The American Arab Anti-Defemation Committee honored Helen Thomas at a dinner in northwest Washington last night. The evening was all Helen, all the time, featuring accolades from the (still!) irrepressible Sam Donaldson(!), sweet Rosemary Oakar, and the pungent James Abourezk.

Donaldson called Thomas “the best White House correspondent ever!”  Abourezk gibed Thomas was not fired because of comments she made about Jews. Her “fatal sin,” he said, was asking President Obama if any countries in the Middle East currently possessed nuclear weapons. The always-self-righteous Ralph Nader said, “If ten reporters had acted the way Helen acted there never would have been an Iraq war.”

He’s probably wrong about that but it is an inspirational thought for ill-paid scribes. In the course of the evening there were a couple of references to Arab dictatorships but with the superb Seared Filet of Wild Salmon with Pinot Noir Sauce paid for by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“Ultimate Underwriter”) the focus wisely remained on the 90-year old honoree.

The crowd of well-dressed crowd five hundred welcomed Thomas to the podium with a standing ovation.

“U.S. policy is supporting man’s inhumanity to man,” Thomas  said in brief remarks accepting the ADC’s award. ” I pray that my country will return to the morals and ideals that made it so great.”

A personal aside: At one point, Abourezk said “Israel doesn’t have a lot to do with Judaism. It has a lot to done with fascism.”  Without passing judgment on the latter proposition, I paused over the former. “Israel doesn’t have a lot to do with Judaism.”

That struck me (a secular, non-practicing Judeo-Christian by culture and marriage) as true as a matter of theology but not of practical politics. The most public sign of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory in Washington D.C., I realized, are the signs on the lawns of the synagogues where I used to attend bar mitvahs when my kids were younger.  These expressions of concern for Israel’s security are  worth respecting  but they do amount to code words for occupation. So I would have to say that in northwest Washington  Judaism does have something to do with Israel. An irritating thought with uncertain implications. Maybe it was Helen Thomas that made me think it