Did you see the NYT article on the EEOC decision that Debbie Almontaser was the victim of bias when she was forced to resign as head of a Arabic-language high school? It is a classic case of the Times refusing to acknowledge the lobby’s efforts. The article says:
A group of opponents, including conservative commentators and a City University trustee, mounted a campaign against the school and Ms. Almontaser, claiming that she carried a militant Islamic agenda.
Despite Ms. Almontaser’s longstanding reputation as a moderate Muslim, her critics succeeded in recasting her as a “9/11 denier” and a “jihadist.”
But of course it doesn’t say who the “conservative commentators” were. Turns out it was Daniel Pipes and the NY Sun that led the charge against her, as the Times reported two years ago. And that unnamed City University trusteee is Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, whose grandparents lived in Israel, which he characterized as "the Jewish enterprise." And of course the case turned in some measure on her connection to some "intifada" t-shirts, which upset Israel supporters.
The virtue of the Times coverage is that it quoted the EEOC determination: that the Department of Education had acted out of bigotry:
Acting on a complaint filed last year by the principal, Debbie Almontaser, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that the department “succumbed to the very bias that creation of the school was intended to dispel and a small segment of the public succeeded in imposing its prejudices on D.O.E. as an employer,” according to a letter issued by the commission on Tuesday.
The commission said that the department had discriminated against Ms. Almontaser, a Muslim of Yemeni descent, “on account of her race, religion and national origin.”
The Communities in Support of Khalil Gibran International Academy issued a press release with the following statements:
“This is a stunning and important vindication of what Debbie and her supporters have been claiming all along—that the Department of Education succumbed to anti-Muslim and anti-Arab prejudice, committing a terrible injustice and sending a dangerous message about the ability of voices of bigotry and hatred to determine which public schools get to exist and who should lead them,” said educator and writer Paula Hajar.
"I am delighted by the EEOC’s Determination, a step on the road to justice for Debbie Almontaser. It is high time for the DOE to admit that it has done her a terrible wrong. Her good name and reputation deserve to be redeemed,” said Rabbi Ellen Lippmann of Congregation Kolot Chayeinu, one of the signatories of the letter from Jewish leaders in support of Almontaser that was sent to the Mayor and Chancellor last year.
Commenting on the Commission’s finding, Alan Levine, one of Ms. Almontaser’s lawyers, said: “Debbie Almontaser was victimized twice, first, when she was subjected to an ugly smear campaign orchestrated by anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigots, and second, when the DOE capitulated to their bigotry. But the bigots didn’t have the power to take her job away. The DOE did. To its everlasting shame, the DOE did the bigots’ work. Now the EEOC has reminded us that it is the responsibility of government to stand up to the forces of discrimination, not to give into them.”
