An email signature containing the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” allegedly led to sixth and seventh grade math teacher Hajur El-Haggan being placed on administrative leave from Argyle Middle School in Silver Spring.
At a press conference Friday down the road from the Montgomery County Public Schools headquarters in Rockville, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, announced it filed a charge of discrimination against the district. The complaint was filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and alleges that the discrimination was based on race, religion, color, retaliation and national origin.
El-Haggan, a Muslim and Arab-American, has been employed by the district since 2015. MCPS spokesperson Chris Cram confirmed that El-Haggan was on administrative leave but did not provide further comment.
El-Haggan is at least the third MCPS teacher to be placed on administrative leave after sharing opinions or social media posts related to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war that are viewed as antisemitic. Since the Oct. 7 attack, MCPS has been grappling with numerous antisemitic incidents and graffiti on school campuses and has faced criticism for statements it released on the war.
“My goal in filing this complaint with the EEOC is to ensure that Montgomery County [Public Schools] treats all of its employees fair. No one should be punished because a system or a person doesn’t like what someone looks like or stands for,” El-Haggan said. “I’m asking the county to practice what it preaches, to take pride in what it prides itself as an anti-racist, restorative justice county.”
El-Haggan said at the press conference that MCPS informed her on Nov. 20 that she had been put on a 24-hour immediate administrative leave and since then has not been able to return to teach.
El-Haggan said that she offered to remove the phrase from her email signature, but the district denied the offer. She added that district officials said they would reach out to set up a meeting about the incident, but 18 days later they have not reached out to her.
“From the river to the sea” has been widely considered by the Jewish and Israeli communities to be antisemitic and indicative of the elimination and destruction of the Jewish state, according to the American Jewish Committee.
Last month Congress voted 234-188 to censure U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, over her use of the phrase; the motion accused her of “calling for the destruction of the state of Israel” and “promoting false narratives” about Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
But attendees at Friday’s news conference said the phrase did not call for Israel’s destruction.
To Beenish Pervez, a Muslim Howard County resident who traveled to the press conference to show support for the teacher, the phrase means Palestinian freedom and human rights.
“It doesn’t mean taking all [Jews and Israelis] out and replacing them. No. It just means the liberation of the Palestinian people,” she said. “…No one is for the extermination of any people. I think that should be understood, but that’s not how it is in the media. We should all be able to live freely together in peace. And for years, Jewish people and Muslim people have lived in peace. And it’s possible.”
Summar Atiya, a county resident from Palestine said, “Freedom means freedom for the Palestinians. Equality and democracy throughout Palestine… These days things are just twisted to mean things that they do not. We are peaceful people. And I think if you see us, we’re all heart. Heart for all humanity.”
Montgomery County Board of Education members did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday afternoon.
According to the complaint, starting on Oct. 13—which was the start of Israel’s bombardment on Gaza—El-Haggan started wearing clothing and homemade pins with phrases such as, “Free Gaza,” “Free Palestine,” and “From the River to the sea, Palestine will be Free,” to school. She also added the slogan to her email signature that month.
The complaint alleges that El-Haggan had been placed on leave due to the phrase in her email signature while other MCPS employees who also similarly expressed opinions on political and social matters in their signatures had not been reprimanded. In the document, there are examples of El-Haggan’s colleagues including the “Black Lives Matter” slogan and links to an article titled, “Should you put Pronouns in Email Signatures and Social Media Bios?”
“Despite being one of several educators who have social justice taglines in their emails. I’ve been singled out and I feel as though, if I looked different, dressed differently, had a different name, or was of a different background, this would not be happening to me,” El-Haggan said. “As a person at a cross-section of multiple various minority intersections, I feel disempowered.”
According to the MCPS Best Practices for Email and other Digital Communications, “MCPS prohibits special stationery, quotations or sayings as part of or following an employee’s email signature. Only the motto or vision statement of an employee’s specific school or of MCPS are acceptable.”
The complaint argues that MCPS treated El-Haggan differently than her colleagues and that the district did not move in accordance with its own Restorative Justice policies because she was not given the opportunity to speak with school officials about the incident.
“I have spent and given my entire life to be an educator. Every morning I wake up excited to have the opportunity to help my students feel loved, heard, and appreciated. I help them feel safe, and I help them know that they belong. Every moment I am not in the classroom it breaks my heart,” El-Haggan said, tearing up.
In response to CAIR’s EEOC filing, Guila Franklin Siegel, the associate director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington said, “We feel strongly that the phrase “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Shall Be Free” is not merely a benign expression of support for the Palestinian people. It is widely understood to mean the destruction of the Jewish State of Israel, and as such it has no place in the official signature block of an MCPS employee — or at a student walkout, for that matter.”
Around 50 people attended Friday’s press conference to support El-Haggan. A handful of attendees held up posters that read, “Civil rights are for everyone. Say no to censorship,” “Protect our teachers,” and “Equal respect, equal rights. Stand against teacher discrimination.”