A large coalition of concerned citizens gathered on the steps of NY City Hall to express their concerns regarding the opening of the Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA). Brian Rooney, an attorney and spokesperson for the Thomas More Law Center, was one of those who addressed the gathering.
Said Rooney, "The Law Center will continue to use the courts to get information on the school that the city has refused to provide. We want to know what the curriculum is, what textbooks are being used, who the teachers are, and what groups affiliated with the school like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) will have access to the children. The Law Center will also monitor the school in order to ensure that it comports with state and federal law. We are concerned that the city is setting up a segregated, separate but equal public school system: one for Islam and another for everyone else."
KGIA, which will immerse its students in Islamic culture, has three fundamentalist Islamist imams on its Board of Advisors, as well as other promoters with connections to militant Islamic organizations. Federal prosecutors have listed CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator in an ongoing case against the Holy Land Foundation, which is alleged to have provided material support to foreign terrorists.
According to news reports, FBI wiretaps have placed the current executive director of CAIR at a meeting of alleged Hamas leaders several years ago. An FBI agent testifying at the trial involving the Muslim charity linked to Hamas has revealed that CAIR's Nihad Awad was present when Hamas officials and supporters hatched a plot to disguise funds for suicide operations through the Holy Land Foundation.
Rooney went on to say, "This lack of response to our request for information strongly suggests that the school cannot meet state education standards. Moreover, it continues to raise suspicions that KGIA is an anti-American, anti-Christian, and anti-Jewish propaganda center operating as a public school.
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of Law Center stated, "Radical Islam is a threat to Western Civilization in general, to America in particular, and to NYC especially. As the New York Police Department recently said, the biggest threat to NYC is the homegrown threat. This school lends itself to subtle and covert influence of these young impressionable children. Like every other public school in America, this school should be focusing on preparing students to become citizens of the United States."
The Law Center will continue to act as co-counsel with attorney David Yerushalmi.
