Angry parents and students lambasted the school authorities of the Pine Bush High School in New York for allowing the Pledge of Allegiance to be recited in Arabic.

Reports said the school's principal asked student Andrew Zink to forego his usual duty of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance every morning and instead, to pass the microphone to his classmate who will deliver it in Arabic.

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It was National Foreign Language Week and the students were encouraged to learn about different cultures.

Following the recitation, outrage quickly flowed throughout the campus from the students to the parents who vented their anger toward the principal, Zinc, and his girl classmate who recited the Pledge.

As president of the student senate at the Pine Bush High, Zink leads the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance every morning.

But when he passed on the microphone to his classmate to recite it in a different language, he said he knew most students wouldn't support his action.

"I wanted to say yes because I felt this is the right thing to do," Zink, 18, said in an interview Thursday with reporters.

The school's principal apologized to the school authorities, the students, and the parents for allowing the Pledge of Allegiance to be delivered  in a different language, Zink said.

The apology, however, failed to pacify the raging parents and students who took to Twitter and posted hateful comments toward Zink and the girl who read it.

Zink said the recitation triggered anti-Muslim sentiment with bashers degrading the girl who read it, branding her a terrorist and ordering her to go back to the Middle East.

The president of the student senate said he has been receiving death threats and had been threatened over Twitter after the incident.

The Pine Bush Central School District also apologized to the parents and students following complaints from the Jewish community who said they had lost loved ones and family members in the Afghanistan war.

A school official said the incident has divided the school, and that the authorities will allow the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance only in English from then on.

The school said it was planning to have the Pledge of Allegiance recited in Spanish, French, Japanese, and Italian as a way of observing  National Foreign Language Week but this has been cancelled following the incident.

Zinc said he is ready to face the consequences, including the possibility of being ousted as the senior class president.

Despite this, Zink said he does not regret anything that transpired and said that he will do it all over again.

Tagspledge of allegiance, Pine Bush High School, Arabic, English