Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Islamist Ex-Principal Of Khalil Gibran International Academy, Dhabah Almontaser Sues New York School District (video)
Islamist Ex-Principal Of Khalil Gibran International Academy, Dhabah Almontaser Sues New York School District (video)
November 20, 2007
Islamist Ex-Principal Of Khalil Gibran International Academy, Dhabah Almontaser Sues New York School District
Islamist Ex-Principal Of Khalil Gibran International Academy, Dhabah Almontaser Sues New York School District
By William Mayer and Beila Rabinowitz
November 20, 2007 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a long anticipated move, Dhabah Almontaser has brought a federal lawsuit against the New York Department of Education, its chancellor Joel Klein and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, alleging a conspiracy "to deny her the opportunity to regain her position as principal" at the institution she founded, Brooklyn's embattled madrassah, the Khalil Gibran International Academy [KGIA].
Setting the stage for the lawsuit, during the week of October 14, Almontaser engaged in the kind of shrill, factually incorrect histrionics that have become the norm among supporters of KGIA:
"Leading the attack was the Stop the Madrassa Coalition run by Daniel Pipes, who has made his career fostering hatred of Arabs and Muslims...The coalition conducted a smear campaign against me and the school that was ferocious. Members of the coalition stalked me wherever I went and verbally assaulted me with vicious anti-Arab and anti-Muslim comments. They suggested that, as an observant Muslim, I was disqualified from leading KGIA, even though the school is rigorously secular, and its namesake, Khalil Gibran, was a Lebanese Christian. To stir up anti-Arab prejudice they constantly referred to me by my Arabic name, a name that I do not use professionally. They even created and circulated a YouTube clip depicting me as a radical Islamist."
Dr. Daniel Pipes does not run the Stop the Madrassa Coalition; and the group, actually an ad-hoc committee of concerned parents and citizens who became alarmed at the prospect of a thinly disguised, publicly funded madrassah operating under the guise of a public school, has sought counsel from dozens of experts on Middle East affairs and related issues.
There has been no need to employ "smear tactics" against Almontaser, whose actions and long history of questionable public pronouncements are in themselves indicative of her unsuitability to serve as a principal anywhere in public education.
For example:
Almontaser has been honored by CAIR, recently named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Hamas funding prosecution.
"At a 2005 fundraiser for The Council on American Islamic Relations [CAIR] Almontaser received an award together with Ghazi Khankan [former director of NY CAIR]. [source http://www.cair-net.org/asp/printthis.asp?id=1541&page=NR]
During a political rally Khankan shouted to the crowd "I bring you salaams and greetings from the Mujahideen of CAIR!"
Perhaps Mr. Khankan's record of pro-Islamist statements might provide enlightenment on that question: [PLN source, C.W. Post Caves To CAIR, Hit With Multi-Million Dollar Discrimination Lawsuit, [PLN source, http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=cwpost21207%2Ehtm]
"Khankan has declared that "'Jihad' is known in the West as waging holy war, which is utter nonsense." Yet, at an anti-war rally held in Washington, D.C., where a previous speaker "called for the overthrow of the U.S. government," Khankan addressed the protesters by stating, "I bring you salaams and greetings from the Mujahadeen at CAIR." In Yossef Bodansky's book, BIN LADEN: THE MAN WHO DECLARED WAR ON AMERICA, Mujahadeen is defined as "Those who wage the jihad; Islam's holy warriors." At another anti-war rally, Khankan was a featured speaker along with Sami Al Arian...After 9/11 he told ABC News that the attacks were America's own fault stating: "I believe that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Look what our government has done overseas to other countries." [source http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=12246]
Almontaser is a 9/11 denier:
The Yemeni born Almontaser wears a hijab - a conspicuous outward sign of devotion to Islam - and has spent years acting as a Muslim apologist in the public schools. She began doing this immediately after 9/11 because she believes that Muslims were the real casualties of those attacks and have since suffered inordinate discrimination and fear because of it.
Almontaser's statements post 9/11 reflect a Muslim-centric viewpoint of victimhood and resentment which will be the sentiment that will be the operative ethic of the Khalil Gibran school.
Through her da'wa outreach work in the NY school system Almontaser has functioned as a 9/11 denier, having taken advantage of her created position as an authority figure to engage in a campaign of disinformation.
Speaking to a group of impressionable sixth grade children in Brooklyn's PS 51 Almontaser stated, "I don't recognize the people who committed the attacks as either Arabs or Muslims." [source http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-06-10/584.asp]
The least one can expect from a professional educator is an approximation of truth and to allege that those who carried out and planned 9/11 were not Muslim Arabs is spectacularly untrue."
[PLN source, Khalil Gibran School - A Jihad Grows in Brooklyn, http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=jihadschool41207%2Ehtm]
Almontaser blames the United States for 9/11 and likens the political atmosphere in the U.S. to that of a Soviet gulag where a lawless FBI has invaded neighborhoods, using Arab speaking informants to facilitate the carting off of innocent Muslims.
Almontaser's mindset is confrontational and preaches a cult of Arab/Muslim victimhood, all of which will be reflected in KGIA. She is also opposed to the use of Arab speaking informants to stop potential domestic terror plots before they happen, hence the Arabic speakers that KGIA might graduate will not be available, because of Almontaser's philosophical predisposition - for legitimate national security operations.
Adding further to Almontaser's leftist credentials is the above referenced, below excerpted interview published by the Norwegian branch of Amnesty International on October 10, 2002. Her statements in this interview are shockingly extreme, having more in common with the ideology of the 9/11 hijackers than not.
The complete interview may be viewed at [http://www.amnesty.no/web.nsf/ac1a1a01ea7194a3c1256a07004fad10/ffac5a3601aba908c1256c3d004ef7c5?OpenDocument].
"President Bush is trying to destroy the United States that I love and of which I am a result. He has abandoned our forefather's ideals of a society of freedom; democracy and pluralism build by immigrants. He is a nightmare.""We are in favor of combating terror, but that cannot be done by violating fundamental human rights, says Debbie Almontaser (37). - After the terror attacks last year our government has put aside our civil rights and it is particularly Muslim, Arab-American and South Asian families that suffer under this."
"I would love to see a peace-loving country as Norway calling the USA to the carpet, telling that enough is enough. I would like to see Norway taking the risk demanding that USA stops the killings, spreading suffering, emergency and fear in countries as Afghanistan, Iraq, Venezuela and Sudan, she says. - I would like to see Norway show its guts in the Security Council and protest against unfair and racist policies. Stop the sanctions against Iraq; can't you see that it is the civil population that suffers?"
"This is my South Asian neighborhood; Debbie says proud and continues in a more serious manner. - About 80 people were arrested here just after September 11 last year, no one knows why. And they still observe us, a little while ago the FBI infiltrated our community, people speaking Arabic were spying on us. That has lead to new detentions."
"The harassment has decreased. - The tendency in New York is that people embrace their Muslim and Arab neighbors. However, the same cannot be said about the American government's policy, that fuels up under prejudice and mistrust towards every person with origin in the Middle East or Southeast Asia, Debbie thinks."
"Earlier you could be arrested for being black and driving a car, now it has become a crime to fly when you are brown. I believe a lot of Arab Americans have realized that we are in the same boat as the black Americans; we must learn from their experiences and struggle against racism. I have realized that our foreign policy is racist; in the "war against terror" people of color are the target."
Why do you think terrorists attacked the USA?
"A year ago I could not answer such a question. To me it was just impossible to comprehend how someone could do such terrible, totally sick atrocities. Many said they were not surprised that terrorists attacked the US. That hurt me deeply. Today I believe that the terrorist attacks can have been triggered by the way the USA breaks its promises with countries across the world, especially in the Middle East and the fact that it has not been a fair mediator with its foreign policy. It is not true that the people in the Middle East and Southeast Asia hate our lifestyle, our freedom and our democracy. What disturbs them is that we in order to secure our own well being, deprive them of the possibility of achieving the same high living standard and freedom of choice that we have in the western world. Terror is the last resource of a desperate and oppressed people, but that does not mean that it is acceptable. People who do terrorist acts have lost the sense of right and wrong, each individual committing such acts should be punished with the maximum extent of the law. Only Allah is entitled to take lives.
[PLN source, The Dangerous Leftism Of Dhabah Almontaser, http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=almontaser41907%2Ehtm]
Almontaser opposes use of Arabic speaking informants in domestic terror cases.
As head of KGIA Ms. Almontaser will oppose using the Arabic language skill acquired there to inform on and break up domestic terror plots and staff key national security institutions.
"a little while ago the FBI infiltrated our community, people speaking Arabic were spying on us. That has lead to new detentions."
Ms. Almontaser decried the prosecution and conviction of domestic terrorist Shahawar Matin Siraj in a plot to bomb the 34th Street Subway station in New York, on the grounds of it reeking of "FBI tactics," her code phrase for using Arabic speaking undercover agents. [PLN source, http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=jihadschool41807%2Ehtm]"
The origin of video clip to which Ms. Almontaser refers had nothing to do with the Stop the Madrassa Coalition or Dr. Pipes; it was created expressly for PipeLineNews.org LLC, and, far from engaging in verbal assaults and "vicious anti-Arab and anti-Muslim comments," it merely airs Almontaser's controversial views on matters of public importance. If they are considered damning, then it's hardly fair to blame the messenger.
We believe that Ms. Almontaser's actions and statements attest to the fact that she is unqualified to serve in any capacity of leadership in New York's public schools. If there was any remaining doubt, Almontaser's most recent action, bringing this tainted federal lawsuit against her current employer, should remove it because it proves she is far more interested in serving as a part of the Islamist stealth jihad, than educating New York City's children.
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MIM: To see the Almontaser video go to Pipeline News:
http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=almontaser11.20.07.htm
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