Texas school speech pathologist refused to sign pro-Israel contract and lost her job

[muriel_volestrangler]

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.”
...
As a result, Amawi informed her school district supervisor that she could not sign the oath. As her complaint against the school district explains, she “ask[ed] why her personal political stances [about Israel and Palestine] impacted her work as a speech language pathologist.”

In response, Amawi’s supervisor promised that she would investigate whether there were any ways around this barrier. But the supervisor ultimately told Amawi there were no alternatives: Either she would have to sign the oath, or the district would be legally barred from paying her under any type of contract.
...
THE ANTI-BDS ISRAEL OATH was included in Amawi’s contract papers due to an Israel-specific state law enacted on May 2, 2017, by the Texas State Legislature and signed into law two days later by GOP Gov. Greg Abbott. The bill unanimously passed the lower House by a vote of 131-0, and then the Senate by a vote of 25-4.

https://theintercept.com/2018/12/17/israel-texas-anti-bds-law/

As the article points out, it's not just Texas; 26 states have similar legislation (including California and New York), and another 13 have proposed legislation. Some of these carry out boycotts of their own. And from last year:

TEXAS CITY TELLS PEOPLE NO HURRICANE HARVEY AID UNLESS THEY PROMISE NOT TO BOYCOTT ISRAEL

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Vote like your civil rights depend on it. I will continue to

boycott what ever I want.

[ck4829]

2. So if Israel sells goods to the US, does this mean people HAVE to buy them or else?

Sounds like you could be reported if you walk into the paper towel section of the grocery story and go past the paper towels made in Israel and get the paper towels made somewhere else.

Sounds kind of authoritarian, not to mention unconstitutional.

[Adrahil]

3. I believe that is blatantly Unconstitutional. NT

[Lochloosa]

9. Ya think? They should read the First Admendment again. And try to understand it.

[VMA131Marine]

4. It's hard to see how this isn't an unconstitutional restraint on free speech

The government can't censor your speech or force you what to say.

[mulsh]

17. The first ammendment protects political speech but employers have the right to restrict political

speech, at least in the work place. I'd bet any law restricting a boycott on one's personal time would not be constitutional. as a previous poster noted re-read the first ammendment.

Better yet, I suggest every one read the complete U.S. Constitution, all sorts of interesting things in there.

[VMA131Marine]

23. Employers do, except when the government is the employer

Which a public school district is considered to be.

The Federal Government is the largest employer in the country. Can you imagine them being allowed to restrict or dictate the political speech of all those people (the one exception is the military and the contract explicitly allows for restrictions on speech, being subject to the UCMJ rather than civilian courts, etc).

[Hassin Bin Sober]

24. It depends on if the employer is government or private sector.

A private sector employer can restrict your off work political speech and not run afoul any constitutional protections. The First Amendment only protects from government sanctions.

The only thing that would protect a private sector employee from speech restrictions imposed by private employers would be legislation. And we see how that’s going for us...

School teachers and other government employees have more protections from their employers because the employer is “the government” and any restrictions have to pass a higher test than “the boss says so”

[FBaggins]

30. It's mostly because the reporting is poor

It sounds (likely intentionally) like an employee was fired for her personal beliefs. In most cases, that would be unconstitutional.

However - she almost certainly wasn't an employee. She's a small business contracted by the state... and the state has a firm policy against doing business with any company that boycotts Israel.

The thing I think we're missing here is that she should have been able to sign the "oath" without any trouble. It's highly unlikely that her business has any opportunity to boycott Israel. It's hard to imagine that the company purchases any goods or services that might come from Israel that she could then stop as part of a boycott.

Her personal beliefs and purchasing behaviors are not the state's business and would be unrelated to the supposed "oath".

[oberliner]

36. The reporter is Glenn Greenwald

So that could have something to do with it.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

5. This fucking shit has gotten ridiculous. nt

[RAB910]

6. Is this America or Israel?

[Aristus]

7. Where are the Big Government-hating conservatives when they would, for once, be

really useful?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

37. *crickets*

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. BigCrimeHat Retweeted

I saw that. I was thinking of posting it in the Civil Liberties forum sooner or later.

BigCrimeHat Retweeted

Keep political ideology out of education on all sides and at all levels.

Link to tweet

[Coventina]

10. What about religions that forbid the taking of oaths?

We ran into this in our school district.

We had to sign a "loyalty oath" (mostly anti-Communist in nature) in order to teach.

Well, a Quaker came along and ended that.

It violated his freedom of religion to take an oath.

No more loyalty oaths.

[DemocracyMouse]

18. Go Quakers!

[Coventina]

19. Agreed. I attended Quaker meetings for a while

when I became dissatisfied with my Xian Fundie upbringing.

I enjoyed it a lot, and seriously considered joining, but eventually decided to just abandon church-going at all.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

28. And Amish!

[DemocracyMouse]

48. The Amish are pretty cool. But they are uniquely different from the Quakers.

The Quakers are a very liberal, contemporary, urban bunch. They dress like average Americans and send their kids to college – often to encourage the cultivation of liberal enlightenment values. Historically they were very early abolitionists and advocates for women’s rights, LGBTQ rights and the environment. Their meetings for worship have no ministers or priests and are egalitarian. In a large sense the term Truth or light is used instead of God (or Goddess) so each individual can sit in silence during meeting and wait in silence for the deepest truth to emerge. Many Quakers are practically Buddhist, some might even call themselves “spiritual atheists” – although given that they have Judeo-Christian roots they give a nod to Jesus’ emphasis on love and nonviolence. Essentually they are very modern Christians – super contemporary like liberal Jews, Bahá’i’s or Buddhists.

Quakers do not dress like the Quaker Oats man and to put them in the same category as the Amish will ruffle the feathers of both the Amish and the Society of Friends. But since both groups believe in solving problems nonviolently, they will approach this tired comparison with a touch of humor.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

51. The Amish make better furniture so I vote for them.

[DemocracyMouse]

61. The Quakers are not the Shakers and please stop creating divisions.

You don’t seem to have read the thread.

[yesphan]

56. Richard Nixon

was a Quaker. At least he attended a Quaker church.

[DemocracyMouse]

60. Please stop dividing our country. Seems you didn't follow the thread.

[yesphan]

66. Ha !

Thank you for your concern.

[The Mouth]

67. Lots of puppy mills are run by the Amish

Sad to say.

[muriel_volestrangler]

33. The Intercept calls it an oath, but I can't see actual language that makes it one

Rather, it's a contract, so it could have been terminated if she'd broken it (and perhaps she'd have had to pay them a penalty for that - I don't know). She felt, however, that she would be lying to sign it, since she was personally making a decision to not buy Israeli goods (not connected with the work, of course), so she couldn't. She could easily point out her religion forbids lying, whether or not an 'oath' is involved.

[oberliner]

38. It is not an oath

That is Glenn Greenwald's language.

[Coventina]

45. Thanks for the clarification.

Glen got it wrong?

What a surprise.

[UpInArms]

11. Yikes!

Only the anti-apartheid movement made any changes in the 80s ...

When you can’t vote at the polls, you can vote with your wallet

This is freaking crazy

[rownesheck]

12. this is

absolutely terrible and stupid. I understand her not signing, but how in the hell would these dumbasses know if she was boycotting israel? trust me, i boycott lots of things that people don't know about, chik fil a, whataburger, certain types of paper towels/ bath tissue manufactured by koch industries, etc. oh damn, i guess the cat's out of the bag.

[displacedtexan]

13. California law info...

AB 2844 mandates that “taxpayer funds are not used to do business with or otherwise support any state or private entity that engages in discriminatory actions, [including] actions taken against individuals of the Jewish faith under the pretext of a constitutionally protected boycott or protest of the State of Israel.” It covers state contracts of $100,000 or more.

Israel is the only country mentioned by name, although the bill addresses discrimination against any sovereign state.

As far as I know, this has nothing to do with being anti-Palestinian.

https://www.jweekly.com/2016/09/30/gov-brown-makes-california-13th-state-with-anti-bds-law/

[zipplewrath]

22. That's different than the employment contract

Relying upon the quoted article, the employment contract attempts to restrict her purchasing with her own funds. There is a gray area with respect to her being involved in public activities promoting a boycott, but generally as long as it isn't done in conjunction with her employment, it would seem a constitutional violation.

[displacedtexan]

57. Texas.

Enough said.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. This is essentially identical to the loyalty oaths teachers were

required to sign in the 1950s, which were eventually declared unconstitutional.

The school district I lived in Tucson had a couple of elementary school teachers who'd refused to sign the oath (they may have been Quakers, I don't know for sure) and worked for a number of years without pay while their challenge to the oath worked its way through the system. Eventually the school had to pay them all of that back pay.

Loyalty oaths are stupid.

[spike91nz]

15. Seems to be

Israel appears to be striving toward becoming a fascist state seeking to suppress any criticism anywhere in the world.

[packman]

16. It's the right-wing Evangelist shit - Israel is God's land

and American has a mandate by God to protect it. I see that idiocy all the time in billboards and signs in my redneck Florida Panhandle area - God Bless Israel.

[oberliner]

39. The bill was passed 131-0

[watoos]

52. Only 1 House member voted against going into Iraq,

Barbara Lee.

[StevieM]

55. I think you are referring to Afghanistan. Lots of Democrats voted against the Iraq War.

And I believe Barbara Lee was opposed to the specific resolution and the powers it gave George W. Bush to pursue the War on Terror. I don't believe she was actually opposed to going into Afghanistan and toppling the Taliban after 9-11.

[Archae]

20. Why is it I never see calls to boycott Palestinians?

Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are forbidden BY LAW to be gay or lesbian.

Those convicted in their kangaroo courts, (guilt by accusation is common,) are jailed for years or hanged.

I never see any calls to boycott these vicious anti-gays...

I'm not excusing pro-Israel groups, but there has to be fairness here.

[FBaggins]

27. What is there to boycott?

There are a few fair-trade organizations that market a handful of crafts and some minor products (olive oils, etc.)... but Palestine isn't exactly a major exporter to the US.

[Archae]

32. True. They should have aid to the Palestinians stopped too...

Until they clean out the corruption and hatred.

[maxsolomon]

34. You don't "Lean Out" hatred with ever-increasing oppression.

Gaza is essentially a prison and the West Bank is being carved up by Settlements and walls.

That's not a recipe for Peace.

[Crunchy Frog]

53. We could just starve them all, and then the problem would soon be solved.

[procon]

21. How is that legal on any level? At the least it's a 1st Amendment violation.nt

[oberliner]

40. There is a lawsuit pending

[dlk]

25. More Authoritarianism from the GOP

They have become quite bold in their attacks on our freedoms.

[oberliner]

41. No Democrats in the Texas House voted against this legislation

[BuddhaGirl]

54. Well they should have

This is utter crap!

[watoos]

26. AIPAC is a big lobby,

it can bribe a lot of politicians. They probably use the tax dollars that we give to Israel to give to the politicians.

[oberliner]

42. AIPAC doesn't give any money to politicians

It also received no financial assistance from Israel.

[procon]

46. No money is necessary. Influence and access is a valuable commodity on its own.nt

[watoos]

50. I stand corrected, thank you,

AIPAC doesn't give directly to politicians but it does give money indirectly through PACs.

When the Iran peace plan was being negotiated AIPAC spent 1.67 million dollars lobbying against the deal.

AIPAC spends around 2 million dollars a year lobbying.

[oberliner]

62. Yes, most lobby groups spend money lobbying

You are correct that the majority of their membership opposed the Iran deal (and the organization acted accordingly).

[Takket]

29. Do they make EVERYONE sign this?

Or did they just throw it in there because of her name and appearance?

[maxsolomon]

35. Probably everyone.

Its in the State's contract language. She just read the fine print.

[FBaggins]

43. Neither

It's a certification that a business has to agree to in order to do business with the state. It isn't something that they could require state employees to sign.

The state cannot require citizens to not boycott something that they oppose. It can choose to not do business with companies that boycott Israel.

[ProudLib72]

31. We are smack dab in the middle of the Crusades

Led by evilgelicals hell bent on protecting a fictional homeland at all costs.

[oberliner]

44. A fictional homeland?

[ProudLib72]

58. Yessiree, FICTIONAL

As in, based on the belief that the Holy Land belongs to Christians and Jews only and that Muslims are the interlopers.

[oberliner]

63. Who does it belong to?

[ProudLib72]

65. According to what?

Historically? Or maybe Theodor Herzl's perception? Or maybe you want the version in the Hamas Charter?

You're not going to drag me into an argument that is a trap, and it doesn't matter for the sake of my argument. Evilgelicals see the Holy Land as theirs under the stewardship of a pro-American Jewish government, and they barely have any concept of the reality the current inhabitants live in.

[LanternWaste]

59. Ambien working well?

Seems so. Good.

[budkin]

47. Conservatives hate American Jews, but have a hard-on for Israel

Because they love Israel's right wing government.

[Crunchy Frog]

49. Forcing citizens to take an oath of allegiance to a foreign government.

Yeah, no problem with that at all.

Guess I'll be boycotting Texas now.

[malaise]

64. I sure would not sign that contract

BS- I boycott what I want.