Hezbollah on Wednesday saluted veteran US reporter Helen Thomas’s “courage” for her controversial comments against Israel, which sparked a furor and forced her to retire. “Respected American journalist Helen Thomas’s answer shows … a courageous, bold, honest and free opinion which expresses what people across the globe believe: that Israel is a racist state of murderers and thugs,” Hezbollah MP Hussein Moussawi said in a statement. Thomas, who is of Lebanese descent, retired on Monday after coming under fire for her controversial remarks about Israel. Asked at a May 27 “Jewish Heritage Celebration” whether she had any comments on Israel, Thomas replied: “Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.

“Remember these people are occupied and it’s their land, not German and not Poland,” 89-year-old Thomas said. “They can go home, Poland, Germany, and America and everywhere else.”