Posted on 12/18/2018 6:12:55 AM PST by C19fan
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.
The child language specialist, Bahia Amawi, is a U.S. citizen who received a master’s degree in speech pathology in 1999 and, since then, has specialized in evaluations for young children with language difficulties (see video below). Amawi was born in Austria and has lived in the U.S. for the last 30 years, fluently speaks three languages (English, German, and Arabic), and has four U.S.-born American children of her own.
(Excerpt) Read more at theintercept.com ...
Another case of forced bending to a foreign power.
Wrong and dumb.
If they law said she could not promote a boycott while at work, she would have no case.
But saying she would not engage in a boycott on or off the job is far over the line, and very likely unconstitutional.
“IOW, she’s not a Jew-hating Austrian-born muzzie, she’s a liberty-lovin’ red-blooded American.”
Sarc?
Muslims do not integrate, and years and years of living here does not ensure she is an America-loving patriot.
It’s a Texas law. Keeps the camel jockeys away
So...why is boycotting against the law in the first place?
What makes Israel so special that it gets a law against boycotting it, a privilege which is extended to no other nation on Earth?
Agree 100%. The only surprise here is that the oath wasn't a Leftist pro-LGBT or pro-immigration or pro-Palestinian oath.
It’s not a ‘loyalty oath’. It’s a state law prohibiting contracts with organizations that participate in Israel BDS. Many states have such laws.
Sure sounds like a loyalty oath to me.
Keep in mind that the article says nothing about a distinction between the performance of her duties on the job as an employee of a government entity and her private, off-the-job activity.
Like it or not, she ought to be free to boycott Israel, and to call for others to boycott Israel, as much as she likes when it doesn't involve her official duties.
I work for a TX based company that does a lot of financial and bond related work for Texas Schools, Counties, Cities, Airports, Hospitals, etc...
What they are leaving out is that ANY person or company doing business needs to sign not only the “no Israel Boycott” statement, they also need to sign a statement stating that they do not do business with Sudan, Iran, or “any other organization known to promote, aid, or engage in terrorism and appears on the list of nations and NGO’ kept by the Controllers Office as required by Chapter 2252 of the Texas Government Code”. That was probably the one that caused her problems...
These laws have been on the books for two years. So now some Burka wearing troglodyte does not want to agree to NOT support terrorists. There’s a shocker. At least this one does seem to be in Hudna mode, so thank her for her honesty as you deport her.
And I should be free to not have my tax dollars go to enrich somebody that wants me to convert or die.
I wouldn’t call it PRO Israel...
UNLESS your definition of Pro Israel, is anything that ISN’T negative to Israel.
Maybe its not about promoting Israel,
But instead it’s about NOT attacking it,
and using the persons position at the school to promote anti-Israel bias.
unconstitutional to require oath to a foreign country
They don’t need an oath for teachers psychs etc. If they preach politics or pro or anti Israeli they should be fired. Not job related
Per the article:
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.
I don't see an oath to the country
I see an oath not to engage in a harmful act to another country...
And using a government position, ie college teacher, to promote it.
she has aright to political speech outside of work. The school district is public agency and cannot prohibit her political speech The oath does exactly that.
Well then, feel free to not buy stuff from them. What’s the problem?
There's a good chance that was sarcasm.
It’s insane that Texas passed this law in the first place.
Uhhh, she got terminated from her contract by a school district. Pretty certain that I don’t do any shopping there, but guaranteed that some of my state sales taxes and property taxes would end up there.
That’s the problem. And these laws only apply to a company or contractor doing work for any public entity, whether it is waste water management district in Dimmitt County or the State of Texas itself.
Believe me, I would like nothing more than to say ‘Sorry, no tax remittances from me this year!” I have a feeling that might not go over too well with my county or with the folks in Austin.
An easy fix for the school district is to hire her as an employee. The laws do not apply to individuals employed by a public entity; it is a condition for being awarded the contract. They left that part out too.
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