A Columbia University professor who has called Israel a "racist" state with an "apartheid system," and who has supported attacks by Palestinian-Arabs on Israelis, is scheduled to lecture a group of New York City public school teachers on how to teach Mideast politics to schoolchildren.

The professor, Rashid Khalidi, is director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University. His professorship is named in memory of Edward Said, a divisive scholar, and is paid for in part with a donation from the United Arab Emirates.

Mr. Khalidi is one of more than a dozen Columbia professors expected to give city public-school teachers an overview of the history and culture of the Middle East, as part of a professional-development course offered by the city's Department of Education...

...The education department is offering the course with Columbia despite a scandal that has been unfolding in recent months at the university, stemming from students' complaints that some professors in the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Culture treated pupils who are sympathetic toward Israel with hostility.

When The New York Sun told some public officials about the course, many were outraged.

"I think it's an abomination," a member of the City Council from Brooklyn, Simcha Felder, said. "I am certain that once the administration is made aware of this, they will make sure that a person who has a record of being racist and anti-Semite is not a person who is educating educators who are educating our children."

He said the inclusion of some other lecturers in the course who have pro-Israel stances doesn't excuse the city department's subjecting public-school teachers to Mr. Khalidi's opinions.

One of the Democrats running for mayor, Rep. Anthony Weiner, said: "It's pretty outrageous that this guy is still teaching college students. For my money, this guy shouldn't even be teaching at Columbia, let alone being recruited to train our Board of Ed teachers. Anyone who refers to Israel as a racist and an apartheid state and claims that America has been brainwashed by Israel ... should not be on the city payroll."...