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A children’s speech pathologist who has worked for the last nine years with developmentally disabled, autistic, and speech-impaired elementary school students in Austin, Texas, has been told that she can no longer work with the public school district, after she refused to sign an oath vowing that she “does not” and “will not” engage in a boycott of Israel or “otherwise tak[e] any action that is intended to inflict economic harm” on that foreign nation. A lawsuit on her behalf was filed early Monday morning in a federal court in the Western District of Texas, alleging a violation of her First Amendment right of free speech.
...Amawi began working in 2009 on a contract basis with the Pflugerville Independent School District, which includes Austin, to provide assessments and support for school children from the county’s growing Arabic-speaking immigrant community. The children with whom she has worked span the ages of 3 to 11. Ever since her work for the school district began in 2009, her contract was renewed each year with no controversy or problem.
But this year, all of that changed. On August 13, the school district once again offered to extend her contract for another year by sending her essentially the same contract and set of certifications she has received and signed at the end of each year since 2009.
She was prepared to sign her contract renewal until she noticed one new, and extremely significant, addition: a certification she was required to sign pledging that she “does not currently boycott Israel,” that she “will not boycott Israel during the term of the contract,” and that she shall refrain from any action “that is intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or limit commercial relations with Israel, or with a person or entity doing business in Israeli or in an Israel-controlled territory.”
The language of the affirmation Amawi was told she must sign reads like Orwellian — or McCarthyite — self-parody, the classic political loyalty oath that every American should instinctively shudder upon reading...
Read it all.
I'd love to hear what others have to say about this.
I can't support anyone being asked to sign oaths or make vows that aren't directly related to how they do their job. The Hippocratic Oath and the like are fine. Opinions on Israel or left/right political issues don't seem to fall into that category.
I can't support anyone being asked to sign oaths or make vows that aren't directly related to how they do their job. The Hippocratic Oath and the like are fine. Opinions on Israel or left/right political issues don't seem to fall into that category.
As Greenwald points out, it's not even an oath to THIS country where she's a citizen, it's asking her to sign an oath to another country. That's absurd.
I wonder if they made everyone in their employ sign that caveat or just her because she is a Muslim?
I wonder what the school is trying to prevent? Is the school planning for a sign carrying protesting picket line in the near future in front of the school?
As an adult that the kids look up to for assurance she should be unbiased when it comes to topics from Israel to Santa Claus
I wonder if she has been expressing extreme attitudes towards Israel in the teachers lounge and her coworkers are tired of it, complained to the Superintendent and they saw this as a way to get her out or shut her up?
I wonder if they made everyone in their employ sign that caveat or just her because she is a Muslim?
I wonder what the school is trying to prevent? Is the school planning for a sign carrying protesting picket line in the near future in front of the school?
As an adult that the kids look up to for assurance she should be unbiased when it comes to topics from Israel to Santa Claus
I wonder if she has been expressing extreme attitudes towards Israel in the teachers lounge and her coworkers are tired of it, complained to the Superintendent and they saw this as a way to get her out or shut her up?
Who knows. The lawsuit will sort it out.
Read the first link provided. It's based on a law in Texas.
I wonder if they made everyone in their employ sign that caveat or just her because she is a Muslim?
I wonder what the school is trying to prevent? Is the school planning for a sign carrying protesting picket line in the near future in front of the school?
As an adult that the kids look up to for assurance she should be unbiased when it comes to topics from Israel to Santa Claus
I wonder if she has been expressing extreme attitudes towards Israel in the teachers lounge and her coworkers are tired of it, complained to the Superintendent and they saw this as a way to get her out or shut her up?
The governor on Tuesday signed into law House Bill 89 which bans state agencies from contracting with or investing in companies that boycott Israel as a political statement.
As soon as House Bill 89 reached the desk of Gov. Greg Abbott, he signed it into law. The measure is known as the Anti-BDS (Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions) bill, which prohibits all state agencies from contracting with, and certain public funds from investing in, companies that boycott Israel.
This is the kind of Republican that I have no use for. This violates people's Constitutional rights, and has now cost this lady, who has done nothing wrong, her job. If she wants to boycott products from Israel, what fricken business is that of the U.S. government? It's NOT their damn business!
This is the kind of Republican that I have no use for. This violates people's Constitutional rights, and has now cost this lady, who has done nothing wrong, her job. If she wants to boycott products from Israel, what fricken business is that of the U.S. government? It's NOT their damn business!
Wow how the hell can that stand up as constitutional? You aren't allowed to boycott a specific country?
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