Texas Government employees cannot boycott Israel
She lost her school job after refusing to sign a pro-Israel pledge. Now, she’s filing a lawsuit.
Bahia Amawi, a speech pathologist who has worked as a contractor in a Texas school district for nine years, received a new contract agreement to sign in September for the upcoming school year.
The agreement asked her to affirm that she did not boycott Israel and assert that she would not while working for the school.
She declined to sign it. Amawi, an American citizen of Palestinian descent who was born in Austria, said the statements infringed on her principles: her stance on Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and her belief in the First Amendment. So she was forced to stop working with the district.
The contract, which stems from a 2017 law passed by the state’s Republican-held legislature and governor that prohibited state agencies from contracting with companies boycotting Israel, is the subject of a lawsuit filed this week by Amawi in federal district court in Austin.
Amawi says the state’s enforcement of the law violates her right to free speech.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/12/18/she-lost-her-school-job-after-refusing-sign-pro-israel-pledge-now-shes-filing-lawsuit/?utm_term=.0ece23cb1d3b