Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Defamation Suit Against Muslim Fencer Can Go Forward

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A second-grade teacher in Maplewood, New Jersey, Tamar Herman, innocently pulled back the hoodie of one of her pupils, because it was covering her eyes, suggesting she was not paying attention. She knew the pupil was a Muslim who wore a hijab, and assumed she was wearing one that day under the hood of her sweatshirt. As soon as she pushed it back, however, she realized the girl was not wearing her customary hijab, so the teacher “immediately and gently brushed the hood back” and apologized.

That’s the whole story, but it proceeded to spin out of control, in every sense, on social media, with the teacher’s Jewish identity assumed to be the reason for her “deliberate” act of “humiliating” and “abusing” the pupil. Then Ibtihaj Muhammad, an Olympic fencer who in the past Herman had befriended and even celebrated in her schoolroom, got into the act, posting a video online, in which she charged Herman with the “intentional disrobing of a Muslim girl motivated by racism and Islamophobia.”

More on the dangerous defamation of Tamar Herman by her onetime friend can be found here: “Olympian Who Smeared Jewish Teacher Loses Challenge to Defamation Suit,” by Dion J. Pierre, Algemeiner, November 1, 2024:

A New Jersey appellate court last month rejected a challenge to a defamation lawsuit brought by a Jewish public school teacher who said she was the victim of a smear campaign in which an Olympian accused her of Islamophobia following an innocuous interaction with a student.

According to the Lawfare Project, on Oct. 6 2021, Tamar Herman, who has served the New Jersey township of Maplewood for over two decades as a second grade teacher, drew back the hood of a female student’s sweatshirt during class, having assumed, because it was covering her eyes, that something unrelated to the day’s lesson had captivated the student’s attention. Herman knew that the student was a practicing Muslim whose wardrobe included the hijab and assumed the article was worn on that day. Discovering that it was not and that she unintentionally revealed the student’s hair, Herman, according to court documents, “immediately and gently brushed the hood back” and apologized.

The incident was soon forgotten, and the student did not protest. Herman continued her lesson.

Herman was blindsided the following day, when Ibtihaj Muhammad, an Olympic fencer and author whom she knew, published on social media an allegedly defamatory video in which she described the incident as an intentional disrobing of a Muslim girl motivated by racism and Islamophobia.

Incidentally, Muhammad tied her discussion of the incident to promoting her recently published book, The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family….

Muhammad also, allegedly, “grossly” embellished the details of the incident, according to court documents, saying that Herman and the student engaged in a struggle over the hood which ended in Herman’s proclaiming that “her hair was beautiful and she did not have to wear hijab to school anymore” — none of which happened, attorneys said. However, Muhammad’s version of what occurred nevertheless gained acceptance as fact, and before the end of the day on Oct. 7, 2021, Herman was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the school district’s investigation. Law enforcement entered the picture as well, with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office considering criminal charges. Meanwhile, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) publicly denounced Herman as a bigot.

An ordeal ensued which has forever altered Herman’s life and besmirched the 20 years she devoted to public service. A progressive Democrat who, in the words of her attorneys “celebrated diversity,” she reveled in teaching students of all backgrounds and forging close relationships with community members from different ethnicities and faiths. She even befriended Muhammad, as they both attended the same gym….

“The malicious defamation campaign against Ms. Herman was a calculated, antisemitic effort to harm a respected member of the community, motivated by her Jewish identity,” The Lawfare Project’s chief operating officer, Benjamin Cyber, said in a press release. “Ms. Muhammad must be held accountable for the significant trauma she has inflicted. The Lawfare Project commends Bochner PLLC for their exceptional legal work and collaboration with us to pursue justice for Ms. Herman.”

With last month’s ruling, the case can now proceed to discovery….

We have evidence that Tamar Herman had no anti-Islamic feelings. She was a “progressive.” She “celebrated diversity.” She at once put back the hood on her pupil’s hair after discovering the girl had not worn her hijab. She celebrated Ibtihaj Muhammad, having her pupils learn about her as an “example of perseverance, persistence, dedication, overcoming obstacles, overcoming adversity, and achieving excellence in spite of it all.” She put Muhammad’s photograph up on the bulletin board in the hall just outside her classroom. None of that prevented Ibtihaj Muhammad from describing Herman as subjecting the pupil to “humiliation,” “trauma,” and “abuse.” She cynically manufactured out of whole cloth an “Islamophobic” incident in the hope that her involvement in this tale that revolves around an absent hijab would help sell copies of her published book, The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family.

Muhammad paid Herman back for her friendship and admiration with the coin of contempt. She knew her charges on social media about Herman’s supposed horrible mistreatment of a Muslim pupil could lead to antisemitic death threats for the teacher, and they did. Now she has learned that she may have to pay for her act of defamation that has endangered the life of Tamar Herman. The judge has ruled that discovery can go forward. And if justice prevails, the malign Ibtihaj Muhammad may find herself paying out a cool million, or even more.

Comments

  1. Another example of Islam as the religion of permanent offense. These islamofascists are contemptable swine. It will be interesting to follow the lawsuit.

  2. Intimidations from muslims is par for the course. Muslim immigration should have been ended many decades ago, no benefits just occasional terrorism, non-assimilation and intimidations.

    • You’re right I can’t think of one good thing islam has brought to America. Stop the migration invasion of Islam.

  3. That whole vile Satanic religion should be on trial for all the horrendous crimes they inflicted on humanity for the last 1400+ years.

  5. It is getting to the point that it is a liability to hire a Muslim. You can get sued at a drop of a hat by lawfare lawyers who know they can make a good living on such lawsuits. This is like the Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition which was nothing more than a shake down racket to blackmail companies into paying him off to stop accusations of racism. Business started to call his bluff and Jesse Jackson fade away.

  6. Every trick in the book with them. One a thousand reason why they’re incompatible with the West.

  8. The focus should be on the school allowing hijabs to be worn in the first place.

  9. ”The proudest blue” ?
    What’s that supposed to mean?
    Is it a new blue stripe on the Pride flag? -which may end up like the Union Jack, an amalgamation of three flags.

  11. “ An ordeal ensued which has forever altered Herman’s life and besmirched the 20 years she devoted to public service. A progressive Democrat who, in the words of her attorneys “celebrated diversity,” she reveled in teaching students of all backgrounds and forging close relationships with community members from different ethnicities and faiths. She even befriended Muhammad, as they both attended the same gym….”

    I wonder if Tamar Herman now knows that her “progressiveness” should NEVER apply to Muslims, and it should probably eventually disappear completely?

  12. A 7 Year old school girl is being forced to wear a Hijab and be subjugated to Oppression in the USA?! Are we Iran now???

    Maplewood is a strong leftist community- so of course they have no problem forcing little girls to follow Sharia Law. Ridiculous.

    • +1, with a friendly FYI:

      The term sharia law is a misnomer.

      Sharia is the embodiment of Islamic law. It is Islam’s version of The Yellow Brick Road and is the embodiment of Islamic law.

      Knowing that menstruation marks the transition from girlhood to womanhood (Qur’an) why would a 7-year-old girl, who is presumably prepubescent, need to be veiled? What “ornaments” do her parents believe she needs to protect, and from whom?

        • PRCS, I agree that saying “Sharia Law” is unnecessary–rather like “PIN number”. But since not everyone understands that Sharia is Islamic law, I sometimes use the term myself.

          And little Muslim girls much below the age of puberty are forced to wear the veil, as I’m sure you know. That Muslim men are arroused by seeing the hair of 2nd graders is the real problem here.

          One of the sickest things I have seen are veils with elastic intended for children so tiny that they cannot even keep a heasdscarf on.But Muslim men are still worked up over these little tots. Institutonalized pedophilia.

  13. At least there’s one New Jersey school district that scored a victory over Sharia fascists. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the Wayne, New Jersey school district whose feckless superintendent bent over and took one for the citizens of Wayne by enforcing Sharia law making any mention of this terrorist organization’s hideous offenses against humanity subject to employee reprimand and firing. I suppose he learned his lesson well in the case of Charlie Hebdo and his associates (peace be upon them).

  14. At least there’s one New Jersey school district that scored a victory over Sharia fascists. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the Wayne, New Jersey school district whose feckless superintendent bent over and took one for the citizens of Wayne by enforcing Sharia law making any mention of this terrorist organization’s hideous offenses against humanity subject to employee reprimand and firing. I suppose he learned his lesson well in the case of Charlie Hebdo and his associates (peace be upon them).

  15. Just wondering whether or not Tamar Herman will STILL identify as being a “progressive” who “celebrates diversity”…

  16. Further proof that one Mooslime in any civilized nation is too many. They are not interested in assimilating or accommodating. Pursuit of the worldwide caliphate and subjugation of all other “non-believers” is their often-stated goal. And here are the civilized nations of the world, catering to these fiends in the pursuit of some nonsense called DEI. Eventually, we are going to pay the price for our absent vigilance.

  19. Apparently, her hijab wasn’t important to her, or she would have been wearing it under her hoodie. It’s her own fault.

    • she wasn’t wearing it because it was a ***setup***. The kid was used as a trap. Her parents and the fencer and cair all were aware that the teacher knew about such things as little girls and mozlum women covering their hair.

      The little girl had her face covered so the teacher would come over and push the hoodie out of the way, thereby exposing the hair.
      Then when the child got home, they asked her if it all went down and she said yes. So then it was to jump in with fake phobia nonsense…..
      For two reasons; to make others afraid to touch mozlum females for fear of exposing hair and facing a lawsuit, firing from a job, public embarrassment and threats on one’s life.
      And to help the mozlum fencing terrorist sell more books.

      • You are correct, sir. I was being a sarcastic, but also pointing out how the hijab isn’t as significant as they try to make it out to be.

        • thank you, H North And good point. Many adult mozlums in the U.S. do not wear one.

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