Arab school stirs storm in NYC

New York City’s first ever public Arab school is set to open its doors in two weeks, amidst much debate and controversy.

The Khalil Gibran International Academy will receive funding from the NYC municipality and will be temporarily run by a Jewish woman, Danielle Salzberg, an educator and senior program officer with the nonprofit New Visions for Public Schools.

Earlier this month the school's original principal, Debbie Almontaser, resigned after she failed to condemn the use of the highly charged word "intifada," an Arabic term for the Palestinian uprising against Israel.

State Assemblyman, and prominent Jewish community leader, Dov Hikind called on chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, Joe Klein, to cancel the opening of the school, and said Almontaser’s attitude was one of the reasons people should be concerned.

“She was supposed to be the responsible one, but the first time she had to deal with the use of one small word, she failed,” he said in an interview to Yedioth Ahronoth.

“Instead of condemning the use of the word intifada and the idea that stands behind it, of the killing of innocents, she hid behind lexical definitions. She reminds me of Arafat (Yasser Arafat, former Palestinian Authority Chairman) and his lexical interpretations of the word ‘jihad’.”

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on his radio show that Almontaser was "certainly not a terrorist," but he called her resignation the "right thing to do".

Some of the school's supporters argued Monday that education officials' quiet persistence in planning to open the school is not enough.

'Officials legitimizing anti-Arab bigorty' 

"'Welcoming' Ms. Almontaser's resignation and remaining silent on the underlying anti-Arab, anti-Muslim bigotry has the effect of legitimizing the very thing that should be condemned," the groups said in a statement.

The city Department of Education did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Supporters rallied Monday in favor of the school, gathering in front of the city's Department of Education. Officials there have said they plan to open the academy on schedule on September 4 despite statements by its vocal critics equating it with a madrassa, an Islamic religious school, and portraying it as a potential radical training ground.

The supporters praised what they said was the school's message of inclusion.

"It's about appreciating differences. It's not about indoctrinating students for conformity," said Deborah Howard, a community member who was on the planning team that helped form the school.

'Schools' opposers support Kahane'

Rabbi Michael Feinberg, who spoke at the rally, said elected officials should come forward to defend the school.

"It's really the lowest of McCarthyite tactics," he said of the virulent Internet campaign against the academy, which was named after a Lebanese-American Christian poet.

“New York is a multi-cultural city, and we have to educate out children about a variety of religions and cultures. The school is not intended to teach Islam, but Arabic language and Arab culture.” Feinberg later said in an interview to Yedioth Ahronoth.

“You can’t apply a Middle Eastern agenda on something taking place in New York. If you look into it, you’ll find that most of the people who oppose the establishment of the school are Kahane supporters,” the rabbi added.

Friends and foes of an embattled Arabic-themed public school kept the volume of their rhetoric high, with critics warning students could be "indoctrinated" with radical Islamic beliefs and supporters calling such statements "racist".

"Unless we all send a clear message that racist comments associating Arabic language and culture with terrorism will not be tolerated, we will continue to hear them again and again," the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee and other community groups said Monday in a statement supporting the school.

Meanwhile, Hikind said the school's children could be "indoctrinated" and warned in a statement that the "establishment of an Arab school is a misguided and dangerous idea".

"It will not, as suggested, be a hope for peace; it is a blueprint for anti-Israel and anti-US extremism," he said, adding that the school has been endorsed by "radical" groups.

School organizers have said religion will not be taught at the school, which will focus instead on Arabic language and Arab culture. There are a number of New York City schools that focus on a specific topic or culture.

According to al-Jazeera’s website, about 45 children have signed up for the first semester so far and the majority of them are not of Arabic decent.

Yaniv Halily and AP contributed to this article