Palestinians Honor Disgraced Journalist Helen Thomas for Standing Against Israel

JERUSALEM (The Blaze/AP) -- The top Palestinian envoy to the U.S. has honored longtime American journalist and former White House correspondent Helen Thomas in an award ceremony.

A Palestinian official says Maen Erekat, the PLO representative in Washington, hosted Thomas at a dinner at his residence.

The storied columnist, who is 91, was forced stepped down two years ago from her job with the Hearst Newspaper chain after video footage emerged showing her outside the White House saying Israelis should "get the hell out of Palestine."

The Palestinian official says the event was to honor Thomas for her "stand against the occupation." He spoke on condition of anonymity because of what he described as the issue's sensitivity.

Israel isn’t too happy about the event. Israel's ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren told Israeli news outlet Haaretz on Tuesday that it shows the Palestinians don’t want to meet the “basic requisites of peace."

Oren added he was “appalled by the award ceremony given by the PLO delegation in Washington to Helen Thomas, who has been completely shunned by all decent Americans after making anti-Semitic remarks, along with teaching Palestinian children to hate the Jewish State and to glorify suicide bombers."

According to a PLO statement obtained by Haaretz, the PLO “presented Thomas with the appreciation and blessing of the president and the Palestinian people, for all of her actions supporting Palestine in the West.”