Please Follow us on Gab, Minds, Telegram, Rumble, Gettr, Truth Social, Twitter
Aisha Abdel Gawad, an English teacher from Greenwich Academy, is under fire after she and another author, Lisa Ko, refused to appear at a book festival forum because they didn't want to be on a panel with a "Zionist".
Elisa Albert, an award-winning feminist writer, received an email about the "crazy situation" from Mark Koplik, the assistant director of the New York State Writers Institute, with the news.
“Basically, not to sugar coat this, Aisha Gawad and Lisa Ko don’t want to be on a panel with a ‘Zionist,’ ” he wrote in an email to Albert. “We’re taken by surprise, and somewhat nonplussed, and want to talk this out.”
But the situation became "untenable" and reached an "impasse" so the panel was cancelled.
Greenwich Academy ("GA") acknowledged the controversy in an email to parents, saying "you may have heard -- or may soon be hearing -- reports about GA English Teacher Aisha Gawad's decision to withdraw from a panel discussion at the Albany Book Festival" and said it was investigating the matter.
Gawad provided a response to the press inquiries that was shared with GA parents.
"In private communications with the organizers of the Albany Book Festival, I expressed my concern over the moderator's public rhetoric. I felt deeply uncomfortable with her statements that mock anyone who expresses grief over the loss of Palestinian life or calls them a 'terrorist apologist'," wrote Gawad.
"As an Arab, Muslim writer, I made the private choice to withdraw from the panel because it did not feel like a safe forum for me," she continued, explaining she was surprised the event was cancelled after she and Ko had declined to appear with Albert.
"I oppose anti-Semitism and have dedicated my professional and personal life to not only fighting anti-Semitism, but also racism, Islamophobia, and hatred of all kinds," said Gawad. "I find it deeply hurtful and saddening that the festival chose to make public my private choice."
The school remains confident in Gawad's abilities to provide "guidance and instruction" to GA students of "all faiths, ethnicities, and backgrounds" but has said it will continue to monitor the situation.
GA assured parents in the email that it stands against anti-Semitism and hate of all kinds, and said that its staff embodies a "spirit of inclusiveness, diversity, and respect."
In fact, during the 2020-2021 academic year, Gawad was even identified as the head of GA's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging ("DEIB") program, a program that has been under fire for using controversial curriculum from the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance program that promotes critical race theory.
The school boasts about how the whole GA community engages in "meaningful dialogue around social justice and equity" and is "committed to building an antiracist campus and community."
You would think that a teacher from a school that so thoroughly embraces DEIB would be able to demonstrate those very values by appearing on a diverse panel like the one assembled for the Albany Book Festival.
However, the truth is that DEI curriculum actually drives anti-Semitism.
And now some Jewish parents in the school are left scratching their heads, wondering whether their children will truly feel "included" in a classroom with a teacher who refused to appear with a "Zionist."
