Replacing Intifada Debbie Almontaser. Does this mean that suddenly all the troubling aspects of this school will magically disappear? Of course not. Danielle Salzberg is just window dressing.
"Orthodox educator to head controversial NYC Arabic school," by Michael Lando for the Jerusalem Post (thanks to all who sent this in):
An Arabic language public school set to open in Brooklyn on September 4 is on its second principal before even opening its doors.Experienced educator Danielle Salzberg, who grew up Orthodox, was appointed as the school's interim principal late Monday, following last week's abrupt resignation of the school's founder, Debbi Almontaser.
Khalil Gibran International Academy, named after a Lebanese-American poet and intended to emphasize Arabic language and culture, has been mired in controversy since it was first announced in February. Critics are concerned the school will become a hotbed for Islamic extremism, despite assurances from the Department of Education that the school will not teach religion....
Criticism of the school, which has three rabbis on its advisory board, reached a high last week over Almontaser's failure to condemn T-shirts printed by the group Arab Women Active in Art and Media, that read "Intifada NYC." Almonaster sits on the board of the Saba Association of American Yeminis, which shares office space with the organization that made the T-shirts.
The shirts were first revealed on the Web site of Stop the Madrassa Coalition, an unidentified group that has been campaigning to shut down the school.
Almontaser told the New York Post last week that the shirts were not endorsements of violence, but "an opportunity for girls to express that they are part of New York City society." She later apologized, saying she regretted "minimizing the word's historical associations."
Intifada Debbie says she resigned because of those awful Islamophobes:
Almontaser resigned shortly thereafter, saying she was doing so out of concern for the future of the school. The "intolerant and hateful tone" used by critics of the school "has come to frighten some of the parents and incoming parents," she wrote in a letter of resignation, as reported in the New York Sun. "I have grown increasingly concerned that these few outsiders will disrupt the community of learning when the Academy opens its doors on September 4. Therefore, I have decided to step aside ...."[...]
Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who has been at the forefront of the campaign to shut down the school, is not assuaged by the choice of principals. Salzberg's Orthodox background has not persuaded Hikind, who represents an Orthodox district of Brooklyn, to step back from his criticism.
"Some of our worst enemies are Jews," said Hikind. "The principal being Jewish hardly gives me comfort." Learning Arabic is necessary, but can be done within the context of other public schools, said Hikind, who will continue to try to convince the administration to "chuck the whole thing."
I hope is not from the Naturei Karta sect who stands by in agreement when the Muhammedan's call to annihilating the Jooozzz...
One thing for sure...he's a "token", lest they not have accepted this at all.
This article is mistitled. The article states that she grew up Orthodox and it implies she no longer is. She is probably a thoroughly secularized, left-winger by now, which is why she got the job.
"the school, which has three rabbis on its advisory board...
...Some of our worst enemies are Jews," said Hikind. "The principal being Jewish hardly gives me comfort."
- from the article
Surely these rabbis are just like the sentimentalist, ignorant Christians and secular leftists who so often line up in defense of Islam, despite being completely ignorant of Islam's tenets and texts.
Surely these rabbis are ignorant of the rabid antisemitism within the Islamic texts.
Qur'an 2:61 "Humiliation and wretchedness were stamped on the Jews and they were visited with Allah's wrath."
Qur'an 4:44 "Have you not considered those to whom a portion of the Book has been given? They traffic in error and desire that you should go astray. But Allah has full knowledge of your enemies. Of the Jews there are those who displace words from their (right) places, saying, ‘We hear and we disobey' with a twist of their tongues they slander Faith.... Allah has cursed them for disbelief."
Qur'an 4:47 "O you People of the Book to whom the Scripture has been given, believe in what We have (now) revealed, confirming and verifying what was possessed by you, before We destroy your faces beyond all recognition, turning you on your backs, and curse you as We cursed the Sabbath-breakers, for the decision of Allah Must be executed."
Qur'an 4:160 "For the iniquity of the Jews We made unlawful for them certain (foods) in that they hindered many from Allah's Way, that they took usury, though they were forbidden, and that they devoured men's wealth on false pretenses, We have prepared for those among them who reject [Islamic] Faith a painful doom."
And there are plenty more Islamic quotes just like these:
http://www.prophetofdoom.net/Islamic_Quotes_Jews.Islam
The willful ignorance regarding Islam seems to cross all cultures and is not limited to leftist Christians and others in Western societies.
Yet it never ceases to amaze me that some of the most dhimmified among us come from cultures that have been so badly mauled by Islam, such as India(K.S. Lal estimated that 80 million Hindus and Buddhists were slaughtered in the Muslim invasion) and the Jews.
I know a very intelligent professional secular Jewish man in Australia who takes a great interest in Middle Eastern politics and events and is very much a Zionist.
When I mentioned to him that Islam teaches that under sharia law, Jews and Christians only have the options of: conversion to Islam; subjugation and payment of the jizya tax; or death, he looked at me like I had just made it up.
He is completely ignorant of what Islam teaches, like so many in the West, and so perhaps are these rabbis.
Does she really think that this will somehow bridge the divide? You know what they say, a liberal is someone so open minded that their brains have fallen out.
How long before she is in the basement of the school repeating the phrases, "It rubs the lotion on its skin. It puts the lotion in the basket."
Initially, Klein and the rest of the NYC DoE liberals were ready to accept Debbie's apology and move on, until Weingarten got involved.
While not a fan of the lot of them, I cannot overlook the obvious slight of replacing a Muslim in an arabic language and culture wing of a school with an orthodox Jew. It is akin to putting a woman judge to mediate the flying Imam's case, and just as enjoyable.
Dov is pretty level-headed and his concerns should be noted. I do not believe he is completely ignorant of Islam, quite the contrary. He merely pointed out the obvious fact that willful ignorance of Islam, a sickness of the liberal-left permeates all ideologies, Christian, Jew and atheist alike.
Could one characterize this action as "putting lipstick on a pig" ?
It will still be a pig.
How long before the islamics, with the help of the ACLU sue to take over the school in the name of "equality" and "multiculturalism".
Talk of stupidity.
An entry point for the worm of jihadism.
"Some of our worst enemies are Jews."
Sounds like a line from Borat, but sadly true. Reform Jews and a Catholic Democrat in St. Louis are working together to relocate a mosque from a storefront in the city to a 25,000 sq ft facility in a suburban Christian neighborhood.
It's this kind of teamwork that we can do without. You would think that of all peoples, orthodox Jews would know the consequences of helping the enemy.
Danielle Salzberg's direct responsibility.
Everything you read about this Wicked Witch of the West Side indicates that she's only perhaps Orthodox and, if so, of the extreme leftist liberal variety, far far away from anything mainstream.
We all have our bad apples. I'm Orthodox and, of the 100's of my Orthodox acquaintences, family and friends, none would follow in Salzberg's footsteps.
Shy Guy
Can you fix the link?
Corrected link:
Danielle Salzberg's direct responsibility.
Having three rabbi's on its board clearly wasn't enough to prevent intifada Debbie from becoming principle so what does it matter if the new principle is Jewish? I agree with sheik yer mami- I am really curious as to the background of these rabbi's. Probably either very reformed leftists or anti-Zionist Hisidic like Naturei Karta.
Good for Assemblyman Dov Hikind, he is one of the few Democrats with any common sense. He is one of the only politicians in the NYC to come out in favor of profiling on subways.
Salzberg was "educated" at Columbia's Teachers College.
As near as I can tell, Columbia's Teachers College has been a cesspool of incompetence, ignorance, mediocrity and leftist agitation since the '70s.
It's perfectly fitting that a product of that "school" would head up a project like this.
Remember, this is a school for people who major in "education" -- a make-believe subject if ever I've heard of one.
Moreover ...
There are plenty of people in NY descended from Weimar period Jewish "progressives" who fled central Europe during the pre-war or wartime years.
From what I've seen personally, many of the original immigrants seem to have learned nothing from their experience. If anything they became more settled in their convictions, and passed them along to their children.
There were probably Jews like Salzberg baking cookies for the Hitler Youth and feeling expansive and superior about it.
Never again?
More like here we go again!
Yup she is a leftist who does not even speak Arabic! The school is an Arabic language school, how can she be responsible for monitoring what is being taught when she can not speak the language....this is nuts!
From the NY SUN http://www.nysun.com/article/60428?page_no=1
"Mr. Salzberg added that his daughter's politics are far more liberal than his, noting that he was not surprised to learn that she had signed a petition written by the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance."
HMMM , I wonder how long it will take before some Arab accuses the Orthodox Jew of being a mossad agent.