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B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

Helen Thomas has revealed her true colors. Her raging anti-Semitic statements from May were not just a one-time slip of the tongue. On Dec. 2 at a speech in Dearborn, Michigan, the former White House correspondent said, “We are owned by the propagandists against the Arabs. There’s no question about that.” She explained, “Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street, are owned by the Zionists. No question in my opinion. They put their money where their mouth is.”

In response to these odious sentiments, Thomas’ alma mater, Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich., announced it was dropping the annual diversity award named for her, the “Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity in the Media Award.” In a statement announcing the decision Wayne State officials said the school “strongly condemns the anti-Semitic remarks made by Helen Thomas.”

Wayne State was right to challenge Thomas and her fueling an old, hateful, and damaging stereotype of Jews.

In May, Thomas told a rabbi, visiting the White House for Jewish American Heritage Month, that Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” and they should “go home” to “Poland, Germany and America, and everywhere else.” At the time, B’nai B’rith called for her employer, Hearst, to fire her immediately. Thomas resigned shortly after.

B’nai B’rith urges other schools that have awards honoring Thomas to follow Wayne State’s lead. Her comments have gone beyond speaking her mind, and she does not have a right to be honored for such views.