SPEECH PATHOLOGIST WAS FIRED FROM TEXAS SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR REFUSING TO SIGN PRO-ISRAEL STATEMENT. NOW, SHE’S SUING

Texas speech pathologist Bahia Amawi filed a lawsuit after a school district required she sign a contractual clause prohibiting her from boycotting Israeli products while working for the district.

Amawi worked as a contractor for nine years in the Pflugerville Independent School District. The lawsuit names the school district and state Attorney General Ken Paxton, The Washington Post reported.

“My first reaction was shock,” Amawi said, according to the Texas Tribune. “Why is the government restricting me from boycotting a certain entity?”

Amawi is an American citizen of Palestinian descent, according to WaPo.

Her contract’s stipulations come after Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 89 into law in May 2017, barring state agencies from contracting with companies that boycott Israeli products.

The bill is a response to a pro-Palestinian movement “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS),” boycotting Israeli products in an attempt to apply economic pressure on the state. Proponents of the movement say the boycott will help end what they allege is the occupation of and violence against Palestine by Israel.

“This language is required by the State of Texas for all school districts in Texas, along with other governmental entities,” the school district said in a statement explaining the requirement, according to WaPo.

Of the new codes and compliances Amawi was asked to sign, the prohibition of an Israeli boycott “was the only one that was not related to my job,” she said, according to the Dallas Observer.

Amawi is seeking an injunction intended to remove the anti-BDS clause from... 

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