UPDATE: My radio show tonight will be Pamela Hall from the Stop the Madrassa Coaliton - call in 
(347) 996-3944
SHEIK-UP: Danielle Salzberg replaces ousted Khalil Gibran head Debbie
Almontaser.
In the latest desperate attempt to pull the wool over our eyes and get this NY public school madrassa opened and unstoppable, they've hired a "Jewish woman" as interim principal. I, for one, am unmoved.
What? They hire a Jew (and clearly it's a left wing upper West Side liberal - the worst) and they think we'll say "never mind." How insulting and wrong. As if.Considering the leftist/Islamic alliance, the liberal Jew would be the nest best thing to an Islamist. BTW, she doesn't even speak Arabic.
It is not about the principal. It is about a public school madrassa. In their feeble attemnpt to deflect scrutiny, they are making it all about Almontaser. It should not open, here's why.
And interim means what? Who will eventually be imam?
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.
Ms. Salzberg will serve as Khalil Gibran's acting principal while the city wages an aggressive search to find a permanent replacement for Ms. Almontaser, who speaks fluent Arabic, and is a practicing Muslim.
In a resignation letter sent to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, Ms. Almontaser said she was stepping down for the good of her school. "Unfortunately, a small group of highly misguided individuals has launched a relentless attack on me because of my religion," she wrote. "I have grown increasingly concerned that these few outsiders will disrupt the community of learning when the Academy opens its doors on September 4th."
[...]
The interim principal, Ms. Salzberg, seemed apprehensive when the Department of Education asked her to run Khalil Gibran temporarily, said her father, who said he spoke to her about the offer over the weekend. "It's a controversial thing, it's public," Mr. Salzberg said. "I'm not sure that exposure is good for anyone."
Her father? Why her father? She can't speak for herself? WTF?
But he said he is confident his daughter will deal well under pressure. For one thing, positive comments about intifada are unlikely, he said. "I don't think she'll get herself into that sort of bind," he said.
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.
Oyish.
UPDATE: MUST READ: Stop the Madrassa Statement on Danielle Salzberg: Direct Responsibility
Danielle has had direct responsibility for supporting the Khalil Gibran planning team over the last six months.
In other words, Salzberg has had “direct responsibility” for the KGIA’s flawed design that explicitly preferences Islam and Muslim religion in the curricula, and Islamist and sharia ideologies in the teacher “partners” for the school. And that she continues to have that “direct responsibility.”
She has direct responsibility for appointing Almontaser as principal, even while Almontaser serves on the Muslim Consultancy Network with a host of extremist organization participants including the unindicted co-conspirators in terrorism financing, ISNA and CAIR, the second of which also awarded her efforts with a major award.
Salzberg has direct responsibility as senior program officer for choosing an entirely religious Advisory Board for a public school, in apparent contempt of constitutional separation of church and state. She has direct responsibility for selecting these three imams:
Salzberg has direct responsibility for appointing Imam Talib ‘Abdur-Rashid to the board. He is also the Amir (leader) of the Harlem Shura, a coalition of seven Harlem mosques. He has been the chairman of the Justice Committee of the Majlis Ash-Shura (Islamic Leadership Council) of New York, and Deputy Amir of The Muslim Alliance in North America. In Early 2006 he was appointed Deputy Amir of the Majlis Ash Shura.
She could have found a secular Arabic speaker, Bahai Arabic speaker, a Christian Arabic speaker or a Sephardic Jew. But she chose an Islamist political activist committed to the imposition of sharia law.
Salzberg has direct responsibility for appointing Imam Shamsi Ali, director of the Jamaica Muslim Center in Queens, where he started a traditional Koranic Madrassa (yes, right word) several years ago where students memorize the Koran, with only two hours of instruction for all other subjects at the end of the day.
She could have found a Coptic Arabic-speaker, or a Maronite Christian Arabic-speaker. But she chose an Islamic religious activist who puts a low value on learning anything other than the Koran.
Salzberg has direct responsibility for appointing NYU Imam Khalid Latif, who “convinced” the NYU administration to censor students who tried to show the Muhammed cartoons (so much for being “inclusive,” “showing diverse views,” or that pesky non-Koranic document again, the Constitution and its First Amendment). A video describing his political organizing to block the cartoons is instructive. In his NYU Imam capacity, he cuts to the chase and simply states that all Middle Eastern languages are “Islamic”: “Responsibilities of the Islamic Chaplain at NYU …Organizes and instructs religious classes in Islamic religion, ethics, and languages, i.e. Arabic, Urdu and Farsi.” (page 8 of 29).She could have found a secular Muslim Arabic-speaker, or even a Muslim apostate (we have laws in this country to protect Muslim apostates from being killed, fined or imprisoned - there must be one or two in New York City). Instead, she chose an Islamic activist who asserts that Arabic is an “Islamic” language, and who given a choice between the Constitution and Free Speech - and the Koran - chose the Koran.
But wait. Salzberg has direct responsibility for much more, found in the KGIA Executive Summary for the school here.
Salzberg made sure that Columbia University’s teacher training in fact teaches about one religion and one only - Islam. Oh, there’s “Israeli Culture” and a general nod to Middle East history, but she only recognizes the teaching of a single religion in this ostensibly public school (page 8):
UPDATE: Meanwhile the Draft Bloomberg for President web site has a creepy donation
button with a human spine imposed over an American flag. Bloomberg, who
according to the Post article, "Mayor Bloomberg yesterday said it was best for
Almontaser to step down because "she was becoming an issue" but supported the
school." hat tip jeremayakovk
UPDATE: And Ed Lasky writes me of another New York Crimes whitewash alal the leftist/ Islamic alliance;
knew Almontaser shared office space with the group printing the Intifada T-Shirts but the NY Sun writes that she advises the group. Certainly a bit different than the NYT version that did not mention that she shared office space with the group nor that she ADVISES the group.
Instead, the Times wrote she had "no direct connection" with the group. Critics of the school have raised concerns that Ms. Almontaser's public commitment to peace might be a front for a violent agenda. A group of over 70 community members, including some parents and at least one city teacher, formed a group, the Stop the Madrassa Coalition, to investigate the school's possible ties to terrorist organizations. It was pictures of the "Intifada NYC" T-shirts posted on their website that led The New York Post to ask Ms. Almontaser her thoughts about the shirts, which were created by an Arab American art group that shares office space with an organization Ms. Almontaser advises.
SALZBERG, Department of Education
Ms. Salzberg, whose daddy said she attended Columbia Teachers College after getting a bachelor's at New York University, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Columbia? Oh great
