Submitted by Josh Stern, Aug 16, 2007 13:36

".She has absolutely nothing to apologize for in explaining the meaning of an arabic term."

To the above letter-writer, as to so many hapless politicians and their apologists, words basically have no meaning; you simply follow up with "I didn't mean to offend," despite having uttered words that were patently offensive, and everyone's supposed to back off.

To wit: Ms. Almontaser does owe an apology, first, for giving approval to a shockingly tasteless slogan---offensive not just to Jews, but to any decent citizen who disapproves of random violence.

Secondly, she owes a further apology (although I personally find such after-the-bad-press apologies meaningless) for subjecting the public to a lame excuse that only insults our intelligence (altho apparently not that of the above-quoted letter-writer).

Are we to believe that Ms. Almontaser was UNAWARE of the "other" implication of the word intifada? That's beyond absurd; ask anyone, moslem or not, what comes to mind when they hear the term "intifada". Their first, second and third association would, without a doubt, be the uprising in Israel. It's questionable whether anyone could even come up with any alternative meaning, as did the resourceful Ms. Almontaser.

It's just dishonest to suggest that it was meant as a generic term. (not to mention: "shaking off WHAT oppression of girls in NYC"? Are all girls oppressed, or only Moslem girls? The whole thing has unsavory implications)

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