LI rabbi named publisher of Jewish Star

David F. Nesenoff, the Stony Brook rabbi whose well-known video interview last June with Helen Thomas led to her resignation soon after, has been named publisher and editor of The Jewish Star.

Nesenoff said he will "wear two yarmulkes," managing both the business responsibilities and the job of providing content for the Lawrence-based weekly newspaper and its website, which is owned by Garden City-based Richner Communications Inc. The weekly covers Long Island's Orthodox Jewish communities.

The filmmaker, video journalist and writer was thrust into the national spotlight when he posted his interview with Thomas, the dean of the White House press corps, last June. Asked for comments on Israel, Thomas responded, "Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine." She apologized and later resigned from her position as a columnist for the Hearst News Service.

"Helen Thomas displayed a complete delegitimizing philosophy of Israel, and that's what we're fighting," Nesenoff said Monday. "In order to continue this fight, this allows me to speak to a group who can be some of the soldiers of that [fight] and also focus some light on the religious Jewish community because they will be the ones to support Israel in such a strong way."

Nesenoff was selected editor because of his background with the Orthodox community, marketing and business experience and his work as a filmmaker and video journalist, said Cliff Richner, who is the publisher of Richner Communications and who runs the company with his brother, Stuart.