Helen Thomas Interviewer Hit With 25K Hate Emails

Rabbi's interview unleashes anti-Semitic free-for-all

By Caroline Miller, Newser Staff

Posted Jun 10, 2010 6:24 PM CDT

Copied

Helen Thomas Interviewer Hit With 25K Hate Emails — Long time White House correspondent Helen Thomas gets a pat on the shoulder as she returns to her desk at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008, after a recent illness. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The rabbi whose off-the-cuff interview with Helen Thomas cost the veteran White House correspondent her career isn't getting a lot of cudos for the gotcha. Rabbi David Nesenoff, who says he was as astonished as anyone to hear Thomas blurt out something so obviously not camera-ready, has been subjected ever since to a steady stream of hostile emails—25,000 and counting, he tells ABC.

They're virulently anti-Semetic—"Hitler was right. Time for you to go back in the oven," for instance—and many emailers don't even bother to disguise their addresses, he notes. "These are people that feel very mainstream about anti-Semitism and hate," Nesenoff says. "They feel so proud of it. There is an arrogance about it. There is no shame."
(More Helen Thomas stories.)

Report an error