Fired Teacher Who Complained About Racist Pupils Finally Has Employment Tribunal Hearing

In July 2009 a school teacher from London said that he had been fired after noting the rise of racism and harassment in his classroom with school officials.

The instructor, Nicholas Kafouris (pictured), is a Greek-born teacher who taught in East London for more than ten years. He says he encountered many immigrant students from predominantly Muslim backgrounds who would openly praise Islamic extremists in class. He also recalled incidents in which youngsters praised the September 11 Islamic terrorists as "heroes" or would declare Jews and Christians to be enemies during class time.

Although Mr. Kafouris says he underscored the problems to the school's headmistress, including submitting a standard "Racist Incident Reporting Sheet" to the school, he claims his concerns were ignored by the headmistress Jill Hankey.

In a statement to the Central London Employment Tribunal Kafouris says:

Miss Hankey proceeded to excuse and justify the pupil's behaviour, conduct and remarks to me as if I had no right to be offended by the child's remarks and conduct. Amongst Miss Hankey's justifications for the child's remarks, she said, "If the child was older, say 15, I might take it more seriously. He's only nine - he's only doing it to wind you up".

The teacher asserts that he was warned not to contest any of his pupils in class, ultimately causing him great stress which prompted him to take time off from work. Apparently this gave school officials an excuse to fire him from his position.

Perhaps what is most shocking in this case is that there is no evidence the school investigated the teacher's claims and dealt with them to ensure a comfortable learning environment. To tell an instructor to allow his students to run amok and to refrain from addressing the obvious racism exhibited by students is ludicrous.

Today was Nicholas Koufaris' hearing with the employment tribunal.

Also See:
- Daily Mail: Christian teacher 'forced out' after complaining Muslim pupils praised 9/11 hijackers 'as heroes'
- East London Advertiser: Teacher takes Tower Hamlets school to tribunal today

Idan Raichel Project: Cada Día

The Idan Raichel Project's third album, "Bein Kirot Beiti" ("Within My Walls"), is very solid with some Latin American influences. Past albums by the project, which were equally excellent, primarily featured African and Middle Eastern influences.

In his 2009 album Idan Raichel collaborated with successful Colombian singer Marta Gómez to produce and arrange "Cada Día" (Every Day) which is one of two songs in Spanish on the 2009 album.



Raichel's song did very well with Israeli audiences. During the 2009 "Cochav Nolad" in Israel, the equivalent of "American Idol" in America or "The X Factor" in the United Kingdom, one of the contestants and the ultimate winner sang a lovely cover during an episode with Idan Raichel.

Also See:
- Beautiful Israelis
- Idan Raichel Project: Azini
- Idan Raichel Project: Mikol Ha'ahavot
- Idan Raichel Project: Chalomot Shel Acherim

16 Year Old Turkish Girl Buried Alive in So-Called Honor Killing

A sixteen-year-old Turkish girl was buried alive by her male relatives in an apparent honor killing. The victim is being identified only as M.M. (her initials), but details of her murder have been released. Turkish newspapers are noting that the teenager allegedly brought "dishonor" to her family because she spoke with boys. The victim had contacted police two months before her murder, complaining about beatings she suffered from her male relatives. In Turkey and in the Middle East where people practice the barbaric custom of honor murders, family councils usually decide what to do with relatives for offenses that are considered to violate the moral tenets of Islam or cultural norms.

Here is an excerpt from Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News:

A subsequent postmortem examination revealed that M.M. had a significant amount of soil in her lungs and stomach, indicating that she was buried alive and conscious, forensic experts told the news agency. “The autopsy result is blood-curdling. According to our findings, the girl – who had no bruises on her body and no sign of narcotics or poison in her blood – was alive and fully conscious when she was buried,” one anonymous expert said.

The girl’s father and grandfather have been formally arrested and jailed pending trial over her killing, according to the agency. The father is reported to have said in his testimony that the family was unhappy that M.M. had male friends.

The girl was reported as missing and no clues about her disappearance were found for 40 days. Her mother was arrested along with the father, Ayhan, and grandfather, Memi, but later released. The two men were sent to prison by a local court and did not speak in the court.

Read the full report here.

Considering the many human rights violations and backwards cultural practices that occur in Turkey, it is quite strange that some Turkish officials continue to complain that their country has not yet been accepted into the European Union.

Also See:
- Women told: 'You have dishonored your family, please kill yourself'
- Honor murder claims life of mother of six in Jordan
- Turkish Propaganda Drama Reminiscent of 1930's Nazi Films
- Strained Israeli-Turkish Relations
- Yemeni Girl, 12, Dies in Painful Childbirth

Vote for the JIDF in Twitter's Shorty Awards

The JIDF, an organization dedicated to exposing anti-Semitism and Islamic Totalitarianism on the web, is one of the nominees for Twitter's Shorty Awards in the politics category. The contest is extremely close, so the JIDF needs your vote if you're a Twitter user (or don't mind signing up). Voting ends tomorrow night at midnight, Pacific Time.

The better the JIDF does in these kinds of internet contests, the more people will learn about the excellent work that they do. The JIDF is currently the only Israeli or Jewish organization in the politics category. As a friend of David, the founder of the JIDF, I can easily attest to the fact that he's one of the most efficient and inspirational Israel advocates I know.

Here is what you need to do (or tweet):

#shortyawards #politics@JIDF b/c _______________

Or use the voting box here: http://shortyawards.com/jidf

You can be as creative as you want with the reason. Please let your friends and family know that they can help too-- it will only take a few seconds to cast your vote.

Speaker at UCLA Attacks Homosexuals, Denies Existence of Gays in the Middle East and Islamic World

Joseph Massad, an associate professor from Columbia University, spoke at UCLA last week. His lecture, sponsored by the Center of Near Eastern Studies, was titled "Pre-Positional Conjunctions: Sexuality and/in Islam" in which he made a bizarre presentation suggesting that there are no homosexuals living in the Arab world because the idea of homosexuality or being "queer" is an imperialist or Western construct. Eric Golub who covered the event for Campus Watch notes that the lecture was in tune with Massad's text, Desiring Arabs, in which he asserts that homosexuality is a social construct. Massad's attitude concerning the West in his text is scathing and derisive, and very far from academic.

Here is an excerpt of Eric Golub's article, published on February 1st, from Campus Watch:

While past CNES lectures resulted in Israel-bashing and anti-Semitism, UCLA finally decided to honor its commitment to diversity by attacking another minority group. This time, homosexuals had their turn in the multicultural bile wheel.

This was not a seminar on sexuality in Islam. From inception to completion, it was nothing more than gay-bashing. This was on par with the thesis of Massad's 2007 book, Desiring Arabs, which posits that gay sexuality among Muslims does not exist, but is rather a Western plot designed to undermine the Muslim world.

There were few attendees, with half the crowd consisting of elderly people and the other half students checking each other out to see if they were being checked out. Upon realizing that the lecture was an anti-sex discussion of homosexuality rather than a pro-sex meeting with flowers and Barry White music, a portion of the audience left.

The UCLA devotion to hyper-tolerance offered plenty of intolerance from Massad. Here's a sampling:

"Queer is about resistance to Islam."

"Queer is unknown and should not be demanded of most of the Arabic public."

"There is no Arabic transliteration of queer. It is a judgmental notice of deviance."

Offering up a helping of academic jargon, he described the queer issue as "epistemological" and "ontological."

Massad then claimed: "To the Islamic, hate and sexuality are only translatable to English-speaking people."

I keep forgetting about imaginary Judeo-Christian rape and honor killings.

"Queer is an imperialist term. It is part of the Anglo-American gay agenda."

He finally figured out the Neocon Zionist conspiracy. It spreads homosexuality throughout the Arab world so that Arab nations cannot reproduce. This explains why, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Middle East and North Africa are home to, "the world's second-fastest growing population, after sub-Saharan Africa."

"Queer is an example of cultural imperialism."

"Use of 'gay' in Iran is imperial politics."

Ahmadinejad famously told a Columbia University audience that there are no gay people in his country. One might ask Massad, how the West could have exported gay people if there are none over there?

"There is no such thing as Iran/Arab/Muslim sexuality. Sexuality is an English notion."

Is every single Arab or Muslim the result of an immaculate conception?

He then admitted he was "very interested in talking to people about their sexual experiences if they want to tell me." [...]

Read the full article here.

Also See:
- MSA Supports Osama Bin Laden
- Columbia University Invites Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Speak

The Ethiopian Sigd

The Ethiopian Jewish community's Sigd is very important to the community. The holiday is several centuries old, celebrating that Ethiopian Jewry maintained their faith and persevered despite persecution. It was last celebrated in November 2009, traditionally falling on the 29th of the Hebrew month of Cheshvan.

Some naysayers have argued that Sigd is not truly a holiday or it does not fit in with the Jewish religion, suggesting that it should not be adopted by Israel. However, Sigd is as much a holiday which commemorates the heritage and history of Israel's people as Purim celebrates Persian Jewry’s freedom from Haman, the royal vizier to King Ahasuerus, who had planned to kill the Jews under Persian rule.

The following is a video created by a YouTube user Jay3fer to celebrate Sigd 2009 and its official recognition by the Knesset. The song in the video is “Zichronot M'Africa” (“Memories from Africa”) from the kid's Putomayo collection. It is sung by Shlomo Gronich and the Sheba Choir (made up of Israeli children of Ethiopian origin).



The Knesset’s adoption of Sigd in 2008 as an official Israeli holiday was a positive move in the right direction. It can certainly aid Ethiopian Jews in the integration process and promote a greater understanding of the unique community to other Israelis. Like other customs of various ethnic Jewish groups, such as the Mimouna of North African Jews, Sigd should become a part of Israel’s unique cultural fabric. People don’t have to celebrate it if they don’t wish to, but at the very least we can respect the Ethiopian Jewish community enough to acknowledge their history.

Also See:
- Jewish Agency Helps 142 Ethiopian-Jews Immigrate to Israel
- The Jews of Ethiopia
- Ethiopian Jews assisting victims of Rwandan genocide
- Protest on Behalf of Ethiopians in Israel

Islamists Send Explosives to Israeli Shores, Another Kassam Lands in the Negev

Following the killing of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, Islamists have vowed to maim Jews and Israelis both in Israel and abroad. Although al-Mabhouh was wanted by many groups and countries, including Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, Israel has been declared responsible for the terrorist's death by Hamas. The blame game with regard to al-Mabhouh is just another excuse for Islamic Totalitarian leaders to detract from their crimes and point the finger at the Israeli nation, all the while threatening Israeli civilians and Jews around the world.

Palestinian leaders and the weak-willed international community regularly blame Israel for everything from the weather to sewage infrastructure in Gaza. There won't be much, if any, condemnation of Islamic terror organizations in Gaza for today's rocket attacks and foiled terror attacks.

A short range rocket was fired from Gaza into Israel on Tuesday afternoon, landing in the Negev region. The Color Red siren went off. There were no reports of injuries or structural damage. This is just one of thousands of rockets fired by Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza in recent years.

Also today two barrels with explosive devices washed up on the shores in south Israel. Apparently the explosives were cast a float from Gaza. Several Palestinian terror groups have claimed responsibility for the failed attack, including Islamic Jihad, the so-called moderate Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades. An Israeli team of bomb experts neutralized the explosives.

Last week a UN-backed report from the Human Rights Watch rejected Hamas' asinine claims that the firing of kassam rockets at Israel was meant to maim only military officials. Were the explosive devices which were sent via the sea to Israeli shores, which are filled with tourists and civilians alike, only meant to harm Israeli military too, then?

Also See:
- New Footage Shows Iran's Financing and Support of Hamas and Hezbollah
- Iran Promises to Build 10 More Nuclear Facilities, International Community Issues "Censure"
- IAF Responds to Rocket Fire from Gaza

Iranian Regime Plans to Execute Nine Dissidents

The Islamic Republic of Iran has vowed to execute nine additional people for their connection with protests following the rigged re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The nine people sentenced to death are among eleven who were sentenced by Tehran's Revolutionary Court. Two men were hanged last week.

Police have arrested more than 4,000 individuals following the government crackdowns on post-election protests.

Here are some details, courtesy of the Times Online:

Nine more dissidents will be executed soon, a senior member of Iran's judiciary declared today, as the regime stepped up its efforts to deter another huge opposition rally planned for next week.

The regime is sufficiently worried that it has ordered state television not to broadcast the usual historic television footage of insurrection on the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah, lest the scenes incite today's opposition to follow suit.

Last Thursday it hanged two men for allegedly plotting against the regime - a move condemned internationally but praised by Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, a hardline cleric, during Friday prayers in Tehran....

Read the full Times Online report here.

Related Posts:
- Details Emerging About Alizamani and Rahmanipour Unjust Executions
- Iranian Mullahcracy Executes Two Iranian Dissidents
- Iranian-Canadian Filmmaker and Journalist Recalls Iran Imprisonment
- Iran reportedly kills seven lawyers

Also See:
- New Footage Shows Iran's Financing and Support of Hamas and Hezbollah
- Israeli Navy Intercepts 500 Tons of Hezbollah-Bound Iranian Arms