The State Department was sued for discrimination against nine Palestinian Americans and their families who were trapped in Gaza and could not be evacuated by the US government.
In the lawsuit filed Thursday, the Palestinian-American citizens accuse the federal government of abandoning them in a war zone, without making the same effort that it would make to quickly evacuate its citizens in conflict areas such as Afghanistan, Laos or South Africa.
The accusation directly alludes to President Joe 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 Americans who are not Palestinians,” 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 and attorney Maria Kari.
In response to the allegations, a State Department spokesman said the security of U.S. citizens around the world "is our top priority," but clarified that the department does not comment on pending litigation.
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