PBS is catching flak for its coverage of the deportation of a Brown University doctor after leaving out key details regarding her links to the terror group Hezbollah.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 47, from Lebanon, was deported from Boston Logan International Airport to Paris on Friday despite having a US visa and a teaching job at the Ivy League college in Rhode Island.
Border officials moved to expel Alawieh from the country after they found ‘sympathetic photos and videos’ of prominent Hezbollah figures in a deleted items folder on her cellphone.
The physician, who specializes in kidney transplants in addition to her teaching duties at Brown, also told Customs and Border Protection agents that she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah while visiting Lebanon.
PBS News reported on Tuesday that the doctor was deported ‘without explanation,’ and it failed to update its coverage to provide additional context about the reasons why.
Social media users slammed the outlet for ‘conveniently’ leaving out those details.
‘Wouldn’t you expect a real news organization to at least mention the fact that Professor Rasha Alawieh left America to attend the funeral of the leader of a US designated terrorist organization?’ one X user asked . ‘Seems like an important detail to explain denying her re-entry to America.’
‘PBS = liars. Tell the whole truth,’ another wrote bluntly.
PBS News reported on Tuesday that the doctor was deported ‘without explanation,’ and it failed to update its coverage to provide additional context about the reasons why
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 47, from Lebanon, was deported from Boston Logan International Airport to Paris on Friday
Border officials moved to expel Alawieh from the country after they found ‘sympathetic photos and videos’ of prominent Hezbollah figureson her cellphone. The physician also said that she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah while visiting Lebanon
‘There’s still time to delete this,’ a third added.
‘You spelled terrorist sympathizer wrong,’ a fourth chimed in.
‘1000% PBS is omitting critical parts from this story,’ yet another declared.
‘It’s almost like they intentionally omitted that fact to make it seem like a bad decision,’ a critic added.
Others called the outlet ‘pathetic’ and accused it of spreading ‘propaganda.’
‘Without explanation?! She just attended the funeral in support of the leader of HEZBOLLAH!’ an X user wrote.
‘You’re not telling the whole story,’ another added.
Other gave PBS a new nickname: ‘Propaganda Broadcasting System.’
Social media users slammed the outlet for ‘conveniently’ leaving out additional details, including the fact that Alawieh said she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah while visiting Lebanon
The story published by PBS was originally reported by the Associated Press, which later ran an update providing more context around Alawieh’s deportation.
Other news outlets also published the original AP story, but most amended theirs to include the updated information.
The initial report saying there was ‘no explanation’ for Alawieh’s deportation remained on PBS News’ homepage as of Tuesday morning.
The outlet did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com for comment.
Alawieh said she followed Nasrallah’s teachings ‘from a religious perspective’ but did not align with him politically, according to an official report by an immigration officer.
‘I have a lot of WhatsApp groups with families and friends who send them,’ the doctor said, according to a transcript filed in court on Monday.
‘So I am a Shia Muslim and he is a religious figure. He has a lot of teachings and he is highly regarded in the Shia community.
‘I think if you listen to one of his sermons you would know what I mean. He is a religious, spiritual person, as I said, he has very high value. His teachings are about spirituality and morality.’
Hassan Nasrallah, who led the Shia Islamist paramilitary group Hezbollah for more than 30 years, was killed by an Israeli airstrike in September last year
It’s the latest deportation by the Trump administration of a foreign-born person with a U.S. visa, following the arrest and planned deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia student who led protests against the Gaza war
Nasrallah, who led Shia Islamist paramilitary group Hezbollah for more than 30 years, was killed by an Israeli airstrike in September last year – a major victory for Israel.
Hezbollah has been recognized as a terrorist organization by the US for the last 20 years.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Sady summarized in a court filing on Monday that Alawieh’s ‘true intentions in the United States could not be determined’ from her interview at the Massachusetts airport.
‘As such CBP canceled her visa and deemed Dr. Alawieh inadmissible to the United States,’ he added.
The court filings gave a public explanation for the first time about why Alawieh was deported despite holding a H1B visa for foreigners with special skills associated with jobs which are typically hard to fill using American recruits.
Justice Department lawyers filed the papers just before a hearing on Monday to decide whether the government had defied a judge’s order made on Friday saying that Alawieh should not be deported without advance notice to the court.
U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin made a last-minute decision to postpone the hearing on Monday morning to give the government an extra week to submit evidence about Alawieh’s case.
CBP official John Wallace said the federal government did not hear about the judge’s order in time to halt Alawieh’s deportation on an Air France flight.
Pictured: Pedestrians make their way past a building housing the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island
‘At no time, would CBP not take a court order seriously or fail to abide by a court’s order,’ Wallace wrote in a sworn declaration.
‘Due to the extremely close timing between the issuance of the court order in this case and the boarding time of [the Air France flight] CBP did not receive the court’s orders until after the flight departed the United States,’ Wallace added.
Acting on her behalf while she is out of the country, Alawieh’s cousin filed a motion accusing customs officials of ‘willfully’ disobeying the judge’s order.
‘My colleagues and I are outraged over Dr Alawieh’s deportation. She is a valued colleague and we hope for justice and her return to Rhode Island,’ said George Bayliss, an associate professor of medicine at Brown University.
U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo of Rhode Island, a Democrat, said in a statement over the weekend that is ‘committed to getting answers from the Department of Homeland Security to provide Dr. Alawieh, her family, her colleagues, and our community the clarity we all deserve.’
It’s the latest deportation of a foreign-born person with a U.S. visa in recent days, following the arrest and planned deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia student who led protests against the Gaza war.
He is currently being held in federal detention.
The Trump administration also transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations.
