The Joys of Diversity: 'Every Day, They're Fighting'

The daily terror at the Intifada High School. Sounds like a lovely learning environment.

The Muslim principal who cried "bomb!" in a crowded school has left chaos and violence in the classrooms she created. And now, she's moved a step closer to returning.

It is against this tumultuous backdrop that we learn Brooklyn's Khalil Gibran International Academy -- founded in 2007 by firebrand ex-Principal Debbie Almontaser as the city's first public Arabic-themed school -- this year has suspended more than one-third of its student body for infractions ranging from hitting to weapons.

"Every day, they're fighting," said Voneeda Black, who nervously sends her 6-year-old to the elementary school with which Gibran shares a building.

"You don't see parents," she said. "Three or four times a week, there are cops here, if not more."

It may be the worst record in the city. So how did this happen?

Two and a half years ago, the hijab-wearing Almontaser invented the academy as a way to foster peace and understanding. But she was promptly removed, stuck elsewhere in the school system. She cried "unfair!"

Then, last week, Almontaser won a crucial ruling that could help bring her back. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the school system discriminated against Almontaser's race and religion. Fired, for being an Arab.

Rubbish.

Almontaser was tossed after she proclaimed, in a detailed interview with this newspaper, that the term "intifada" -- which has led to mass murder, both downtown and in the Middle East -- does not equal bloody uprising. She defined the hot-button word as a benign "shaking off" of oppression. Particularly against girls. As if American girls are worse off than those in, say, her native Yemen.

Even accepting Almontaser's word that she's no radical, her comments suggest a tolerant, morally relativistic view of violence, for which there is no place in our schools. The commission didn't see it that way.

Almontaser has expressed utter joy to have -- finally! -- scored a victory in her claim to have been oppressed. The ruling, at the very least, will cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlement and legal fees, as it breathes life into Almontaser's lawsuit. At worst, she'll be back.

So I think it appropriate to take a hard look at Gibran -- a school founded on the flawed notion that segregating Arabists will lead to harmony.

Since it opened, the tiny school on the edge of DUMBO has had one of the city's highest rates of violence. A teacher was taunted by kids as a "terrorist" in 2008. It's gotten steadily worse.

More than a third -- one in three! -- of Gibran's 114 students, grades six through eight, have been suspended this year, according to the Department of Education.

Twenty-two were yanked from school for five days. Eight kids were considered so rowdy or dangerous, they were banned from class six to 10 days.

Nineteen fights led to student injuries or intimidation. In two other cases, weapons were used. This number has climbed from last year's 17 violent incidents and 26 suspensions.

And the school year isn't over yet.

The best part? We're paying for it.

Won't be long until they start receiving awards for their commitment to diversity.

Former Intifada NYC Principal: I'm the Victim

We figured she wouldn't go quietly.

Principal of Arabic School Says She Was Forced Out

Debbie Almontaser, who resigned under fire from her position as principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, the city’s Arabic-themed school, spoke out publicly for the first time today since her case attracted headlines and protests from opposing sides. Ms. Almontaser, a Yemeni-American with an extensive record of educational and community work in Brooklyn, stepped down on Aug. 10 amid a controversy that erupted after she was quoted defending the use of the word “intifada” as a T-shirt slogan.

Ms. Almontaser released a prepared statement through her lawyer and later read the statement from the steps of City Hall in a news conference that started soon after 5 p.m. In the statement, she said that she was forced to participate in an interview with The New York Post, that the newspaper misrepresented her views and that city officials then threatened to shut down the academy if she did not resign.

Cry me a river.

She also blames Stop the Madrassa and Daniel Pipes.

Leading the attack was the “Stop the Madrassa Coalition” run by Daniel Pipes, who has made his career fostering hatred of Arabs and Muslims. The coalition conducted a smear campaign against me and the school that was ferocious. Members of the coalition stalked me wherever I went and verbally assaulted me with vicious anti-Arab and anti-Muslim comments. They suggested that, as an observant Muslim, I was disqualified from leading KGIA, even though the school is rigorously secular, and its namesake, Khalil Gibran, was a Lebanese Christian. To stir up anti-Arab prejudice, they constantly referred to me by my Arabic name, a name that I do not use professionally. They even created and circulated a YouTube clip depicting me as a radical Islamist.

Then the evil bloggers took over and she was history.

Previous items on Almontaser here.

H/T Hot Air.

Paltry Few Rally in Support of Almontaser

A motley crew of miscreants and Islamist supporters gathered in lower Manhattan last night to whine, moan and seethe over the dismissal of former Arab School principal Debbie Almontaser, and predictably, they kvetched about racism, McCarthyism and Islamophobia. I wasn't even there and I could probably recite half their material since we never hear the end of it from these sniveling malcontents.

ARAB SCHOOL'S SUPPORTERS BOOST RESIGNED PRINCIPAL

Dozens of supporters of the controversial Arabic-themed public school slated to open in Brooklyn next month rallied last night to support its recently resigned principal.

Organizers of the protest at Department of Education headquarters in lower Manhattan included members of the group that sells the "Intifada NYC" T-shirts that were initially defended by Khalil Gibran International Academy's former principal, Debbie Almontaser.

The flap over the shirts caused Almontaser - a devout Muslim and fluent Arabic speaker - to resign under fire.

"I thought this was not just an attack on her as an Arab, as a Muslim, but this was an attack on our community as a whole," said Sara Said Alkhulaidi, 21, whose brother will attend the school.

Deborah Howard, whose daughter attended a school where Almontaser once taught, said, "Anyone who says that Debbie is anything other than a woman of peace has never met Debbie."

Mona Eldahry, of Arab Women Active in Art and Media, which sold the shirts, said, "We look forward to the day when our public officials condemn the racism that has created this situation, rather than affirming it."

Rabbi Michael Feinberg, who supports the school, said the campaign against it is "the lowest of McCarthyite tactics."

Weak

When in doubt, dredge up Joe McCarthy. C'mon, dude, freshen up the material. That was over 50 years ago. I thought you people always were so progressive and wanted to MoveOn?

So apparently now, pointing out the outrageous "Intifada NYC" t-shirts is racist?

Please.

That's another canard which long ago outlived any usefulness.

The always intrepid Urban Infidel was on hand to witness this ragtag bunch of malcontents and has a photo essay:

Pro-Madrassa Rally for Khalil Gibran School .

Jewish Principal Takes Over at Arabic School

The farce surrounding the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn took a bizarre turn Monday as a Jewish educator named Danielle Salzberg has been appointed interim principal while ousted principal Debbie Almontaser remains defiant, complaining of religious bigotry as the reason for her ouster, rather than her support of the group which produced the odious "Intifada NYC" t-shirts.

NEW PRINCIPAL 'CHOSEN'

A Jewish educator who can't utter a phrase of Arabic has been tapped to head the city's controversial Arabic-themed school, officials announced yesterday.

In a shocking move, the Department of Education named Danielle Salzberg interim acting principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn. Salzberg will replace Debbie Almontaser, who resigned under pressure last Friday because of her remarks to The Post defending "Intifada NYC" T-shirts.

Before her appointment, Salzberg was a senior program officer with the nonprofit New Visions for Public Schools, which is partially funding the academy. In that role, Salzberg worked with Almontaser and the school's six teachers to develop its specialized curriculum of Arabic language and culture.

Previously, Salzberg helped launch the new Baruch HS, where she was an English teacher, and Millennium HS, where she was assistant principal until March. She first started teaching at city schools in December 1996.

Salzberg, 35, is not an Arabic speaker, said Department of Education spokeswoman Debra Wexler. A source with direct knowledge confirmed that Salzberg is Jewish but did not have details on how observant she is.

Meanwhile, Almontaser said her own religion, Islam, not her failure to condemn the "Intifada NYC" T-shirts, led to the ouster, according to her resignation letter obtained by The Post.

"Unfortunately, a small group of highly misguided individuals has launched a relentless attack on me because of my religion," Almontaser wrote to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein last Friday. "They have used my religion as the pretext to undermine the Academy and have taken my words out of context to distort my record and portray me as something that I am not."

Would you like some cheese with that whine?

She just doesn't get it, and obviously never will.

The Post's Andrea Peyser tees off on Almontaser as well as the idiotic notion that New York City needs a madrassa.

SCHOOL BAD IDEA EVEN BEFORE HEBREW-HAHA

DID you hear the one about the Muslim school led by a Jew?

Suffice it to say, it won't have long for this world.

This might be the worst joke ever to hit Brooklyn. Desperate to save its fast-sinking Khalil Gibran International Academy, the Department of Education yesterday named a new principal to replace Debbie "Intifada is Good" Almontaser - who resigned in disgrace before the school opened its doors.

Two things you need to know about the "interim acting" head of the school, whose stated goal is to educate Arab students and sympathizers from grades 6 though 12.

No. 1: The new principal speaks no Arabic.

No. 2: She is a member of the tribe. A Jewess.

Danielle Salzberg is walking into a minefield created by her predecessor, who defended the sale of T-shirts bearing the slogan "Intifada NYC" by stupidly defining the word "intifada" not as the spilling of Jewish blood - but as the benign "shaking off" of oppression.

What was not addressed - even as the Gibran Academy has been revealed as a potential hotbed of anti-Semitic and anti-American sentiment - is why the devil the place was cooked up in the first place. Some bright combination of political correctness and insane guilt has determined that New York needs a public school catering to Arabs.

As she stormed out the door and Salzberg tiptoed in, Almontaser made herself into the poor victim of a hate crime, lashing out at her critics.

Perhaps the Ed Department believes that putting a token Chosen Person at the helm of a rotten organization will save it.

A better question is: Why does the city need a Khalil Gibran Academy?

Indeed.

Well, when you have a mayor like Michael Bloomberg, who never met a constituency he wouldn't pander to, you can figure it out.

Also check out the Post editorial Debbie in Denial and the New York Sun checks in with Jewish Woman Taking Over at Arabic-Language School

New York City's education department is turning to a Jewish woman who belongs to an Upper West Side synagogue to lead an Arabic-language public school that critics have portrayed as a terrorist-friendly "madrassa" in the making.

Khalil Gibran International Academy, which is scheduled to open to a few dozen students for the first time next month, had its founding principal, Dhaba "Debbie" Almontaser, resign on Friday after a flap over her response to a T-shirt promoting an "intifada," or uprising, in New York. Ms. Almontaser's replacement will be Danielle Salzberg, who does not speak Arabic, but grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household and belongs to a Manhattan synagogue, her father, Michael Salzberg, told The New York Sun yesterday.

LGF reader Ornery Elephant noted this very curious poll at Survey Monkey:

What do you think about the I word?

Seems Almontaser and her sympathizers are trying to gin up support for the "Intifada NYC" shirts. Whoever put this up doesn't seem the least bit repentant. Check out these questions:

Can the term “Intifada NYC” ever have a positive non-violent connotation?

Is the controversy around these t-shirts reasonable?

Has media coverage about "Intifada NYC" been fair?

They just don't get it.

Previously: Almontaser Still on NYC DOE Payroll.

UPDATE: Hot Air links and Allahpundit notes the comedic possibilities.

Almontaser Still on NYC DOE Payroll

While former Khalil Gibran International Academy principal Debbie Almontaser resigned Friday, it's disturbing to see she's still on the payroll of the Department of Education. Of course, city officials are probably worried that the stormtroopers from CAIR would probably file some nuisance lawsuits.

Compounding the problem is the feckless Mayor Michael Bloomberg making nice-nice with this woman, who shouldn't be anywhere near a school.

INTIF-ADIOS TO SCHOOL CHIEF

The principal of a controversial city-funded Arab-themed school abruptly resigned yesterday after she ignited a firestorm by saying there was nothing wrong with T-shirts that said "Intifada NYC."

Pressure for Debbie Almontaser's ouster had mounted all week since her tortured explanation that "intifada" was a message of empowerment. The inflammatory statement was about Arab women in New York City "shaking off oppression" and not supporting the Palestinian uprising that killed thousands, she said.

Those remarks, first reported in The Post on Monday, focused renewed attention on her mission to create a dual-language Arabic school for grades 6 through 12. Critics say Khalil Gibran International Academy, which would be located in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, will isolate Muslim students.

"I think she felt that she has become the focus of, rather than having the school focus, and so today she submitted her resignation, which is nice of her to do and I appreciate her service," Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday on his radio show.

Almontaser will remain on the Department of Education payroll and be reassigned to a position not connected with the academy.

"I became convinced yesterday that this week's headlines were endangering the viability of Khalil Gibran International Academy, even though I apologized," Almontaser said in a statement. "I will not allow the recent outcry to undermine these possibilities for the children of our city."

She was to make $120,197 as principal.

The Department of Education said it remains committed to opening the school, and is searching for a new principal.

Numerous elected officials, citizens and advocacy groups said Almontaser's comments, made in a city already in the cross hairs of Islamic terrorists, raised doubts that she could handle the sensitivity of managing an Arab-themed school.

Maybe if she lit up a cigarette or served some food with trans-fats, then Bloomberg would spring into action.

Despite Almontaser's years of experience working in media and as a spokeswoman for the Arab community, Bloomberg said she simply misspoke about the tees.

"She's certainly not a terrorist. She really does care . . . She's not all that media savvy, maybe, and she tried to explain a word rather than just condemn," he said.

Yes, he's presidential material. He'd fit right in with the painfully pandering Democrats any day of the week.

Meanwhile, the Post editorial smacks School's Chancellor Joel Klein upside the head.

JIHAD'YA LATER

First the good news: Dhabah "Debbie" Almontaser yesterday quit as principal-designate of the city's new Arabic-themed public school - though not without blaming her resignation mostly on The Post (not by name, of course).

But here's the bad news: The Department of Education says it still plans to open the Khalil Gibran International Academy. And Almontaser herself will remain on the DOE payroll in an undetermined role.

After she defended the sale of T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Intifada NYC," and then issued a quasi-apology that only made things worse, it was inevitable that Almontaser would have to step down as head of the Arabic academy she'd first proposed.

Her words had brought a sharp rebuke from, among others, teachers-union head Randi Weingarten (until then a strong supporter of the Gibran school), who said, "Parents and teachers have a right to be concerned" about a school run by someone who didn't seem to understand the difference between "peace and war-mongering."

Chancellor Joel Klein's office refuses to release Almontaser's resignation letter. (Why not? Did she write something that would embarrass the department even further?)

But it did issue a statement attributed to Almontaser in which she complained, "This week's headlines were endangering the viability of Khalil Gibran International Academy, even though I apologized."

That is, she's blaming the media - in this case, Post reporters Chuck Bennett and Jana Winter and this page - for reporting and commenting on her foolishness.

I doubt this is the last we'll hear from Almontaser, and if she continues down this radical path, the city will have some explaining to do as to why she's still on the payroll.

Elsewhere, the New York Sun reports there are increased calls for this school to be shut down entirely, which I wholeheartedly concur with.

"I hope that this is the beginning of the end for this entire project," a Democrat who represents Boro Park in New York's state Assembly, Dov Hikind, told The New York Sun Friday. "If this woman, who I hear is a nice woman, if she couldn't get this right, then I think the whole concept just doesn't work."

The Department of Education had backed Ms. Almontaser after her statements about the "Intifada" T-shirts, saying it accepted her quick apology, in which she said she regretted "minimizing the word's historical associations." But after the president of the teachers union, Randi Weingarten, issued a condemnation of Ms. Almontaser, the schools chancellor, Joel Klein, said he admired her decision to resign, saying the "controversy about her remarks threatened to destabilize the school."

Must everyone qualify their remarks by noting "how nice" Almontaser is? This pandering political correctness is simply nauseating.

Previously: "Intifada NYC Principal Resigns.

UPDATE: Reader NY Nana notes the NY Times has finally discovered the story after ignoring it all week.

Head of City’s Arabic School Steps Down Under Pressure.

So nice for the "paper of record" to catch up with the New York Post, New York Sun and the blogs after six days.

"Intifada NYC" Principal Resigns

Just breaking, via Hot Air.

I never thought anyone would have the guts to call for her resignation, but I guess once Randi Weingarten came down hard on her the other day, the writing was on the wall.

Now all they need to do is scuttle this school entirely.

Previously: Union Boss Slams "Intifada NYC" Principal

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has more and Fox has a report. More also from Atlas Shrugs.

Union Boss Slams "Intifada NYC" Principal

We have a bona fide flying pig moment here. Someone I've always found utterly detestable, NYC teacher's union boss Rondi Weingarten, has come out firing against "Intifada NYC" principal Debbie Almontaser.


RANDI RIPS 'INTIFADA' PRINCIPAL

Teachers-union boss Randi Weingarten slammed the principal of a new Arab-themed school in Brooklyn yesterday for not immediately condemning T-shirts linked to her that sport the inflammatory message "Intifada NYC."

In a conversation yesterday with The Post - and in a letter to the editor - the United Federation of Teachers president said her support for the Khalil Gibran International Academy was shaken this week by Principal Debbie Almontaser's dismissal of concerns that the shirts were an incendiary call to violence.

Almontaser backtracked the next day, but the damage was done, said Weingarten.

"I'm very concerned about it, and it's not often that I write as blistering a letter as I wrote, but it's not OK to explain away 'intifada,' " she said. "Maybe this was just a real error in judgment for which she has now apologized, or maybe, ultimately, she should not be a principal.

"She now has a much higher standard that she has to prove, that this is not the way she's going to run that school."

In typical pandering PC, Weingarten blindly supported this academic farce, but certainly now has doubts, likely due to the public outrage.

But that support took a significant hit when Almontaser defended the shirts, first reported Monday by The Post, by defining "intifada" as a "shaking off" of oppression rather than acknowledging its widespread association with the call to violence among some Palestinians against Israelis.

"I'm glad she apologized quickly, but this is the kind of thing that you immediately say, 'No. People shouldn't have T-shirts like that. That's warmongering. That's preaching,' " said Weingarten.

"That's something that ought to be denounced, not be explained away."

While Weingarten stopped short of calling for Almontaser's dismissal, she appealed for "extraordinary oversight" of the school and its principal.

We'll see about that.

Previously: Arab School All About "Peace"

Arab School All About "Peace"

Try not to laugh too much. Apparently, they offered up this tripe with a straight face.

Arab School's Peace Goals

August 8, 2007 -- Internships with Muslim lawyers, trips to the Middle East and community activism are the hallmarks of the city's Arab-themed school scheduled to open this fall.

I guess education is out of the question.

What they apparently have planned is to have the "students" hang out with agitators figuring out ways to file frivolous lawsuits over perceived slights to their cherished faith, trips to Arab hellholes, and learning how to march to demand special privileges.

This is what a "school" is suppose to be about?

How about learning United States history? Reading? Writing? Science? Math?

Guess that's not on the agenda.

The controversial Khalil Gibran International Academy's grant application for private funds says the school wants to produce "agents of change" and "ambassadors of peace" by focusing on the "complexity of Arab history and the diversity of Arab culture."

Fine, if that's what you want to do, move to some Arab land, where no doubt you can learn the joys of Arab culture.

But this is America. Try to assimilate. You know, it just might work. Hundreds of millions have done it before.

Principal Dhabah "Debbie" Almontaser - who backtracked this week from comments condoning the "Intifada NYC" T-shirts that are sold by activists with ties to her - insists political dogma will not be on the curriculum.

All students, no matter their ethnicity, or religion, will be welcome, she said.

Sure.

Previously: Intifada NYC, Intifada NYC Principal "Regrets" Remarks

Intifada NYC Principal "Regrets" Remarks

They always regret their words once they come to public attention. Now Arabic School principal Debbie Almontaser is furiously backtracking and offering mealy-mouthed explanation for her actions, which, quite frankly, ring hollow.

Arab School Principal Says She Regrets Intifada Remarks

The principal of an Arabic-language public school due to open next month is under fire for taking what several Jewish groups are condemning as a soft stance on the violent Palestinian Arab uprising known as the intifada. The principal, Debbie Almontaser, was quoted yesterday interpreting T-shirts that say "Intifada NYC" as not an endorsement of violence but rather "an opportunity for girls to express that they are part of New York City society ... and shaking off oppression." She followed the word's literal Arabic meaning, which is "struggle" or "uprising."

In a statement late yesterday afternoon, Ms. Almontaser backed away from her comments, reported by the New York Post, saying she regretted suggesting the T-shirt slogan was appropriate. "By minimizing the word's historical associations I implied that I condone violence and threats of violence," she said. "That view is anathema to me and the very opposite of my life's work."

Sure. What a pile of drivel.

Meanwhile, the ADL, which had supported the notion of an Arabic School, has done a 180.

"I feel like a fool. I think Abe Foxman should feel like a fool. And certainly Joel Klein if he sponsors it will be a fool," a CUNY board member who had decided to support the school, Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, said.

Watch it guys, there's only one fool around here...

Today's New York Post editorial reminds NYC school's Chancellor Joel Klein he has a choice to make. Does he have the guts?

Dhabah "Debbie" Almontaser is to be principal of Khalil Gibran Interna tional Academy, New York City's new Arabic-centered public school, when it opens in the fall.

Either she is a fool or she thinks New Yorkers are morons. Regardless, she has no business running a public school.

Almontaser, as The Post's Chuck Bennett and Jana Winter reported yesterday, sits on the board of an organization that shares office space with a group called Arab Women Active in Art and Media, which has been selling T-shirts proudly proclaiming "Intifada NYC."

What does that mean, exactly?

Is it meant to support the Palestinian intifada, which has killed thousands of innocent people over the years?

Is it an incitement to such deadly violence here in New York City?

Neither, according to Almontaser.

"The word basically means 'shaking off,' " she tells The Post. "That is the root word, if you look it up in Arabic."

And while she says that intifada "is developing a negative connotation" because of its murderous anti-Israeli violence, Almontaser claims the shirts are merely "an opportunity for girls to express that they are part of New York City society . . . and shaking off oppression."

And the moon is made of green cheese.

No doubt, Almontaser is right about the literal definition of "intifada."

But if its generally accepted meaning were as benign as she insists, you can bet no one would be wearing it on a T-shirt.

You can further bet that she knows it.

Now, if Dhabah Almontaser is going to be as disingenuous about something like this, why should New Yorkers believe her claim that "you won't find religious or political indoctrination or anti-Americanism" at her Khalil Gibran school?

She's got to go. Of course, the goons from CAIR will file lawsuits in the blink of an eye, but we're used to that. What you don't get through craven acquiescence, you go for through intimidation in the courts.

For background on this school, check out the NY Sun's special page on the Khalil Gibran International Academy.

Previously: Intifada NYC.