Thomas’ Anti-israel Legacy

Helen Thomas may have been a pioneer for women in journalism, but she was not a role model (“Pioneering White House Journalist Helen Thomas Dies at 92 After HalfCentury Grilling US Leaders,” July 20).

She was abrasive and opinionated and showed an intolerance for Israel. During White House press conferences, she often introduced a tirade against the Jewish state that bordered on blatant antiSemitism.

The ultimate insult was her remark that Israelis should return to Germany and Poland. Its meaning was clear to those who survived the Holocaust. She ignored the more than 3,000 years of Jewish presence in their biblical and historic homeland.

She showed a mean streak and disregard for the courtesy usually extended to the president, press secretary and distinguished foreign visitors, including Margaret Thatcher. She leaves a mixed legacy.

Nelson Marans Silver Spring, Md.

Thomas once called on all Jews to get out of Palestine and go back to Poland. The State of Israel was not created only for those Jews who survived the concentration camps of Europe. Jews of Euro pean ancestry are not even the majority of Israel’s Jewish population. Many Israelis have ancestry in Arab countries.

From 1948 to the ’70s, up to 1 million Jews fled their homes in Arab countries. I was born in Egypt, but my family left in 1958. The claim that people like us left voluntarily is ludicrous. Most Jews living in Arab countries were well off economically and would not have left.

Thomas’ statement revealed not merely bigotry, but ignorance. Joseph A. Levy

Rego Park