Commenter Profile

Total number of comments: 21 (since 2009-12-08 16:08:49)

AlexK

Website: http://indypendent.org

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  • Michael Bloomberg and New York's Muslims: a lesson in how Israel courses through Jewish-Muslim relations
    • Alex Kane November 18, 2010 at 6:39 pm

      Woops, my comment got messed up. Meant to paste this:

      "But this past September, many of the original sixth-grade students had not returned as seventh graders. The school has cut back on Arabic language instruction, is no longer set to become a high school and has moved twice in its first year of operation. The founding principal, Debbie Almontaser, was forced to resign following a media storm over the meaning of the word “intifada,” and the school is being led by its third principal. None of the original teachers remain at the school, and those who have left claim they were fired or forced to leave because of the stress...

      According to some of the school’s original students, parents and teachers, the Khalil Gibran school retains little more than its name as it enters its second year. It is no longer a place where tolerance and respect are fostered. Hassan Omar, the humanities and Arabic teacher who felt so intimidated that he cut images of mosques from textbooks, remembered, “When I first heard about the school, I thought it was a dream, with a rigorous curriculum and intensive language program. The dream collapsed and became a nightmare.”

      Teachers say the curriculum no longer builds a discussion of Middle Eastern history and culture into course work, and students and parents say students are being inadequately instructed in all subjects. According to Danielle Jeffries, who worked at the school, Arabic language instruction has been cut back by a period per week, and some parents say it is even more. Parents, who wrote a letter to the Department of Education, complained widely that they have been given little access to the school, and their children are without the necessary resources, books and staffing. Teachers agree and say that they have not been supplied with the resources and support they have been promised. The school’s third location is far from its original site in a neighborhood that had a larger Arab community, and this, too, is preventing the original group of students from continuing as students there.

      Arab teachers say they were disrespected and scrutinized by administrators. “We’re treated as if we’ll touch the kids with our magic wands and they will become terrorists,” said Omar.

      These concerns led Arabic language teachers to stop teaching students words such as salaam alaikum and inshallah, which are both used popularly despite their vaguely theological etymology—the usage is akin to saying “god bless you” in response to a sneeze.

      Teachers’ efforts to protect themselves has not keep them safe, though. The four original teachers hired by Almontaser are no longer at the school. They were pushed out or left because of the stress, according to a number of people, including parents and educators at the school.

      Sean Grogan, a young white man who taught science at the school until last May and was in his second year as a teacher, says he was subjected to a witch hunt for talking to the press about the lack of leadership and inadequate conditions inside the school, echoing what the federal appellate court judge had said about Almontaser. Grogan claims he was reprimanded at the school for things that were beyond his control, such as getting blamed for a student who got hurt during a science class. He also contends that the school administration was intent on gathering enough demerits to have him fired. Melanie Meyer, a spokesperson for the Department of Education, declined to talk about Grogan’s case, saying she couldn’t discuss specific personnel matters.

      Other teachers told similar stories.

      Hassan Omar said he was also fired from the school because of trumped-up and trivial accusations about his teaching, including that he neglected to use an overhead projector. He claimed there was no overhead projector in the classroom and that when he asked the new principal for instructions on how to improve his performance, she refused to help him."

    • Alex Kane November 18, 2010 at 6:37 pm

      One last thing on Khalil Gibran to clear up any misinformation:

      "That" is not "more about the students than the administration." When Debbie was kicked out, this is what happened, according to this story link to colorlines.com

      And I believe that Khalil Gibran is not a charter school...it's a public school.

    • Alex Kane November 18, 2010 at 5:01 pm with 6 replies

      Fair enough regarding your point that it cuts both ways. I think frank dialogue is necessary. But, let me ask this: which country has been occupying Palestine for 43 years? Which country bombed Gaza to pieces, committing documented war crimes on a largely civilian population? Which country is steadily colonizing Palestine? It's not Jordan or Egypt. It's Israel. Hence, people's focus on Israel.

      I don't understand how you can say that Bloomberg is "NOT known as a huge supporter of Israel." I guess it depends on your definition of "huge" supporter. But what do you call someone who rushed to Israel while the Gaza massacres were going on to condemn Hamas rockets? What do you call someone who supported the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon in 2006? What do you call someone who has said that "a strong Israel means a strong America and a strong New York." (link to salon.com

      Perfectly legitimate opinions to have, of course, and no different than most American politicians. But I'd have to say that those facts mean that Bloomberg can be characterized as a supporter of Israel.

      Regarding the mayor's "support" of Khalil Gibran. I don't buy it. If he really supported Khalil Gibran, he would have stuck up for Debbie. Instead, he forced her out--and the school almost went down with it. The school has not been in a good place since its opening, and I can easily see the new chancellor placing KGIA on the chopping block as they close more and more schools in favor of their charter-school agenda.

  • NYT op-ed page has run 0, count em zero, Palestinian authors since flotilla attack
    • Alex Kane June 17, 2010 at 1:11 pm with 11 replies

      The fact that there are more Jews than Palestinians in the United States is not a valid excuse for the complete shutting out of Palestinian voices in the mainstream media. On an issue like the Jena 6, I would guess that most of the Op-Ed columns were written by black Americans who were knowledgeable about race in the U.S. But, would you say there are more whites in the U.S., so they should speak more!?!?!?

      No prominent Palestinian intellectual voices? What do you call Rashid Khalidi? Omar Barghouti? Nadia Hijab? Diana Buttu?

  • Tell me, has the 'NYT' run an Op-Ed by a Palestinian in the last month?
  • Israeli investigation on flotilla will be biased (and Netanyahu leaked the results already)
    • Alex Kane June 15, 2010 at 12:08 pm

      Thanks, I appreciate it!

      I think going to Gaza and actually spending time with Palestinians there was indeed a turning point in my life. I wish I got to spend more time than I did. It was a powerful experience, one that I won't forget, which is why, in part, I am writing so much. It's one that, if you haven't been to the territories, is hard to understand probably.

  • Non-violence is not a principle, it is a tactic
  • Israel's global standing continues downward spiral, but many don't grasp why
    • Alex Kane April 20, 2010 at 5:46 pm with 26 replies

      Thanks for the encouragement.

      To clarify: I am currently a junior, soon to be senior, in college. I am 21, and when I went to Gaza as part of the Gaza Freedom March, I was 20, and turned 21 while in Gaza.

  • What the 'Jewish state' means to its Palestinian citizens
    • AlexK March 25, 2010 at 5:52 pm

      I find the disparities in education between Jewish and Israeli Palestinians to be comparable to the disparities here in the U.S. between blacks and whites. The only difference is--and it's a big one--is that in Israel, they are a basic fact of a "Jewish State."

  • Case of Tristan Anderson may be reopened, adding to Israeli 'public relations nightmare'
  • Dubai puts wind under the wings of... Goldstone
  • We must negotiate with Taliban, say authors on NY's public radio station
  • Rep. Ackerman says U.S. kills hundreds of innocent civilians every month in Af/Pak
    • AlexK February 16, 2010 at 9:54 am

      Human rights organizations' conservative estimates determined that more than half of the dead were civilians, like B'Tselem. "The magnitude of the harm to the population was unprecedented: 1,385 Palestinians were killed, 762 of whom did not take part in the hostilities." link to btselem.org

      Note that B'Tselem, I believe, does not include the police officers murdered in the first few minutes of the attack.

      The Palestinian Center for Human Rights: "Over the course of the offensive, Israeli occupation forces killed 1,419 Palestinians, and wounded over 5,300. The vast majority of those killed were civilians entitled to full protection and immunity from
      attack under IHL (1,167 protected persons, 82.2%); 326 were children, and 111 were women. This figure includes the 251 non-combatant police officers killed during the offensive. These policemen were not members of an armed group and were not participating in hostilities; their targeting and wilful killing constitutes a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions."

  • Valentine rhymes with Palestine, on a big day for BDS
  • 'NYT' bashes Goldstone by upholding Arab League report-- which notioned genocide!
    • AlexK January 26, 2010 at 11:27 am with 1 replies

      I'm curious about the other organizations that Mandelbit mentions and how their language stacks up against Goldstone's language. I've read some of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch's reports, but I don't know if they were radically different than what Goldstone said. Goldstone did rely on those reports as well.

      And one other thing people are missing when it comes to debunking Bronner's report is this graf:

      "Another senior military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity following regular military practice, said that neither the military command structure nor the government wanted to invade Gaza in December 2008, but felt that the continual rocket attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians forced their hand."

      Well, it seems like Bronner didn't exactly do his homework.

      From the Guardian:

      "Unlike the confused and improvised Israeli response as the war against Hizbullah in Lebanon unfolded in 2006, Operation Cast Lead appears to have been carefully prepared over a long period.

      Israeli media reports, by usually well-informed correspondents and analysts, alluded yesterday to six months of intelligence-gathering to pinpoint Hamas targets including bases, weapon silos, training camps and the homes of senior officials."

  • AP covers the Israeli campaign against protest and dissent
    • AlexK January 19, 2010 at 2:36 pm

      It's important that the mainstream media cover the suppression of of nonviolent Palestinian protest against the occupation. However, this piece ignores vital context regarding the history of nonviolent protest in Palestine.

      As Adam quoted in this post, the AP reports, "The violence of the second Palestinian uprising, with mass marches and violent attacks, has given way to carefully calibrated protests and legal action in which Israeli and Palestinian activists now often work together."

      Characterizing the 2nd Intifada as violent ignores that it started out as a nonviolent movement, as Neve Gordon recently pointed out in a an article for Counterpunch (link to counterpunch.org

      Gordon says: "It is often forgotten that even the second intifada, which turned out to be extremely violent, began as a popular nonviolent uprising. Haaretz journalist Akiva Eldar revealed several years later that the top Israeli security echelons had decided to "fan the flames" during the uprising's first weeks. He cites Amos Malka, the military general in charge of intelligence at the time, saying that during the second intifada's first month, when it was still mostly characterised by nonviolent popular protests, the military fired 1.3m bullets in the West Bank and Gaza. The idea was to intensify the levels of violence, thinking that this would lead to a swift and decisive military victory and the successful suppression of the rebellion. And indeed the uprising and its suppression turned out to be extremely violent."

  • The Gaza Freedom March
  • Somehow I doubt it's a hatchet job
    • AlexK January 14, 2010 at 11:44 am

      I openly told people in Cairo and Gaza that I was Jewish, and did not experience problems. When I told Palestinians, the reaction was usually a surprised one, and then an interest in it. I was even applauded in a classroom (to my dismay and embarrassment, I'm no hero for speaking out against Israel, but that's beside the point), for saying as a Jewish-American how I deplore Israel's crimes.

  • U.N. memo: Israel's 'provocative' actions in Jerusalem could 'derail' peace process
  • Report from Gaza: One student's question to the world - 'Why the Palestinians? Why are we the only ones suffering?'
    • AlexK January 1, 2010 at 5:31 am with 21 replies

      The claim that the "issues that rationally restrict the access of Gazan civilians will be resolved by communication and mutual acceptance" is absurd.

      Is it really rational to keep 1.5 million people in a prison? Nevermind rationality...Is it humane? How can you use language like "rationally restrict the access"? And for what, for security reasons? The occupation is the problem, not the launching of rockets.

      Consented and kind persuasion? Man, that's delusional. And obviously don't support any type of violence in Gaza, but the activism that will cause the siege to be lifted can not be "kind persuasion." We have to demand it.

  • Update from protests in Gaza and at the Erez checkpoint

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