The Dangerous Leftism Of Dhabah Almontaser - 9/11 Attacks America's Fault

By William A. Mayer & Beila Rabinowitz

April 19, 2007 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org Judging by the comments made by Dhabah Almontaser on the Norwegian Amnesty International website, the embattled principal designee of a proposed and publicly funded Arab separatist school [the Khalil Gibran International Academy] her professed moderation is a poorly constructed hoax, and that the school will be a vehicle for leftist and Islamist ideology.

Almontaser has been careful recently to court a public image of self-sacrificing community service under the media friendly guise of bringing people together, building bridges, working to show that Islam is not a predatory religion and that Muslim Americans are just like everyone else to allay critics fears that the proposed school will be a potential breeding ground for Arab and Muslim radicalism.

The perception Ms. Almontaser has attempted to create is an illusion, she is an Islamist whose pet project the Khalil Gibran school has no legitimate place in American education.

The Khalil Gibran School - Government Funded Da'wa

Rampant Revisionism In Columbia University's Muslim Sensitivity Teaching Plan

Khalil Gibran School - A Jihad Grows in Brooklyn

New York Set To Open A "Public" Jihad School

One insidious aspect of the response against the war on terror has been the phenomenon of Western Islamist groups aligning themselves with the hard left, ogranizations like International ANSWER and the War Resister's League.

Although it is not that surprising given this newfound affinity between radical Islam and Marxist revolutionaries, Ms. Almontaser seems quite comfortable in this environment, so much so that she was a keynote speaker at a September 11, 2002 demonstration organized by among others, the War Resisters League, the Saudi funded Hamas front group Council on American Islamic Relations [CAIR] and the Muslim American Society, the American wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Also speaking at the protest was Emira Habiby Browne, founder of the Arab American Family Support Center [AAFSC] a key promoter of the Khalil Gibran school. [source Protest Flyer].

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.

How do you think terror can be combated?

"At least not by bombing a country into pieces! We did not bomb the hometown of Timothy McVeigh to combat terror when he exploded the Oklahoma bomb in 1995. Great Britain does not bomb North Ireland to fight down the IRA, and Spain does not kill hundreds of civilians in their search for ETA terrorists. So which right do we have to kill Afghan women and children, old and young in the search for Al Qaeda?

"Terror is combated by finding the terrorist cells, break them down and bring the responsible to justice. I am sure that our intelligence can find them. With the technology of today they survey what ever they want and are infiltrated in all kinds of communities."

"I have not seen the terror threat decrease by Bush' "war against terror." He is fighting a war against a ghost, o ghost called Osama bin Laden. What is the real and underlying motivations for the "war against terror" remains to see, but control over oil resources in the region and a shift in regime in Iraq is probably among Bush's underlying goals."

Does the American people support president Bush' "war against terror"?

"Many are protesting, but many more support him. But most people do not know what is going on. It is you Europeans who know about such things. The American people believes that everything is all right and that the USA lives by its ideals of democracy, individual freedom and the American dream out there as well. So did I, until 11 September 2001. But I have experienced that when you talk to people and explain what is going on, then they are as strongly against the "war against terror" as I. That gives me hope for the future."

Dhabah Almontaser's hope lies outside the confines of the American dream, which she obviously no longer believes in.

She thinks that the president is a "nightmare",that he is "destroying the United States" and that "our government has put aside our civil rights." In her world the United States is engaged in a policy of "killings, spreading suffering, emergency and fear" while the "FBI infiltrated our community" which "has lead to new detentions."

MIM Note: One of the detentions was that of Shalawar Matin Siraj who was convicted and sentenced to 20 years for a plot to blow up passengers in the New York subway. At a meeting with law enforcement Almontaser decried their use of what she termed "FBI tactics".

She believes that America's policies are responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

Almontaser's critique of America is Orwellian, that the country is indistinguishable from a Soviet era gulag. It is her leftist/Islamist vision that will be inculcated into the students of the proposed Khalil Gibran school, reinforcing their sense of victimhood and radicalizing them. Her ideology is alien to America's core values and founding principles. Allowing her to create an even more potent vehicle - a government funded madrassah - from which to propagate an Islamist/leftist agenda would be a precedent setting victory for those who are seeking to force America into submission.

http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=almontaser41907.htm

01.10.2002

Speaks out against Bush

By Ellen Stokland

- 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.

It is first Saturday of August. We are standing under a highway in Brooklyn, New York. On the other side of the street is the Metropolitan Detention Center, the prison where young men with origin in the Middle East and Southeast Asia have been detained since September 11 last year. The authorities have refused to tell their charges, their names are kept secret, many are isolated, and hundreds have been deported. A group of New Yorkers does not accept this, they demand justice for the detainees and have demonstrated regularly since January. - 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.

As any other citizen of New York, Debbie was deeply traumatized by the terror attack on September 11th last year. But, as others have accepted Bush's ruthless war without a sigh, Debbie has claimed to new heights on the barricades to ensure that human rights not will be disregarded in the name of security and the "war against terror".

- 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?

A Muslim New Yorker
Debbie - or Dhabah, which is her original Arab name - welcomes me in her garden outside her house in Brooklyn. An American flag waves in the wind, it belongs to her oldest son Yousif. Alongside hangs a banner with a peace dove, high up under the roof you can see Arabic calligraphy. - It is a Muslim prayer, explains Debbie whilst removing dry leaves from the lawn. She wears a hijab and wants everyone to see that she is a Muslim.
- Coffee?

Debbie came to USA from Yemen as a three year old. The family went to USA hunting the American dream, and they found it. She grew up in Buffalo upstate New York, married arrangedly with the man of her dreams Naji when she was 16 and moved with him to the Big Apple when she was 18. - Meeting the metropolis was a real cultural shock, remembers Debbie and laughs. - In New York I met for the first time a Chinese, a Jew, someone from the Caribbean Islands, an Indian and an Afghan. "Wow", I thought. "All these people living here!" And I instantly felt I had come home. One day I saw some beautiful African women dressed in their traditional Islamic cloths, and I began to reflect on my own identity as a Muslim and Arabic American. Soon I realized that it was a Muslim I wanted to be and I put on traditional clothing and the hijab. This was the first time I dressed like a Muslim since my teacher in early schooldays asked me to take off my headscarf. It was disturbing the lessons that other children teased me. In Buffalo it was not accepted being different, in New York I realized who I really am. I became more independent and even more self-confident as a woman when I put the hijab on, it has given me strength to achieve my goals and I feel more respected.

We are sitting drinking coffee on a local café. - 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.

Alarm
- How did you experience the tragedy on September 11th 2001?

- It was horrible. I cried and became terribly sad. I went into a long mourning period where I did not listen to music, did not go to the movies, and avoided shopping for several months. Any amusements were taboo, for a long time.

Debbie was working when it happened and called home immediately to ensure that her family was safe. They were at home. - But when I got home my heart dropped, my oldest son Yousif (19) had left home and gone to the Ground Zero. He is reserve officer in the American army and was called upon when the disaster occurred. I did not see him again until nearly one month later. At first he helped the rescue work at the Ground Zero, later on he was put to keep guard on the site. He called home every third or fourth day telling us that he was ok, that he was able to sleep and eat.

October the 6th Yousif came home. - It was shocking, I did not recognize him, he was 10 years older. I asked him how it was "there" but he was not able to talk about it. Till this day he has not talked about the tragedy and I do not know if he ever will. The day after he left for the Ground Zero, it was the 7th October, the same day as the bombing of Afghanistan began.

Building bridges
Debbie herself became involved in several projects after September 11; in fact she became so involved that she decided to take one year off her job as a teacher. Most of the time she promotes tolerance and knowledge of Islam between different communities.

- Fundamentalist Muslims were blamed for the terror attacks, because of that I felt an urge to go out and tell people who the Muslims are and what Islam really stands for. Islam is a religion for everybody; it is about peace and love, not about war and blood revenge. Only by knowing Muslims and having knowledge of Islam can we have any hope of creating a harmonious multi cultural society.

Debbie was invited to give talks at schools, libraries, in synagogues and churches. She gathered children from different cultural backgrounds to draw a mural about 9/11 together, and she has contributed to book projects, dialogue groups and she has participated in the creation of an exhibition about the Arab Americans in the New York City Museum.

We visit the museum Monday afternoon, Debbie takes me around and tells me proudly about the multiply contributions of Arab Americans to the culture of New York. A big wall is covered with portraits, among them a picture of Debbie holding o photo of her son Yousif in her hands. Many of the items in the exhibition are Debbie's private belongings. She shares gladly some of her private life with others, because she believes it can contribute to increased understanding and tolerance. - It occurred to me that a lot of the non-Muslims I met never had socialized with Muslims privately. Many of them knew Muslims from their professional job, but few had Muslim friends. That's why I invited people to come to our house. I think we had more than 130 visits, and today many of those people are my friends.

We leave the museum and rush down to the subway. There a big group of people has gathered around an African American teenage girl with a microphone in her hand and a sound system in the back. She sings with a strong commitment, we like what we hear. Halfway through the song the music breaks down, both the audience and the girl start laughing. Debbie puts a dollar in the girl's bag. - It is something special when kids do things like that, she says. - It makes me proud.

In the same boat
- Have you experienced any increase in racism after the attack last year?

- Immediately after 11th of September there were several instances of that the hatred and anger people felt hit innocent Muslims, Arabs and people from Southeast Asia. Personally I never experienced being physically attacked, but I was called "extremist Muslim" and "we hate Islam!" was shouted at me. However, these people did not realize they were being racist; they were angry, desperate and did not know where to turn their anger. Many friends of mine feared for my safety as many Muslim women had been attacked and harassed. They begged me to take off the hijab while out on the street. But I would never take it off; it is like asking me to walk topless. I was very scared and did never go anywhere alone, but I would not compromise with my beliefs. I'd rather die.

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.

Manhattan skyline
It is Tuesday and Debbie and I meet for a last conversation. We walk through the center of Brooklyn down to the Hudson River. From the promenade at Brooklyn Heights we can see the Manhattan skyline. Debbie has not been here since the vigils last year in September, she remembers the burnt smell and the smoke that remained in the air over Brooklyn for a long time. She shivers.
-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.

- How do you think terror can be combated?

- At least not by bombing a country into pieces! We did not bomb the hometown of Timothy McVeigh to combat terror when he exploded the Oklahoma bomb in 1995. Great Britain does not bomb North Ireland to fight down the IRA, and Spain does not kill hundreds of civilians in their search for ETA terrorists. So which right do we have to kill Afghan women and children, old and young in the search for Al Qaeda?

- Terror is combated by finding the terrorist cells, break them down and bring the responsible to justice. I am sure that our intelligence can find them. With the technology of today they survey what ever they want and are infiltrated in all kinds of communities.

- I have not seen the terror threat decrease by Bush' "war against terror." He is fighting a war against a ghost, o ghost called Osama bin Laden. What is the real and underlying motivations for the "war against terror" remains to see, but control over oil resources in the region and a shift in regime in Iraq is probably among Bush's underlying goals.

- Do you fear new terror attacks against the USA?

- I cannot think that way; I cannot let myself believe that new terrorist attacks will happen. But I have been invited to participate in a think tank to prepare a response if new attacks should happen. This invitation scares me; it brings the fear for new attacks so close. But I'll probably join, I cannot do anything else. But what I do fear mostly now is an attack on Iraq. That will be devastating.

Not in our name
- Does the American people support president Bush' "war against terror"?

- Many are protesting, but many more support him. But most people do not know what is going on. It is you Europeans who know about such things. The American people believes that everything is all right and that the USA lives by its ideals of democracy, individual freedom and the American dream out there as well. So did I, until 11 September 2001. But I have experienced that when you talk to people and explain what is going on, then they are as strongly against the "war against terror" as I. That gives me hope for the future.

Debbie rises from the bench where we have been sitting and walks towards the fence on the promenade. She looks across the bay and towards the empty space where the World Trade Center used to be. Ground Zero is a place to where people go on pilgrimage, but Debbie has not been there since the terrorists stroke. She has not had the guts, it is still too emotional. But 11 September 2002 she'll be back, and then she will - together with lots of others - give a speech for peace and to honor the memory of those who do not live in her beloved New York anymore.

-------------

It will generate further terror in this country against Arabs, Muslims, South Asians, people of color and immigrants, and erode our civil liberties.

Metro (NYC Other 645)
•Debbie Almontaser, UFT/AFT L.2
•Yahya Almontaser, SEIU L.32B-32J

http://www.curenyc.com/directors/dalmontaser.htm

Community Leaders

Debbie Almontaser
Debbie Almontaser is currently a Youth Development Specialist for Brooklyn West and Staten Island public schools. Ms. Almontaser sits on the boards of The Dialogue Project, Brooklyn Borough President's New Diversity Task Force, Muslim Consultative Network, Women In Islam Inc., We Are All Brooklyn Coalition, and Youth Bridge NY. As a multicultural specialist and diversity consultant, Ms. Almontaser frequently lectures and serves on panels as well as facilitates workshops on Arab culture, Islam, conflict resolution, cultural diversity, and Augusto Bola's Theater of the Oppressed around the city, at local, national and international conferences. Ms. Almontaser co-designed a curriculum for the Muslim Communities Project at Columbia University and for Educators for Social Responsibility/Metro. In addition, she has contributed a chapter in The Day Our World Changed: Children's Art of 9/11 for New York University's Child Study Center and the Museum of the City of New York and in Forever After: New York City Teachers on 9/11 for Teachers College Press as well as articles and essays in several magazines. Ms. Almontaser also serves as a consultant to Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. Muslim American Series Project, Independent Production Fund on the Islam Project (producers of Muslims and Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet PBS Productions), Islam Access Project (Channel 13 WNET), the Muslim Communities Project, Columbia University, Educators for Social Responsibility, the Interfaith Center of NYC, and the Church Avenue Merchants Block Association's (CAMBA, Inc.) Diversity Project. Ms Almontaser has been featured in several documentaries locally on New York Voices, Teaching Tolerance and internationally on Voice of America, From Yemen to Coney Island; From Teacher to Community Activist. Ms. Almontaser has been quoted on Muslim Community issues and Cultural Diveristy issues in the NY Times, NY 1, Time Magazine, Newsweek, and profiled in the Daily News. Ms. Almontaser was born in Yemen and raised in the United States. She acquired a B.A. from St. Francis College in English and World Religions and an M.S. in Multicultural Education and Reading from Adelphi. She holds an M.S. from Baruch College's School of Public Affairs through their Aspiring Leaders Program. In the past few years, Ms. Almontaser has recieved a few awards from faith based groups and proclamations for building bridges of understanding from the Borough President of Brooklyn and the Mayor of the City of New York. In 2004 Ms. Almontaser recieved the Revson Fellowship award for her contributions to City life.

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