Texas speech pathologist fired by school district for refusing to sign pro-Israel oath

PHOTOS: Court cases that sent shockwaves through industries >>> See more landmark court cases that made waves across the country A Texas speech pathologist has been barred from working for an Austin-area school district because she refused to sign pro-Israel agreements in her new contract. less PHOTOS: Court cases that sent shockwaves through industries A Texas speech pathologist has been barred from working for an Austin-area school district because she refused to sign pro-Israel agreements in her ... more Photo: Kelly West For The Intercept Photo: Kelly West For The Intercept Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close Texas speech pathologist fired by school district for refusing to sign pro-Israel oath 1 / 21 Back to Gallery

A Texas school district recently cut ties with a child language specialist because she refused to sign an oath in her contract barring her from boycotting anything "intended to inflict economic harm" to Israel, according to a report from The Intercept.

Bahia Amawi, who is a U.S. citizen with a master's degree in speech pathology, had contracted with Austin-area Pflugerville Independent School District since 2009, working with children in the area's growing Arabic-speaking population, the Intercept reported.

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The new clause in her contract comes after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the "Anti-BDS" bill into state law in May 2017. It prohibits all state agencies "from contracting with, and certain public funds from investing in, companies that boycott Israel."

Amawi was named in a lawsuit filed on her behalf Sunday in federal court in the Western District of Texas. The document claims that the law violates her freedom of speech, and the lead attorney said it could set a dangerous precedent if left unchallenged.

"We've had a long proud history of being able to protest the U.S., and what the state of Texas has done is affect the ability of one to protest," Floyd said.

The BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement is a Palestinian-led effort inspired by the South African Anti-Apartheid movement of the 1980s. It targets Israel's human rights abuses against Palestinians, including land occupation, discrimination and denying refugees the right to return to their homes, according to bdsmovement.net.

Several lawmakers have publicly spoken out against BDS. Sen. Chuck Schumer called it anti-Semitic, and at least 24 other states have imposed anti-BDS legislation, according to palestinelegal.org.

Amawi supports the global movement, telling the Intercept that she avoids purchasing products from Israeli companies in Israel or the occupied West Bank — an area included in the anti-BDS law.

She said she couldn't sign the contract because she would be "betraying Palestinians suffering under an occupation that I believe is unjust and thus, become complicit in their repression," the Intercept reported.

She continued: "But I'd also be betraying my fellow Americans by enabling violations of our constitutional rights to free speech and to protest peacefully."

Amawi believed she was the only certified Arabic-speaking speech pathologist in the district, and her absence could leave dozens of young children without adequate attention, the Intercept reported.

RELATED: Texas campus free speech is a political priority. A no-boycott Israel law, then, gives some pause.

Floyd added that other school districts and universities have struggled with this issue. He said as it stands, the anti-BDS law could set the stage for more severe free speech violations in the future.

"You can see a state having laws that makes it illegal to speak out against our own government," he said. "There's a very slippery slope here."

Floyd also said Tuesday he had not been notified of an responses to the lawsuit. Pflugerville ISD and Attorney General Ken Paxton were both named as defendants.

District spokeswoman Tamra Spence said Monday that the district could not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit but defended the decision not to extend Amawi's contract.

"PfISD followed state law (Chapter 2270 of the Texas Government Code), which does not allow school districts to hire a contractor unless the contract contains a written verification that the contractor does not boycott Israel and will not boycott Israel during the term of the contract," Spence said in an email. "The plaintiff did not agree to the contract as written; therefore, it was unable to be executed in accordance with Texas law."

Julian Gill is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | julian.gill@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message