Atawneh told the Militant that a customer approached her and said, "Did you hear about Osama bin Laden killing 7,000 people?" and she told the man she didn't want to talk about the subject. The man accused her of being from the same country as bin Laden and told her she "should be out of here now. And you are happy about what happened. You have no right to be working in this country because Americans are being killed on their own soil and you people are behind it."

Atawneh says she "told him he had no right to talk to me like that. He said he wanted to talk to my manager which he did in private."

The manager later told Atawneh that if anything like this happened again, to call him or store security. "I didn't talk about this subject to anyone," she said.

A few days later, Atawneh was called into the human resources office and questioned about the incident. "Jennifer [from human resources] then told me, 'I want to know your opinion' about the terrorist attacks. I told her they horrified me and angered me the same way they horrified and angered every decent person in the world."

"But I was surprised and hurt that Jennifer would ask me such a question," Atawneh says in her legal complaint. "I am proud to be a new American, and have never done anything or said anything that would give anyone reason to doubt my loyalty. I don't think Jennifer asked other employees similar questions, and do not believe she would have asked me except for the fact that I am Palestinian and Muslim, and except for the customer's obvious bias against people who appear to be Middle Eastern."

Atawneh has been in the United States for four years and lives with her Palestinian husband, a U.S. citizen. She grew up in Kuwait and left after the Gulf War when her father, a teacher, could no longer find work.

On October 9 Macy's fired Atawneh, allegedly because she told co-workers "America deserved it" on September 12, the day after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. She denied ever saying such a thing. "I was talking with two associates. We were talking about the bombing, like everyone else was. One of the women knew I was Palestinian and asked me what I thought of the television reports of Palestinian children celebrating and dancing after the incident. I told them, 'These people are from my country. They have always lived in war. They have very hard lives and everything they hear leads them to believe that all of their problems are the result of the United States support of Israel. Maybe that's why they are celebrating.'" She thought her opinions were similar to those expressed by media commentators at the time.

"I just explained the feelings of these people," she says. "I didn't say America deserved that. We loved to be in America. We came here because there is no war."

In the meeting where she was fired, Macy's officials told her that co-workers and her manager expressed fear working with her. "I told them, 'This is really ridiculous. I'm a pregnant woman. You are treating me like I'm a terrorist. What does it mean you are afraid of me?' Then they just said, 'We have decided to discharge you.'"

"I feel they took my rights," Atawneh said. "This is not fair. It's not human. I didn't say those things. I want my rights. I am a human. It really hurt me that they fired me like that. I have no problem being a good employee."  
 
 
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