Biden’s unequal Israel-Gaza evacuations challenged in US court

The US government’s failure to evacuate Palestinian Americans from Gaza has evoked strong criticism, with many rights activists perceiving it as systemic discrimination against families stuck in the besieged enclave for over 14 months.

Soon after last year’s October 7 events exposed Palestinians to macabre killings at the hands of the Israeli military, Israeli dual citizens with American passports were swiftly evacuated from the war zone, while Palestinian Americans were left behind in Gaza amid Israeli genocide. The stark contrast in agency between Israeli Americans and Palestinian Americans violates the US constitution, yet Washington failed to uphold the law.

In response, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)’s legal team, alongside the Law Office of Maria Kari, filed a federal lawsuit last week against the US government on behalf of Palestinian American families stranded in Gaza.

One such family is that of Khalid Mourtaga, a young Palestinian American from Mississippi.

Stranded in Gaza, Khalid has been battling untreated Hepatitis A while grieving the loss of several family members killed in Israeli air strikes. He lost his family farm and home, both destroyed by air strikes, and has had to evacuate multiple times with his elderly parents and siblings.

Despite reaching out to US officials, he has yet to receive help, says Maria Kari, the Lead Attorney in the lawsuit filed by the CAIR.

“Khalid told me recently that a bag of flour and rice is about 300 US dollars. The family has just a little bit of savings left, and the flour and rice they do manage to get has worms in it. So the children are all sick. Khalid himself has been sick,” Kari tells TRT World.

Kari explains that many US citizens have faced unimaginable horrors while waiting to evacuate from Gaza, including bombardments, displacement, and braving unhygienic conditions that have caused life-threatening diseases.

Another plaintiff, Sahar Harara’s father, a green card holder from Dallas, was killed by Israeli bombardment while waiting to be evacuated.

His wife, critically injured in the same attack, still remains trapped in Gaza. She is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Salsabeel Elhelou, another US citizen and mother of three, watches her eldest child struggle with untreated wounds from an air strike while the family survives on contaminated food and water.

“As an American mother, watching the suffering of her three babies, there’s nothing she can do except send me messages on WhatsApp and say, ‘What’s the status of this lawsuit you’ve filed? Is help coming?’,” Kari adds.

“This is a story of every single one of them, right? Whether it be a quick death through Israeli bombardment or slow, painful deaths from starvation and disease, the result is certain death,” says the attorney.

Breach of the US constitution

The lawsuit filed against the US government argues that the government’s failure is not only a dereliction of duty but also a breach of constitutional values.

The US government is obligated under the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause to provide the same level of protection and rights to all of its citizens, regardless of race, ethnicity, or national origin.

This principle ensures that individuals in similar circumstances are treated equally under the law.

In the case of Palestinian Americans, including Khaled, Salsabeel and Sahar, with their families, the government is required to protect their constitutional rights and ensure their safety, just as it would for any other citizen.

The failure to evacuate these citizens from Gaza, especially when Israeli Americans were swiftly evacuated, constitutes a violation of the Equal Protection Clause, as it denies them the same treatment and protection afforded to others in similar situations.

The disparity is undeniable and has become the cornerstone of a lawsuit filed by the CAIR.

“Right after October 7, 2023, what we saw was the US government mobilised lightning fast to get Israeli Americans and their immediate relatives out,” says Kari.

“They were brought home on cruise ships and charter jets, and that was the right thing to do. Because the State Department is a $50 billion agency that exists to protect the interests of Americans abroad.”

This swift action, she argues, stands in contrast to the treatment of Palestinian Americans trapped in Gaza.

“All of the plaintiffs in this lawsuit have been approved by the US government to leave. But because their names did not appear on the final crossing list, which is controlled by the Israeli government, these people were not able to exit,” Kari tells TRT World.

A pattern of discrimination

Many now criticise Washington for its systemic dehumanisation of Palestinian-American lives, citing the lack of legal protections, advocacy, and evacuation efforts as evidence of a discriminatory approach is mounting.

The lead attorney notes that the State Department coordinated with Israeli authorities to evacuate American doctors and non-Americans through the Karem Abu Salem crossing, even after the Rafah crossing was closed.

She argues that there’s no justification for failing to do the same for her nine plaintiffs and their families.

“Through it all, the administration has consistently not only maintained its ironclad support for Israel, it has maintained ironclad support for Americans who are serving in the IDF (army).”

“They consistently and frequently talk about protecting the rights, the lives of American hostages, but not once have I heard a government official say the same about my American clients in Gaza,” Kari argues.

"I’ve knocked on the door of every elected official that represents our plaintiffs. I’ve talked to higher-ups at the State Department and White House officials. And I’ve gotten the same response: the US government cannot control who comes and goes from Gaza. And that is simply not true."