N.Y. D.A. SOURCE: HAT CRIME STATS SKEWED FOR MUSLIMS

NY D.A. Source: Crime stats skewed on behalf of Muslims (NE Intell. Net.)

* "Hate crimes" against Muslims skewed upward - many religiously motivated crimes against Jews go unrecorded.

* Cites pressure from Muslim advocacy groups

By Douglas J. Hagmann, Director

25 March 2008: A source inside the Manhattan District Attorney’s office admitted to me during a telephone conversation yesterday that “hate crimes,” specifically those occurring against Jews, are frequently omitted from such classification. Meanwhile, acts that victimize Muslims, regardless of their motivation, are usually reported as "hate crimes." Consequently, crimes against Jews and other religions fail to garner the same media focus as crimes against Muslims and skew the figures used to track criminal motives. Although this is not a new phenomenon, it has recently been accentuated by the incident that took place on a New York subway last week.

5 MUSLIMS BEAT RABBI IN BROOKLYN

Five Muslims Beat Jewish Rabbi in Brooklyn (Debbie Schlussel)

Yesterday, at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time, four to five Muslims viciously attacked Rabbi Uria Ohana in Brooklyn, New York, while shouting, "Allahu Akbar."

Rabbi Ohana, assistant head rabbi of Chabad-Lubavitch of Massachusetts, was about to get on the F-Train at Fourth Avenue and Ninth Street in Brooklyn.

The young Muslim assailants grabbed rabbi Ohana's yarmulke (skullcap), and when he went to them to get it back, they beat him and shouted, "Allahu Akbar." One of the Muslim attackers ran away into the street and was hit by a car (G-d works in mysterious ways). He was arrested by police. But three to four other Muslim assailants--whom you can bet will attack other Jews--escaped and are free.

BALLOON DEMONSTRATION ILLUSTRATES ROCKET TOLL

Israeli Mission in NY Displays 4,200 Balloons, One for Each Kassam Rocket (Ha'aretz)

UPDATE: NEW YORK SYNAGOGUE BOMB PLOT - COLUMBIA UNIV. PROFESSOR INVOLVED?

Mystery in Brooklyn: Bomb factory at Columbia University professor’s home (Michelle Malkin)

The NY Daily News reports today on a disturbing discovery at a Columbia University instructor’s home:

Police stumbled upon a bomb-making factory Sunday in the home of a Columbia professor who specializes in the spread of infectious disease - and are investigating whether he and his roommate have terror ties.

Cops evacuated the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood around the Remsen St. home of Michael Clatts, a medical anthropologist, after finding seven pipe bombs fitted with fuses in his flat, police sources said.

The frightening cache was discovered almost by accident - Ivaylo Ivanov, the man living with Clatts, accidentally shot off the tip of his left index finger and sought police help in the street about 1:15 a.m.

When investigators went to the 37-year-old Ivanov’s apartment, they found the bombs, already capped on both ends and filled with powder. One of the pipe bombs was inserted into a Nerf football, cops said.

A 9-mm. handgun, two ammunition magazines, a 12-gauge shotgun, silencers, a bulletproof vest, a crossbow and bomb-making equipment, including a drill and threading machine that could be used to make pipe bombs, were also recovered, cops said.

Clatts cannot be located. Who is he?

Clatts is a medical anthropologist with a specialty in epidemiol.ogy - the spread of disease among large populations.

He is an associate professor in Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and holds a Ph.D. from the Ivy League school.

The senior director of communication for the school, Randee Levine, said she cannot comment on a police investigation.

Clatts’ exact relationship with Ivanov is unknown. Building residents said Clatts once described himself and Ivanov as roommates, nothing more.

Cops became suspicious of Ivanov because he first claimed he had been shot by a stranger but then admitted shooting himself. Fearing another person had been injured at the address, police went to the apartment and opened the door to the bomb factory. They immediately sealed the apartment while they got a search warrant, cops said.

Cops called the bomb squad, which evacuated the building and three others nearby and removed the materials. Residents were not allowed back inside for nearly 12 hours.

Police said last night they were uncertain whether all of the bombs were operative.

Ivanov has prior arrests for possession of drug paraphernalia, including hypodermic needles, a police source said. A man with the same name was deported from the U.S. a couple of years ago for drug dealing, but cops are unsure whether this is the same person, a police source said.

The NYTimes reports on a bizarre twist in the case: Ivanov has confessed to a string of anti-Jewish vandalism incidents last fall. Ivanov, his lawyer told the media, is himself Jewish.

According to a law enforcement official, detectives are exploring the possibility that Mr. Ivanov had planned to use the pipe bombs against synagogues. The official said that Mr. Ivanov told investigators he intended to use the bombs for fishing; but, given his admission that he painted swastikas on synagogues, investigators became concerned he was planning violence. Detectives have seized his computers, and are searching them for clues, the official said.

SEE ALSO: NYC SYNAGOGUE BOMB PLOT?

NYC SYNAGOGUE BOMB PLOT?

New York Man Found With Pipe Bomb Stash Suspected of Targeting Synagogues (FoxNews)
NEW YORK — Investigators tried to determine Monday whether a man with a cache of pipe bombs and other weapons at his apartment was targeting synagogues and homes he had defaced in his Brooklyn neighborhood, a ranking police official said Monday.

Officers went to Ivan Ivanov's apartment after he reported being shot on Sunday evening, police said. Investigators, who said the wound to his finger was self-inflicted, discovered what appeared to be a homemade bomb and several other devices and weapons.

A police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing, said Ivanov told police he planned to use the explosives on a fishing trip, detonating the devices underwater to bring the fish to the surface.

Investigators seized his computer and were searching the files, the official said.

Police said they also discovered Ivanov had spray-painted anti-Semitic graffiti on three houses, two cars and on the staircases of two synagogues in his neighborhood in September.

YESHIVA STUDENT ATTACKED IN BROOKLYN

Yeshiva student attacked in Brooklyn (JTA)
The beating of a New York yeshiva student is being investigated as a possible hate crime. Samuel Balkany, 16, told Newsday that he was attacked by five black teens in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood. He said the assailants kicked and punched him while yelling anti-Semitic slurs after he left a friend's house on Friday night. Residents told WCBS-TV that a half hour before the attack on Balkany, 15 black teens assaulted three Jewish teens only a few blocks away.

SWASTIKAS IN BROOKLYN

Swastikas found in Brooklyn (JTA)
Swastikas were found in two areas of Brooklyn on the first two days of 2008.

On Wednesday, a large swastika was found painted on the door of a Brooklyn senior center, which also doubles as a synagogue. An anti-Semitic phrase was also painted there.

A day before, two swastikas were found painted on a home in Borough Park, the Brooklyn community with the highest concentration of Holocaust survivors in New York.

"It's amazing that 60 years after the Holocaust, we are still dealing with people who paint swastikas," state Assemblyman Dov Hikind, the son of a Holocaust survivor who represents Borough Park, told the New York Post.

UPDATE: MUSLIM SAVED JEWS IN NYC SUBWAY ATTACK

Muslim saves Jews in subway attack (JTA)
A Muslim saved a group of Jews being attacked on a New York subway in an apparent hate crime.

Hassan Askari, a student at Berkeley College in Manhattan, came to the aid of Walter Adler when he and three friends were attacked on the Q train running between Manhattan and Brooklyn on the night of Dec. 7, according to The Associated Press.

Ten men and women, aged 19 and 20, verbally and physically assaulted Adler and his friends after they wished the assailants "Happy Chanukah" in response to their "Merry Christmas" wish.

Askari, 20, tried to fight off the attackers, which gave Adler time to pull an emergency brake on the Brooklyn-bound train. The assailants were arrested at the next stop.

The attack is being investigated as a hate crime. One of the attackers reportedly had been arrested previously for a hate crime.

"That a random Muslim kid helped some Jewish kids, that's what's positive about New York," Adler, 23, told AP. Adler suffered a broken nose.

ANTI-SEMITIC ASSAULT ON NYC SUBWAY

Anti-Semitic assault on N.Y. subway (JTA)
A New York subway attack on a group celebrating Chanukah is being investigated as a hate crime.

Four Jewish people on the Q train running between Manhattan and Brooklyn were verbally and physically assaulted on Dec. 7.

Ten men and women, aged 19 and 20, allegedly hurled anti-Semitic taunts at the victims before attacking them. The alleged assailants were arrested for assault and unlawful assembly later that night at a subway station in Brooklyn Heights, the New York Sun reported.

One of the suspects was previously charged with a hate crime, the newspaper reported.

More charges could be forthcoming if the attack is labeled a hate crime by the New York Police Department's hate crimes task force.

HAPPY 350TH ANNIVERSARY

Asser Levy (Contentions)
It’s seven months late, but we shouldn’t let 2007 pass without noting that it marks a milestone in American Jewish history. Although the first Jews came to New Amsterdam in 1654, it wasn’t until three years later that one of them, Asser Levy, was accorded the rights and status of a burgher, or citizen, of the colony. This year, then, marks the 350th anniversary, not just of the Jewish arrival in a new land, certainly something that had happened many times in the past, but of a much more meaningful passage: into nascent citizenhood, civil protection, and permanence of the Jewish presence in the New World.

Levy, all but forgotten today, was one of 23 Jews who arrived on September 7, 1654 on the bark St. Charles, carrying refugees fleeing Dutch Brazil, which had just been retaken by the Portuguese. Not wanting to run the risk of the New World’s Inquisition, having already escaped the Old World’s, the Jews were on their way back to Holland, where Levy apparently was from originally (his full surname was Levy van Swellem). Captured by pirates and rescued by a French privateer, the penniless Jews were brought to New Amsterdam, where Peter Stuyvesant immediately tried to have them expelled. The Directors of the Dutch West India Company, so the story goes, refused Stuyvesant’s demand, not out of mercy, but because many wealthy Dutch Jews were stockholders in the Company. (This was a lesson not lost on the new Jewish settlers about the importance of self-interest and property.)

The real test, however, started the following year, when Levy, a trader, petitioned to stand guard in the colony, one of the marks of being a burgher. Stuyvesant had excluded Jews from this privilege, and added injury to insult by fining them monthly for their exemption. Levy’s initial petition was rejected, but records later indicate he was permitted to do guard-duty. Soon after, Levy found his ability to trade goods limited by a decree that a “burgher right” was required. He duly petitioned, and after again being denied, appealed to the Company’s Director General. On April 21, 1657, a decree was issued that Jews in New Amsterdam should be admitted as burghers, equal in rights to the Dutch (though they were not allowed to form a religious congregation until nearly a century later). Seven years later, when the English took over New Amsterdam, the civil rights of Jews were upheld.

Levy was a trailblazer, and it is a shame he has been forgotten by those who owe him much. It appears he was the first licensed Jewish butcher (and a kosher one, at that, being exempted from killing hogs) and tavern owner, not to mention litigant in scores of cases. More importantly, Levy was likely the first Jew to own property in America, first in Albany, in 1661, and the following year in New Amsterdam itself, on what is now South William Street (just a stone’s throw from the headquarters of Goldman Sachs, appropriately). But it was Levy’s fight for citizenship 350 years ago that truly marked the beginnings of Jewish settlement in America, which is a date worth celebrating.

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

MACCABI TEL AVIV TO PLAY KNICKS IN NYC

U.S.-Israel Basketball Game to Benefit Israeli Children (AIPAC)
The NBA's New York Knicks will tip off against the Maccabi Tel Aviv Elite squad in an exhibition game to benefit Migdal Ohr, a youth village for disadvantaged children in northern Israel, the website Israel21c.org reported. The game will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City next Thursday, October 11. Maccabi Tel Aviv has won two Euro league championships in the past several years and is one of the best teams in the league. "We can win this game," said Maccabi player Will Bynum. "We are ready to show that we are equal to an NBA team," he said. Migdal Ohr, which means "Light Tower," provides a home and education to 6,500 orphaned, impoverished, underprivileged and new immigrant children.

SWASTIKAS IN BROOKLYN

Livni responds to Brooklyn swastikas (JPost)
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni shook the lulav and etrog on Sunday on the steps of a Brooklyn synagogue where the congregation awoke last week to find swastikas scrawled throughout the neighborhood.

The symbols, spray-painted on the steps of Chabad synagogue, Congregation B'nai Avraham and its neighboring Reform Brooklyn Heights Synagogue, were discovered just a few days before the start of Succot, while leaflets with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel slogans were placed on neighborhood cars.

"When anti-Semitism raises its ugly head, we need a quick and strong answer," said Livni, standing outside the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue. "This is the right message to those who try to exploit tolerance and values."

Livni was joined by New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who said the city was one of the most tolerant in the country.

"One thing we won't tolerate is this type of vengeful behavior," said Kelly.

A 20-detective task force was assigned to investigate the incident. The 23 different markings were believed to be the work of one individual.

"So far all leads are negative," said Kelly.

AHMADINEJAD AT UN (AND GROUND ZERO?)

Ahmadinejad at the UN - Editorial
It is a disgrace to the founding principles and mission of the UN that Iranian President Ahmadinejad will be allowed to speak before the body next week during the gathering of its General Assembly. Ahmadinejad, who is slated to speak next Tuesday, has openly called for the destruction of Israel, a UN member-state. Under the shadow of the Holocaust, the UN was founded in 1945 by a war-torn world weary of conflict and ready to embrace peace, social progress and human rights. Ahmadinejad has chosen to call for another genocide - and of the same original victims. This is in flagrant disregard of the UN's mission. (Washington Times)

U.S. May Escort Ahmadinejad to Ground Zero (NYSun)
In a move that has stunned New York, the Bloomberg administration is in discussions to escort the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to ground zero during his visit to New York next week, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said today.

UPDATE: NYPD Rejects Iran President's Viewing Request
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- UPDATE: NYPD is rejecting the request from the President of Iran to visit Ground Zero.NYPD is citing security reasons for the reason of rejecting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's request to visit the old World Trade Center.

2 ACCUSED OF ANTI-SEMITIC VANDALISM ON LONG ISLAND

2 Are Accused of Anti-Semitic Vandalism on L.I. (NYT)

PLANDOME, N.Y., Sept. 2 (AP) — A member of a white supremacist group and a teenager have been arrested and accused of scrawling swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti on the side of a synagogue here and on a school bus, an elementary school and a house in nearby towns on Long Island, the Nassau County police said on Sunday.

Swastikas and Jewish slurs scrawled in red spray paint were found Saturday on the Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore, on a school bus parked at Roslyn High School and on a Roslyn Estates home, the police said. Graffiti also was found at an elementary school in Manhasset.

The police on Saturday arrested John Rocissano, 20, and a 17-year-old in connection with all four crimes. Mr. Rocissano, of Manhasset, and the teenager, of Floral Park, were to be arraigned Sunday on several counts of aggravated harassment and criminal mischief.

NEW HEAD OF NYC ARAB SCHOOL: ORTHODOX JEW

HERE'S SOME MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE WOMAN WHO IS REPLACING THE "INTIFADA" PRINCIPAL AT NEW YORK'S NEW ARAB PUBLIC SCHOOL: SHE WAS RAISED AN ORTHODOX JEW.

NEW LEADER PICKED TO RUN NYC ARAB PUBLIC SCHOOL

New Leader Picked to Run Arabic School (NYT)

An education official experienced in starting new schools in New York City, but not in speaking Arabic, will take over immediately as the interim acting principal of the city’s first public school dedicated to the study of Arabic language and culture, Chancellor Joel I. Klein said yesterday.

The official, Danielle Salzberg, 35, a senior program officer at the nonprofit group New Visions for Public Schools, will replace Debbie Almontaser, the founding principal of the school, the Khalil Gibran International Academy. Ms. Almontaser resigned under pressure on Friday.

The Department of Education frantically scoured for a replacement principal after Ms. Almontaser announced her resignation, partly to quiet the furor that has surrounded the school since it was created.

“Danielle is a strong leader and an excellent educator who knows what it takes to help our students succeed,” Mr. Klein said in a statement announcing Ms. Salzberg’s appointment. “With her leadership and the commitment renewed today by teachers and staff, Khalil Gibran will add a new, important option for our students who are interested in a rigorous academic program with an international and Arabic theme.”

Ms. Almontaser’s leadership of the school became an issue after she was quoted last week in The New York Post defending the use of the word “intifada” as a T-shirt slogan. The word has come to be associated with Palestinian attacks on Israel.

Ms. Salzberg’s résumé, provided by the Education Department, shows that she earned degrees from New York University and Teachers College at Columbia University. She also did graduate work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Department officials said that she did not speak Arabic and that they did not know what she studied in Jerusalem, or whether she had a background in Arabic culture. Ms. Salzberg did not return phone calls seeking comment.

She joined the Education Department in December 1996, working as a high school English teacher. She has been an assistant principal at Millennium High School in Manhattan since 2004.

Ms. Salzberg was selected partly “on the basis of her experience and her work with the school,” said Debra Wexler, a department spokeswoman. Along with Ms. Almontaser, Ms. Salzberg has spent the past several months preparing for the school’s opening this fall.

Khalil Gibran will open in partnership with New Visions, which has helped create dozens of small schools in recent years. Robert L. Hughes, the president of New Visions, called Ms. Salzberg “a committed educator with a proven track record in the public school system.” Another partner in the school, the Arab-American Family Support Center, a Brooklyn social service agency that will provide the Arabic language instruction, said its staff was pleased with the selection.

At a news conference yesterday morning, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg reiterated his support for the school, following his remarks on Friday in which he said he welcomed Ms. Almontaser’s resignation. “We’re confident the school will continue,” he said.

IF SHE CAN'T SPEAK ARABIC, HOW IS SHE GOING TO KNOW WHAT HER FACULTY IS TEACHING?

NYC "INTIFADA" PRINCIPAL RESIGNS

NYC Principal at Center of 'Intifada' T-Shirt Controversy Resigns (Jihad Watch)
Debbie Almontaser, principal of Khalil Gibran International Academy, the controversial public Arabic school set to open in Brooklyn (about which Daniel Pipes has much illuminating background here), has resigned -- just days after her dissembling explanation of "Intifada" t-shirts. From FoxNews:

NEW YORK — A New York City principal who came under fire for controversial comments about an "intifada" T-shirt that seemed to condone terrorism has resigned.

On Friday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg accepted the resignation of Debbie Almontaser, principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, an English-Arabic school set to open next month in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Almontaser had come under fire for comments she made to the New York Post about an "Intifada NYC" T-shirt that is sold by an activist group that shares an office with the Yemeni-American association that Almontaser represents.

Before condemning the T-shirt message's connection to Palestinian terrorism, Almontaser told the Post that "intifada" means "shaking off" and the shirts represented women "shaking off" oppression.

The comments infuriated the city's United Federation of Teachers president, Randi Weingarten, who called the message "war-mongering."

SEE: PRINCIPAL OF NEW NYC ARABIC PUBLIC SCHOOL PALI TERROR SUPPORTER?

PRINCIPAL OF NEW NYC ARABIC PUBLIC SCHOOL PALI TERROR SUPPORTER?

CITY PRINCIPAL IS 'REVOLTING' - TIED TO 'INTIFADA NYC' SHIRTS (NY Post)
August 6, 2007 -- Activists with ties to the principal of the city's controversial new Arabic-themed school are hawking T- shirts that glorify Palestinian terror, The Post has learned. The inflammatory tees boldly declare "Intifada NYC" - apparently a call for a Gaza-style uprising in the Big Apple.

The organization selling the shirts, Arab Women Active in Art and Media, shares office space on Brooklyn's Third Avenue with the Saba Association of American Yemenis. Dhabah "Debbie" Almontaser, principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy - which is scheduled to open in Brooklyn next month - is a board member and spokeswoman for Saba. Members of AWAAM refused to comment. ....

AWAAM's co-founders, Rama Kased and Mona Eldahry, are also active in the more militant pro-Palestinian group, al-Awda, whose main U.S. office is in California. That organization, according to the Anti-Defamation League, is an active supporter of the terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

"The T-shirt is a reflection of a movement that increasingly lauds violence against Israelis instead of rejecting it. That is disturbing," said Oren Segal, a spokesman for the ADL.

Almontaser, a community activist and Muslim, has said the new grade 6-12 public school will be modeled on other dual-language city schools and have no religious component. But the shirt sales are giving new ammunition to critics who fear Almontaser's school will teach a biased view of Middle Eastern history.

HAMAS SYMPATHIZERS TO RUN NEW NYC PUBLIC SCHOOL?

Hamas Sympathizers Tied To Khalil Gibran International Academy? (PipeLineNews)
July 17, 2007 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In previous articles the writers have documented why Dhabah aka "Debbie" Almontaser, the Yemeni born principal designate of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, does not belong in the public school system.

She promotes an Islamist agenda, operates in an environment populated by radical Muslim organizations and individuals, holds extreme leftist political views and aims to use the KGIA as a tool of indoctrination. [see Khalil Gibran Jihad School - Indoctrination Not Education]

Almontaser has a close working relationship with Linda Sarsour, a radical Islamist activist with a power base in Brooklyn's Bay Ridge district. Sarsour is the director of the Arab American Association of New York, a provider of social services including immigration assistance and legal aid to Arab community. She along with Almontaser are board member of the AAA's Dialogue Project and Sarsour is the Co-Chair of the Dialogue Project's Interfaith Events program.

Sarsour's association with Almontaser provides an alarming insight into the forces that will drive KGIA if the school becomes a reality in September.

This relationship poses a serious challenge to those who blindly maintain that KGIA is just another New York City charter school, because Linda Sarsour is tied to the terrorist organization Hamas as well as other radical causes. Deepening the concern, the community from which Sarsour operates shares her views as well as her support for Islamism.

In a 2004 piece by Sarmad S. Ali, "Kerry Drew Disenchanted Arabs in Bay Ridge" published in the Columbia Journalism Review, Linda Sarsour matter-of-factly documents her family's ties to Hamas as depicted in the Arab language terrorist newspaper that she is reading while being interviewed. [READ ON]

SEE: NYC TO CREATE SPECIAL ARABIC PUBLIC SCHOOL