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The US State Department has been sued for discrimination against nine Palestinian Americans and their families who were trapped in Gaza after an Israeli bombing and were not evacuated by the US government.
In the demand The petition filed Thursday by US citizens of Palestinian origin is accusing the federal government of abandoning them in a war zone, without making the same effort as it would make to quickly evacuate its citizens in conflict areas such as Afghanistan, Lebanon or Sudan.
The accusation directly alludes to President Joseph Biden; Secretary of State Antony Blinken; and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who are accused of depriving the nine citizens and their families “of the normal and typical evacuation efforts that the federal government extends to non-Palestinian Americans,” according to the Reuters news agency.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and was announced by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the law office of attorney Maria Kari.
The lawsuit was filed after the plaintiffs, all Palestinian-Americans, tried for months to exhaust illegal means to escape Gaza, the nonprofit said.
In that regard, he said that all the applicants have the right to be evacuated, but the State Department and other Biden administration officials have summarily ignored them, while other Americans of different origins and in similar situations who have been trapped in conflict zones have been urgently helped.
“The U.S. government is required by law to protect Americans wherever they are. With each passing day, the danger of our clients dying from Israeli bombing or from the famine and disease now rampant in Gaza only increases,” said lead attorney Maria Kari. “The State Department must do the right thing and save these people from certain death.”
The lawsuit claims that the State Department's unequal treatment of Palestinian Americans violates the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees equal protection to citizens and legal residents abroad under federal law.
“The government has a duty to protect American citizens and has failed in this case by abandoning our clients in Gaza. We are simply asking the State Department to treat Palestinian Americans the same way it treats Americans of other backgrounds when they are caught in conflict zones,” said CAIR Deputy National Litigation Director Gadeir Abbas.
Attorney Yasmeen Elagha, another advocate in the case, said her own family has suffered from inaction by the U.S. State Department.
“The State Department must act to evacuate our clients now, before another soul is lost,” he stressed.
The nine American citizen plaintiffs are: Khalid Mourtaga, Salsabeel Elhelou, Sahar Harara, Sawsan Kahil, Marowa Abusharia, Mohanad Alnajjar, Mariam Alrayes, Heba Enayeh, and Samia Abualreesh.
In response to the allegations, a State Department spokesperson said the security of U.S. citizens around the world “is a top priority,” but clarified that the department does not comment on pending litigation.
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