Activists sue George Washington University for discriminating against students of Palestinian origin

2021-11-18 18:27:57
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Activists in solidarity with Palestinian rights in the United States of America filed a legal lawsuit against the administration of George Washington University, accusing it of discriminating in civil rights against its students of Palestinian origin.

The lawsuit came after the university deprived students of Palestinian origin of their right to obtain the “psychological support service after trauma” provided by the university, as it refused to receive them after the recent Israeli aggression on Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, and refused to consider them as cases suffering from psychological trauma, in addition to preventing them from expressing For their opinion and solidarity with their people, and medicine for them to delete the pro-Palestine publications from the websites linked to the university.

The George Washington University administration was criticized for discrimination against Palestinians in the past, when campus police ordered a student to remove the Palestinian flag from his university room window.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Palestinian-American employee, Nada Al-Basha, who works in the psychological support service at the university, while the Palestine Legal Organization adopted the filing of the lawsuit free of charge, represented by attorney Benjamin Douglas on behalf of Al-Basha.

The lawsuit included evidence that Al-Basha, in a post on social media, called on students who need psychological support due to the aggression on Jerusalem and Gaza to communicate with it, as it sought to provide a “virtual treatment space” for those affected by the bombing of Gaza last May, but the university administration imposed on it to remove Post and cancel the event.

The official complaint explains how this denial of services and support - provided to other marginalized groups - constitutes a violation of human rights law in the District of Columbia.

“The Palestinians at the university deserve access to the same services as any other students here,” Al-Basha said in the lawsuit. She added, "For high-ranking administrators to cancel our support programs and threaten to close our office was a shocking announcement that the university does not care about its Palestinian students."

George Washington University is a prestigious university founded by the first President of the United States, George Washington. It is located in Washington near the White House and the State Department. It has about 30,000 students, and about 3,000 teachers and employees.