COMMENTARY: It's Time for Helen Thomas to Resign Her White House Job or Be Fired

Helen Thomas, who has been a White House reporter covering every American President since the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s, should resign her position or be fired by her employer, Hearst Newspapers.

On May 27, 2010 -- at a Jewish heritage event outside the White House -- an interviewer asked Thomas if she had any comments on Israel.

Her reply: "Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine. The Palestinian people are an occupied people and Palestine is their land. Israelis should go home...to Poland, Germany, and America, and everywhere else."

Many people have called Thomas' remarks anti-Semitic, disgusting, hateful, etc. The fact is that Thomas never should have described Israel -- America's strongest ally in the Middle East -- in such a caustic manner. Her apology eight days later for making the remarks cannot eliminate the damage they have caused.

The fact that Thomas is of Lebanese ancestry explains -- at least in part -- the hostility that she has toward Israel and Israelis. Lebanon and Israel have been bitter enemies since 1948, when Israel declared itself an independent nation in what was previously a part of Palestine. Consequently, most Palestinians and Arabs in general believe that Israel is illegally "occupying" Palestinian land.

Nevertheless, this belief does not justify Thomas' recent unprofessional conduct in her denunciation of Israel and Israelis. Thomas turns 90 on August 4, 2010. She has had a full career -- and then some -- as a reporter covering the White House for more than a half-century.

Thomas must now resign her position because of her recent defamation of Israel and Israelis. If she does not resign within a week, then Hearst Newspapers must fire her.