Free Republic

When Dhabah ("Debbie") Almontaser resigned on August 10 as principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, her action culminated a remarkable grass-roots campaign in which concerned citizens successfully criticized the New York City establishment. But the fight continues. The next step is to get the academy itself canceled. The five-month effort to get Almontaser removed began in March with analyses (including one by this writer) pointing out the inherent political and religious problems in an Arabic-language school. By June, a concerned group of New York City residents coalesced with specialists (including my colleague, R. John Matthies) to create the "Stop...

The embattled principal of an Arabic-themed public school in New York resigned Friday after coming under fire for failing to condemn the use of the highly charged word "intifada" on T-shirts. Debbie Almontaser was supposed to oversee the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn. The city's Department of Education says it remains committed to launching the school in September. Almontaser's departure comes on the heels of an editorial flaying in the New York Post and an article this week that connected Almontaser to Arab Women Active in Art and Media. That group is selling shirts imprinted with the words "Intifada...

NYC Principal at Center of 'Intifada' T-Shirt Controversy Resigns Friday , August 10, 2007 NEW YORK — A New York City principal who came under fire for controversial comments about an "intifada" T-shirt that seemed to condone terrorism has resigned. 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...

What are we to make of a story in the New York Post about the ties between the principal of New York City's new "Arabic-themed" public school, which opens this fall in Brooklyn for grades 6-12, and an organization called Arab Women Active in Art and Media, which is selling t-shirts emblazoned with the message "Intifada NYC"?

A Muslim school is opening in Brooklyn next month and guess who's paying for it. Well, that didn't take you very long, did it? You're right. The taxpayers. The very people whom so many radical Muslims want to kill are going to pay for a nice little Muslim school in New York. Try that with a Christian school and see how far you get. Wait! There's more! It seems that the principal (taxpayer paid, or course) of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, Dhabah "Debbie" Almontaser, is under more heat ... as if she wasn't already. A group called Arab Women...

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...