Natalie Abulhawa a 25 year old Palestinian-American athletic trainer was fired from Agnes Irwin, an all-girls private school in Pennsylvania last November because of her Palestinian heritage and of her support for the human rights of Palestinian people. Abulhawa was wrongfully terminated from her position after members of the school’s community raised concerns over her old pro-Palestine social media posts that were allegedly anti-Semitic. To support the rights of Palestinian people is not and should not be viewed as ” anti-Semitic” .Criticizing Israel as a state and as a political entity is a legitimate free speech. One should not conflate Israel which is a state that people including its own citizens can criticize and disagree with it’s behavior with anti-Semitism which is hatred and a criminal behavior against the Jewish people because they are Jews. Some Pro-Israeli groups use online profiling against supporters of Palestine to tarnish their reputation and intimidate the public and institutions to fire them from their jobs and ruin their professional lives because of criticism of Israel.
Agnes Irwin school racially profiled and discriminated against Abulhawa because she criticized Israel’s illegal actions against the people of Palestine. The school should reconsider it’s discriminatory actions against Ms. Abulhawa. Read the story in the Philadelphia Inquirer here
