Legendary journalist Helen Thomas -- whose career ended after her remarks that Israelis should "get the hell out of Palestine" -- will be given a national journalism award by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
The Washington group will present Thomas, who grew up in Detroit, with the 2010 Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award.
She was selected by the National Arab American Journalists Association and the family of late Arab-American newspaper publisher Dr. Mohammad T. Mehdi.
Thomas, a graduate of Wayne State University, was considered a pioneer for women in journalism and known for her pointed exchanges with presidents, but she had grown more outspoken of U.S. foreign policies in recent years.
In June, she was forced to resign from Hearst Newspapers after she said Israelis should "go home" to "Poland, Germany and America, and everywhere else."
Several metro Detroit Jewish leaders were guarded Tuesday in their reaction to the award. The Jewish Community Relations Council reissued a statement it made earlier this year when the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn announced plans for a statue of Thomas. It quoted Richard Nodel, president of the JCRC: "I just hope that the support for this memorial is there despite her anti-Israel and anti-Semitic views and not because of it."
Kari Alterman, director of the Detroit chapter of the American Jewish Committee, issued a one-sentence statement saying the organization is "extremely disappointed that a woman who engaged in crass anti-Semitic rhetoric should receive an award from anybody."
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