ACTION ALERT: A Zionist to head the first Arabic School in NY
Written by Haitham Sabbah on 17. August 2007, 0051hrs // Part of Haitham Sabbah's adventure in Action, Say That Again, USA, Zionism // Other posts by Haitham Sabbah
This must be the one of the worst jokes I’ve heard, ever… [Hat tip: Akram Awad]
NY’s 1st Arabic School Occupied by a Zionist Principal!
ISLAM PROF IS ‘ZION’-HEARTED
By CHUCK BENNETT and JOHN MAZORNew York Post - August 15, 2007
The new principal of the city’s controversial Arabic-themed school is an ardent Zionist who considered moving to Israel, according to her former Jerusalem roommate.
The latest revelation puts a strange twist on the saga of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, the new city school that’s been in the cross hairs of critics since its inception.
Interim Principal Danielle Salzberg, 35, hosted an orientation seminar at the Brooklyn school yesterday for parents and students.
It was her first full day on the job since the school’s original principal, Debbie Almontaser, a Muslim and Arabic-speaker, quit last week. She had been caught up in a furor over her comments to The Post downplaying the “Intifada NYC” T-shirts her organization was linked to.
Salzberg’s former roommate Aliza Hemed described the new principal’s two passions in life as Israel and educating youngsters. And, in the end, Salzberg chose teaching New York City’s youth over life in the Holy Land.
“If anything, she was a Zionist. She had every intention to make aliyah [Hebrew for immigration to Israel] and move there, but she came back and fell in love with her [students] and the job,” said Hemed.
“Most American Orthodox [Jews] have a love of Israel - I’m sure it’s still in her.”
Salzberg first met Hemed as an undergrad at New York University. They were both observant Orthodox Jews and Salzberg held leadership positions with the school’s Hillel, a Jewish group.
Upon graduation in 1993, the two spent a year studying Hebrew and Middle East politics at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Salzberg stayed away from political rallies and other activities, Hemed said.
Then in 1994, they moved back to Manhattan where they shared an apartment on the East Side for several years. Salzberg began work as a teaching assistant in city schools while pursuing her master’s degree in education from Columbia University’s Teachers College.
“Her kids were her life. Every little progress they made she was so proud of them,” Hemed said.
Salzberg, who had helped Almontaser develop the school’s curriculum, did not return requests for comment.
The school’s first sixth-grade class of 44 students is scheduled to begin Sept. 4. Eventually, the school will expand to the 12th grade.
While Salzberg is still technically an interim principal, a Department of Education spokeswoman said the agency wants to install her permanently.
“I’m sorry the last woman didn’t work out, but I think we’re better off going on and attacking the problem again and we’ve got the right person this time,” Mayor Bloomberg said.
Still, Arab community activists said Monday evening during a meeting at the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge that they will start a letter-writing campaign to try and get Almontaser reinstated.
Action Alert:
1 - Write to Joel Klein, the NYC Department of Education Chancellor, expressing your disgust at his department’s decision
Use this link http://schools.nyc.gov/webforms/chancellormessage.aspx
(FYI, Klein is the same person who banned the director of Columbia University’s Middle East Institute, Professor Rashid Khalidi, from participating in a NYC school teachers’ training on the Middle East because of his criticism of Israel, and the one who approved a curriculum that grants graduate credit to NYC teachers who take a 30-hour course of study on Israel, written by the Israeli Consulate.
2- Call the NYC Department of Education and speak to the Chancellor about it
Tel No. (718) 935-2000
3- Most importantly, EMAIL & CALL DEBBIE ALMONTASER AND SHOW HER YOUR SUPPORT
Debbie contacts are:
Email: njdsa719@aol.com
Phone: (001) 718-643-8000
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Article Tags>> 
August 18th, 2007 at 3:09 am
Look at this article at the website of the newspaper of the NYC United Federation of Teachers ( http://www.uft.org/news/teacher/around/irish_duo/ )
were it refers to the terrorists of Hagannah as freedom fighters.
August 19th, 2007 at 11:33 am
I didn’t see a joke here.
All I saw was attacks on freedom fighters.
August 20th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
From an email I just received:
Subj: RAWI Statement on Debbie Almontaser
Date: Sunday, August 19, 2007 7:31:00 PM
Please distribute and consider posting on your blogs.
RAWI Urges the City of New York to Reinstate Debbie Almontaser
RAWI, the Radius of Arab American Writers, is concerned by
the recent “resignation” of Debbie Almontaser from New York City’s
Khalil Gibran International Academy, a public school devoted to Arabic
language and culture.
Almontaser generated public controversy when she was
spotted by a reporter wearing a tee-shirt with the phrase “Intifada
NYC” at an event sponsored by Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media.
Both the event and the organization are unrelated to the Gibran
Academy. As Almontaser attempted to explain repeatedly, the shirt is
not in any way an endorsement of violence; “the word basically means
’shaking off,’” she noted.
Almontaser was subjected to vicious and factually
unsubstantiated attacks by neoconservative media and commentators such
as Daniel Pipes, who published sensationalistic articles entitled “A
Madrassa Grows in Brooklyn” and “Stop the NYC Madrassa.” (”Madrassa”
merely means “school” in Arabic.) Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post
dubbed Almontaser “the Initifada Principal” and ran an editorial under
the title “What’s Arabic for Shut It Down?” Amid the brouhaha, Randi
Weingarten, the president of Almontaser’s union, The United Federation
of Teachers, took a public stand in opposition to Almontaser.
Almontaser, an Arabic-speaking Yemeni immigrant, is the
founding principal of the school and is a veteran public school
teacher. Because of the intense pressure, she was advised to resign
as principal of the Academy; Mayor Michael Bloomberg accepted her
resignation and swiftly replaced her with Danielle Salzberg, a
non-Arabic-speaking American Jew; according to The Post, Salzberg is
“an ardent Zionist who considered moving to Israel.”
RAWI views this intense pressure and Almontaser’s
subsequent resignation as symptoms of pervasive anti-Arab racism in
the United States through which nonviolent, workaday Arabic terms have
been stigmatized with sinister, albeit nonsensical, connotations. We
correspondingly view New York City’s move to replace Almontaser with a
non-Arab Zionist as a profound insult to the Arab American community.
The clear message to the Arab American community is that we cannot
undertake any of our own affairs without continuous public scrutiny
and external bureaucratic supervision.
We have also learned that in moments of crisis the fear
and loathing of Arabs will supersede the commonsensical need to
exercise basic civil responsibility.
As a community of writers, scholars, and artists, RAWI is
concerned about the consequences of the Almontaser imbroglio to the
freedom of intellectual and cultural expression. If the City of New
York can be cowed into taking action against a decorated principal who
had done nothing other than wear a tee-shirt emblazoned with a
cultural slogan, then groups whose purpose is to restrict public
freedom will be inexcusably empowered. The effect of such groups on
the Arab American community has already been substantial and has the
potential to become pernicious.
Almontaser was the victim of a sensationalistic and
premeditated media attack. She was then the victim of cowardice by
her union and employers. RAWI urges the City of New York to reinstate
her forthwith as principal of the Gibran Academy, a position from
which she had no legitimate reason to resign.
August 25th, 2007 at 1:27 am
kimmy,
Who is talking about jokes, I am talking about hypopcrisy. The Jewish gun runners in Manhattan should have been charged with terrorism.
Here is some informatiuon about the Hagannah
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2002-05/16/article23.shtml
August 25th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Please note, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ)Takes a stand in support of Debbie Almontaser and Khalil Gibran International Academy
As parents, students, teachers, New Yorkers, and Jews, we are outraged by the series of events that have culminated in Debbie Almontaser’s resignation as principal of the Kahlil Gibran International Academy. We are particularly disturbed that Mayor Bloomberg, Joel Klein, the Chancellor of the Department of Education, and Randi Weingarten, the President of the United Federation of Teachers, bowed to right-wing pressure and did not strenuously resist and condemn the unjustified attacks on Ms. Almontaser, which fed on and fostered anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice. We call for Debbie Almontaser to be reinstated to her position as principal if that is what she wishes, and for full support for the Kahlil Gibran International Academy.
Read further http://www.jfrej.org/JFREJpositionDebbieAlmontaser.htm
August 27th, 2007 at 4:54 am
Not only did the Hagannah terrorize the Palestinians, they also terrorized Jews. There is a book by Naeim Giladi called Ben Gurion’s Scandals: How the Haganah & the Mossad Eliminated Jews. Read about it here http://www.bintjbeil.com/E/occupation/ameu_iraqjews.html
August 30th, 2007 at 4:09 am
Sorry RandallJones,
I didn’t realize your info.
Thank you for your input.
I was being short without reading your links.
Again I apologize.