Sunday, October 15, 2017

Kansas Is Punishing a Teacher for Following Her Church's Guidance to Boycott Israel

A schoolteacher named Esther Koontz at Horace Mann Dual Language Magnet School in Wichita, Kansas, was denied payment as a contractor by the school because she refused to sign a statement saying she would not boycott Israel. She is a member of the Mennonite Church USA, who have encouraged their members to not associate with any companies that profit off of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. In June, Kansas passed a law that prohibited state contracts with anyone who didn't agree to never boycott Israel. This mainly affected the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement, which attempts to put nonviolent pressure on Israel to remove itself from Palestinian territories and treat its citizens as equals. The ACLU has taken up Koontz's case, claiming that her first amendment rights were violated.


https://theintercept.com/2017/10/13/kansas-israel-boycott-bds-mennonite-church/

Patrick Schaefer

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