Temple and taught the people there was no need to pay the
high priests for ritual baths or sacrificing livestock to be OK with God; for
God already loved just as they were.
What got JC crucified was agitating the
status quo of the Roman Occupying forces, for Rome’s method of capitol
punishment was to crucify all dissidents, rebels and agitators.
And that leads me back to John Lennon:
“Christ, you know it ain't easy. You know how hard it can be. The way things
are going; They're gonna crucify me! "The struggle is in the mind. We must
bury our own monsters and stop condemning people. We are all Christ and Hitler.
We want Christ to win. We're trying to make Christ's message contemporary. What
would he have done if he had advertisements, records, films, TV and newspapers!
Christ made miracles to tell his message. Well, the miracle today is communications,
so let's use it.” For love for all people on this one small planet, this little sister is doing just that!
 Rabbi's and Mahdi Al-Husseini, a Palestinian
American Muslim who still has family in Occupied East Jerusalem with his sons in D.C
on the street outside of
Congress, 24 May 2011.
1. http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2049&Itemid=245 2. http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/03/18/playboy-interview-helen-thomas/ 3. “THIRD INTIFADA/UPRISING:
NONVIOLENT But With Words Sharper Than a Two-Edged Sword” by Eileen Fleming
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