CCG – Following offensive remarks made about Jews by the prayer leader of the mosque where the school is located, Florida education officials ordered a private Muslim school in Northeast Miami-Dade to provide a list of all of its owners, operators, and staff, failing which the school would lose its taxpayer-funded vouchers.
Reviver Academy was given a week to explain its relationship with Fadi Kablawi, the imam of the Golden Glades mosque, who last month called Israeli soldiers “worse than the Nazis” during a religious ritual. This was the ultimatum from the Florida Department of Education to Reviver Academy. The Middle East Media Research Institute translated some of the Arabic comments that he made and put them online. Kablawi described Jews as “apes and pigs” and prayed to “annihilate” them.
Cathy Russell, the deputy executive director of the office in charge of the state’s school choice program, sent a letter to the school stating, “In Florida, we will not tolerate calls for genocide.”
Russell continued, “This is especially true where they are made in the presence of students,” and he demanded an explanation from the school regarding whether or not pupils were present when Kablawi made his remarks and whether or not Kablawi interacted with their children.
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An email requesting comments was not immediately answered by school administrators. If the state takes any action against Kablawi, he plans to consult lawyers, he told the Miami Herald on Wednesday.
Along with a list of all staff members, the state also requests the names of people holding senior positions at the mosque that owns and runs the institution. Russell stated that the school may no longer be eligible for vouchers if it fails to provide the paperwork.
A day after several Jewish lawmakers from both parties urged state agencies to take action against Kablawi, including revoking his dentistry license, the state sent its letter. Republican state representative Randy Fine requested that the state look into Reviver Academy after learning that the school had received $500,000 in taxpayer-funded vouchers that currently assist 74 students. Fine posted the state’s letter online on Thursday night.
Families in Florida are legally permitted to use vouchers provided by the government to pay for tuition at any school they choose. This covers private religious educational institutions like Reviver Academy.
