Friday, August 10, 2007
NYC Principal at Center of 'Intifada' T-Shirt Controversy Resigns
On Friday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg accepted the resignation of Debbie Almontaser, principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, an English-Arabic school set to open next month in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Almontaser had come under fire for comments she made to the New York Post about an "Intifada NYC" T-shirt that is sold by an activist group that shares an office with the Yemeni-American association that Almontaser represents.
The day before she condemned the T-shirt message's connection to Palestinian terrorism, Almontaser told the Post that "intifada" means "shaking off" and the shirts represented women "shaking off" oppression.
The comments infuriated the city's United Federation of Teachers president, Randi Weingarten, who called the message "war-mongering."
“That’s something that ought to be denounced, not be explained away,†she told the paper...
The NY Post notes that sign-ups at the academy aren't going exactly as hoped: NYC Arabic School is Short On, Um, Arabic - Only 6 Students Signed Up To Attend
Just six Arabic speakers and one English-language learner out of 44 registered students have enrolled at the Brooklyn public academy that critics fear will become a city-funded Islamic school...
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It's truly offensive and a war crime the way the Israeli's and West try to tell another race, what their words or symbols mean. Since it's been shown no one has any legitimate [military] business in the VietMidEast, what they wear and what it means should be their right. Yet, we are always trying to beat fear into people, since we've done it to the Afrikan-Americans ("Negroes"). What an ignorant devil doesn't let the West and Israeli's see/realize is, you can't beat or intimidate the fear into a God-fearing (only) people.
Really, what about a swastika tatoo'd on a guy's forehead? Is that a multicuti indiscretion or something we should all welcome in our schools and businesses?