Learn about the history of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, equality and justice by exploring major events in the history of their oppression on this day of the year.
8 September
DISASTER RELIEF IN TEXAS - ONLY IF YOU CONDEMN BDS
On this day in 2017, Dickinson, Texas was still devastated after 90% of the town near Houston was flooded and 50% was destroyed during Hurricane Harvey. The town Mayor then invited traumatised residents to apply for federal funds to help them rebuild but added a condition; applicants had to pledge in writing that they do not and will not boycott Israel. Barring recipients of relief funds on the basis of their political beliefs was condemned by the ACLU as an attack on First Amendment free speech rights.
للحصول على المساعدات في كارثة تكساس - فقط عليك ادانة حركة المقاطعة لإسرائيل
8 سبتمبر
في مثل هذا اليوم من عام 2017، كانت ديكنسون القريبة من هيوستن، تكساس، لا تزال مدمرة بعد أن غمرت المياه 90٪ منها، وتم تدمير 50٪ من منازلها خلال إعصار هارفي. دعا عمدة البلدة السكان المصدومين من هول الدمار للتقدم بطلب الأموال الفيدرالية لمساعدتهم على إعادة البناء لكنه وضع شرطاً؛ كان على المتقدمين أن يتعهدوا كتابةً بأنهم لم ولن يقاطعوا إسرائيل. أدان اتحاد الحريات المدنية الأمريكية منع المستفيدين من أموال الإغاثة على أساس معتقداتهم السياسية والذي يعتبر تعدي على حقوقهم في حرية التعبير حسب التعديل الأول في الدستور الامريكي.
Bahia Amawi is 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.
Bahia 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.
When asked if she considered signing the pledge to preserve her ability to work, Amawi told The Intercept: “Absolutely not. I couldn’t in good conscience do that. If I did, I would not only be betraying Palestinians suffering under an occupation that I believe is unjust and thus, become complicit in their repression, but I’d also be betraying my fellow Americans by enabling violations of our constitutional rights to free speech and to protest peacefully.”
Thanks to a new anti-BDS law, Texas will refuse Hurricane Harvey rebuilding dollars to contractors who refuse to say they won’t boycott Israel. That’s the message being sent by the state, which has banned any contractor who supports the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, or BDS, campaign from receiving state funds.
If you’re confused why the two things are related, look to a bill that Texas’s Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law in July. House Bill 89 prohibits the state from entering into contract with a business unless it “does not boycott Israel; and will not boycott Israel during the term of the contract.” The law applies even to businesses that would refuse to buy products made in illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land — as it defines Israel as both Israel proper and “Israeli-controlled territory.”
“The First Amendment protects Americans’ right to boycott, and the government cannot condition hurricane relief or any other public benefit on a commitment to refrain from protected political expression,” said Andre Segura, Texas legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union. “Dickinson’s requirement is an egregious violation of the First Amendment, reminiscent of McCarthy-era loyalty oaths requiring Americans to disavow membership in the Communist party and other forms of ‘subversive’ activity.”
This Texas town offers hurricane relief — if your politics are right
The city of Dickinson, Tex., located about 30 miles southeast of Houston, recently posted applications online for relief grants “from the funds that were generously donated to the Dickinson Harvey Relief Fund,” the city’s website says. The application, however, includes a provision requiring applicants to promise not to boycott Israel.
