Pro-Madrassa Rally for Khalil Gibran School

I always wanted to play the violin. In Jr. High School I signed up for the violin in music class but to my surprise the boys had already taken all the string instruments. It sure would have come in handy last night when I went to the pro-Madrassa Rally yesterday in front of the NYC Department of Education headquarters downtown on Chambers Street.
In attendance were the usual assortment of Park Slope liberals talking about diversity. Lots of 'blah blah, poor us'.. 'poor Arabs, poor Muslims', so discriminated against. Crazy Rabbi Feinberg [pictured above center] said that the controversial resigned principal, Dabah Almontaser couldn't be at the rally because she was 'concerned for her personal security.' OH BROTHER! He also proclaimed the Stop the Madrassa group, the UAC and the Gathering of Eagles were pretty much pro-war fascist organizations guilty of committing the 'lowest of McCarthyite tactics'.

Demands for the return of Dabah Almontaser as principal were chanted and lots of boos for Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani and for the New York Post as well as for Randi Weingarten from the United Federation of Teachers who came out against the INTIFADA NYC t-shirts. Poor them, the whole world is just mean and racist against them. The INTIFADA NYC was just a 'big misunderstanding' .... but a 'legitimate struggle' for poor them.... get me a violin!
Here are my photos from the whine-fest.

In response to this, Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) said the school's children could be "indoctrinated" and warned in a statement that "establishment of an Arab school is a misguided and dangerous idea." He wrote a letter to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein to protest the school's opening.

He released the following statement:

"[Almontaser] said that 'intifada' means to 'shake off.' We know that 'intifada' means the killing of innocent men, women and children. And now, the sponsors and organizational endorsers of the school advance a boycott of Israel and divestment. Is this what we want taught in our public schools? Is this how we want New York children to be indoctrinated?

"Instead of enriching our students' grasp of diverse cultures, will this school become a morass of polarization and justification of terror tactics? Establishment of an Arab school is a misguided and dangerous idea. I am calling on you, as Chancellor, to abolish this school before it becomes firmly entrenched. At first I embraced the idea (of a school which teaches the Arabic language) albeit, somewhat less than enthusiastically, but nevertheless, I felt the country needed skilled students steeped in Arab language and culture.

"All signs point to this concept as being a precarious mistake, especially with its radical endorsements. Do we want a school to teach its students that Hamas militants are freedom fighters, and that Israel is an apartheid state? This school is ill-advised. It will not, as suggested, be a hope for peace; it is a blueprint for anti-Israel and anti-U.S. extremism. As per their website mideastjustice.org, Adalah-NY 'supports boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.' The school should not be opened for the September term."