(ACTION ALERT UPDATE) “Stop the Madrassa [Khalil Gibran]” & the INSANE New Twist

Update: Please check this new article in the NYT defending Sr. Debbie and spread the word on your blogs (hat tip to br. Tariq and muslimmetthod).

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It is quite interesting that whenever there is any form of prejudicial attack on an organization or an event, you will always find bigots closing ranks and joining the party. That itself is an indication of the less than pristine motivations of such groups.

As we have been talking about the attacks on the Arabic school in New York and the resignation-under-pressure of Debbie AlMontaser, a new twist has come about (hat-tip to CAIR's email). Apparently, one of the main coalitions opposing the school, the so-called “Stop the Madrassa” (the fact that they don't know that a Madrassa simply means school shows how much the school for Arabic language is needed! What irony!) has among its ranks, the inSANE leader David Yerushalmi. Here are quotes that define this organization (more can be found in this previous post on inSANE):

America was the handiwork of faithful Christians, mostly men, and almost entirely white, who ventured from Europe to create a nation in their image of a country existing as free men under G-d.

Muslim civilization is at war with Judeo-Christian civilization. . .The Muslim peoples, those committed to Islam as we know it today, are our enemies.

Isn't it amazing that Debbie gets crucified for an Arabic definition that some didn't like, yet David's words all over his website are not a cause of concern for the other board members of “Stop the Madrassa” (see article in Jewish Week)? As I stated, when bigots get together for a party, all other bigots are welcome! Here's the rest of the CAIR dispatch:

(NEW YORK, NY, 8/27/07) – The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) today called on a group opposed to an Arabic language public school in New York to purge its ranks of racists and extremists after revelations of a key leader's apparent anti-Semitic views.

The Jewish Week newspaper reports that David Yerushalmi, an advisory board member and counsel of the “Stop the Madrassa” group, has condemned democracy in the United States and, “in comments that evoke classical anti-Semitic stereotypes, says he finds truth in the view that Jews 'destroy their host nations like a fatal parasite.'” (“Stop the Madrassa” is fighting to keep the Khalil Gibran International Academy from opening September 4.)

SEE: Tables Turn On Arab School Critics (The Jewish Week)

In June, CAIR called on the producers of a PBS-sponsored documentary on “moderate Muslims” to repudiate their alleged ties to another group headed by Yerushalmi that advocates imposing prison terms for “adherence to Islam” and that questions whether women and African-Americans should be allowed to vote.

Yerushalmi, the president and founder of the Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE), published an online article in which he claims to be the attorney for Frank Gaffney, Alex Alexiev and Martyn Burke, the producers of the controversial PBS documentary “Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center” currently airing on more than 20 PBS stations nationwide.

SEE: Racist Group Linked to PBS 'Moderate Muslims' Documentary (CAIR)
SEE ALSO: Wash. Times Promotes Hate Group that Would Outlaw Islam (CAIR)

In a March 2, 2006, article for The American Spectator, Yerushalmi wrote: “Muslim civilization is at war with Judeo-Christian civilization. . .The Muslim peoples, those committed to Islam as we know it today, are our enemies.”

“Those who advocate racist, misogynistic, Islamophobic, or anti-Semitic views can have no beneficial role in reasoned public debate on issues of importance to our society,” said CAIR-NY Civil Rights Coordinator Aliya Latif.