DETROIT (AP) -- Longtime journalist Helen Thomas and an Arab-American group are blasting Wayne State University for pulling an award named for her over her comments that "Zionists" own the White House, Hollywood and Wall Street.
Thomas tells the Detroit Free Press her alma mater "made a mockery of the First Amendment" by ending the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity Award.
The Detroit school says her comments in Dearborn last week were anti-Semitic.
The Congress of Arab American Organizations in Metropolitan Detroit said Tuesday that opposing Zionism isn't anti-Jewish. It says Wayne's move endangers its ties with the Arab community.
Thomas resigned in June as a Hearst newspapers columnist over her comments that Israelis should get "out of Palestine."
She's the daughter of Lebanese immigrants and worked many years for United Press International.
Published: Thu, Dec 9, 2010
