School Suspends Teacher Over Alleged ‘Terrorists’ Joke Directed at Arab-American Student

UpwshaOctober 24, 2021

1,564 1 minute read

tsa — Mohammed Zubi was told 'We don't negotiate with terrorists" after he asked if he could finish a math assignment at home, according to students.

BY THOMAS KIKA

(NEWS WEEK) An Arab-American high school student was left “in shock” after a teacher responded to a question with an alleged insensitive remark about “terrorists.”

Mohammed Zubi, a senior student at Ridgefield Memorial High School in Bergen County, New Jersey, said that he was asking a math teacher if he could finish an assignment as homework on Tuesday when the remark occurred.

The teacher, whose name has not been released, made the alleged comment loud enough for most students in the class to hear, according to W ABC.

“He responded saying, ‘We don’t negotiate with terrorists,'” Zubi said. “So I look around in shock, there’s people laughing, and there’s other people in shock, and I turn around and ask my friend, ‘Did he really just say that?’ and she said yes.”