Bismillah. Major news out of Texas! A federal court just blocked the state from enforcing its anti-#BDS law against our client. This is another huge victory for both the First Amendment AND Palestinian human rights. Details in this thread... 1/10 #FreeSpeech #FreePalestine
Our client, Rasmy Hassouna, is an engineer whose company A&R has spent years contracting with the City of Houston to improve its infrastructure. Last year, we filed a free speech lawsuit after the city required him to sign a state-mandated pledge not to boycott Israel. 2/10
Rasmy, who escaped Israeli-occupied Gaza as a young man, protests Israel's human rights abuses against Palestinians by supporting #BDS. He refused to sign Texas' boycott pledge at great financial risk and then called CAIR for help. We sued last year. 3/10 theguardian.com/us-news/2021/d…
Today's court ruling blocking Texas from enforcing the law against Rasmy holds that: "Hassouna authentically holds a pro-Palestinian point of view that is protect by the First Amendment.” The court also noted that A&R's "contemplated speech... 4/10
“...may make some individuals—especially those who identify with Israel—uncomfortable, anxious, or even angry. Nevertheless, speech—even speech that upsets other segments of the population—is protected by the First Amendment unless it escalates into violence and misconduct.” 5/10
Because the court's injunction only applies to Rasmy, the anti-boycott law is still on the books while our lawsuit to completely overturn it advances. Until then, anyone else impacted by the law can file suit to defend their constitutional rights, just like Rasmy did. 6/10
Keep in mind: we first defeated TX's anti-BDS law in a separate 2019 lawsuit on behalf of a teacher. TX responded by increasing the law's financial trigger so it wouldn't apply to her. She won her job back, but the new law was still unconstitutional. 7/10 theintercept.com/2019/04/26/in-…
Georgia is trying the same ploy right now. After a judge declared the state's anti-boycott law unconstitutional, Atlanta's Israeli consulate encouraged lawmakers to increase the law's trigger from $1K to $100K. Doesn't matter. Still unconstitutional. 8/10 cair.com/press_releases…
It's time for state legislatures (and Israel advocacy groups) to stop supporting these doomed, unconstitutional laws, which have been defeated in multiple states. Join us in supporting both the First Amendment and human rights for all people, including Palestinians. 9/10
See the link below for more details about Rasmy's case. May God reward him for having the courage to stand up for his rights, and may God guide all of us to stand up for justice here and abroad. #FreeSpeech #FreePalestine 10/10 cair.com/press_releases…
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