Middle East studies in the News

NYC Principal at Center of 'Intifada' T-Shirt Controversy Resigns [on Khalil Gibran Academy]

Fox News
August 10, 2007

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,292887,00.html

http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/3834

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 the Yemeni-American association that Almontaser represents.

The day before she condemned the T-shirt message's connection to Palestinian terrorism, Almontaser told the Post that "intifada" means "shaking off" and the shirts represented women "shaking off" oppression.

The comments infuriated the city's United Federation of Teachers president, Randi Weingarten, who called the message "war-mongering."

"That's something that ought to be denounced, not be explained away," she told the paper.

The New York Post reported Friday that the school had attracted only a handful of Arabic-speaking students.

Note: Articles listed under "Middle East studies in the News" provide information on current developments concerning Middle East studies on North American campuses. These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of Campus Watch and do not necessarily correspond to Campus Watch's critique.

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