Nurse says she was unjustly fired for making pro-Palestinian comments while receiving an award
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- The nation's largest Muslim Civil Rights Organization is fighting for justice after they said a nurse was unjustly fired from NYU Langone for making pro-Palestinian comments while receiving an award last month.
Hesen Jabr, who is Palestinian, was a labor and delivery nurse. Part of her job included helping mothers cope following the loss of their babies, a job she linked to mothers who are now suffering in Gaza.
On May 7, NYU Langone recognized the labor and delivery nurse with an award for compassionate care to mothers who have lost babies.
"It pains me to see women from my country going through unimaginable loss themselves during the current genocide in Gaza," she said during the speech.
Two weeks later she was fired from her job of 9 years.
"It was humiliating, being escorted by a police officer off of a unit where I'd been working for almost a decade. But, you know, it strengthens my resolve," she said.
During the speech following the award, she spoke about her values as a Palestinian American and about the deaths in Gaza.
"It pains me to see women from my country going through unimaginable loss themselves during the current genocide in Gaza," she said.
Following the speech Jabr says her bosses reminded her about their prior conversations about not bringing politics into the workplace..
But she says NYU Langone has tried to stifle the voices of Palestinian Americans at the hospital and that she's been harassed by the hospital about her politics in the months leading up to her firing.
"When I use my voice to speak on the atrocities happening to my country and my people on my own time, off NYU grounds, with no association to my workplace, NYU violated its own code of conduct policies and ultimately the law by discriminating, harassing, bullying, threatening and financially retaliating against me as a Palestinian," she said.
Jabr is now filing a lawsuit against the hospital.
According to CAIR- New York Council on American Islamic Relations, her situation isn't unique.
The organization said it received more than 240 requests for help specific to pro-Palestinian viewpoints.
"We believe they acted discriminatory. We believe they acted illegally. And it was really - the core of it is her Palestinian identity," said Afaf Nasher, the Executive director of CAIR- New York.
Jabr said the lawsuit would be filed in the next couple of weeks.
Eyewitness News reached out NYU Langone but did not hear back.
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