FORMER INTIFADA PRINCIPAL TO SUE NYC

NEEDLESS TO SAY, SHE HAS A JEWISH LAWYER.

Ex-Arabic School Head Readies Lawsuit Against City (NYSun)
The founding principal of the city's Arabic-language school is fighting to get her job back, and she will take the city to court to get it. Debbie Almontaser said yesterday that she is preparing a lawsuit against the Department of Education, and possibly Mayor Bloomberg, accusing them of violating her constitutional rights by forcing her out of the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn.

Ms. Almontaser's lawyer, Alan Levine, said the case will hinge on the First Amendment, arguing that she was forced out because of a public statement.

In August, Ms. Almontaser sent a resignation letter to the schools chancellor, Joel Klein, days after responding to questions from the New York Post about T-shirts bearing the slogan "Intifada NYC." She said the shirts drew on a nonviolent meaning of the word, promoting "an opportunity for girls to express that they are part of New York City society … and shaking off oppression."

In the letter, Ms. Almontaser wrote that she was stepping down in order to protect the school, where she said students and parents were beginning to feel frightened by attacks from opponents. But yesterday, in her first public appearance in months, Ms. Almontaser said representatives of Messrs. Bloomberg and Klein demanded her resignation, threatening to close the school if she refused.

A Department of Education spokeswoman, Melody Meyer, said no officials made such