Palestinian-American engineer Rasmy Hassouna has sued the state of Texas to strike down a law that prohibits government contractors from boycotting “Israel” and its products.
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Palestinian engineer files lawsuit in Texas to protest anti-boycott law.
Rasmy Hassouna, a Texan civil engineer and contractor for the city of Houston, is fighting the Israeli occupation in his own way and decided to take action and present a lawsuit against Texas state law prohibiting government contractors from boycotting the Israeli occupation, what happens in more than 25 states of the United States, reported The Guardian.
This Palestinian-American citizen was about to renew his contract with the government before he realized a legal clause that prohibits him and his company A&R Engineering and Testing, Inc, from ever protesting against “Israel” and its products while working for Houston, reported the.
“I came here and I thought I was a free man. It’s nobody’s business what I do or what I say, as long as I don’t harm anyone,” Hassouna said.
“Why do I have to pledge allegiance to a foreign country?“, he questioned.
According The Guardian, Hassouna’s company is one of only two to have challenged those laws.
The lawsuit will be heard in federal court Tuesday for violating freedom of expression, and if it fails, the 2019 Texas boycott ban on “Israel” will be lifted.
However, according to his lawyer, Hassouna’s case could cost him to lose a certain amount of money from his annual income.
He came to the United States as an immigrant in 1988 and became a US citizen in 2005. At that time, he fought his first battle: on his citizenship certificate he put “Israel” in the birthplace box.
“I went to the lady who was handing out the certificates and told her that I didn’t want ‘Israel’ on my certificate,” he explained.
“They told me that ‘Palestine was not in the system“, said.
After back-and-forth discussions with officials, the immigration office finally granted him a new certificate with the birthplace section reading Gaza Strip.
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