Helen Thomas Under Fire for Israel Remarks

Though she has been a fixture in the White House press briefing room since the late Eisenhower administration, Helen Thomas is facing new storm of critics. The 89-year-old Hearst correspondent caused a stir on Friday when a video surfaced of her saying last week that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine" and go back to Germany and Poland. Leading the calls for her firing is Ari Fleischer, President Bush’s former press secretary. "She should lose her job over this," he said in an email. "As someone who is Jewish, and as someone who worked with her and used to like her, I find this appalling." Thomas, who made the comments during the White House's Jewish Heritage Celebration, offered an apology on Friday, saying she made the remark ironically.