Supreme Court nixes deportation of US student accused of BDS support

US student Lara Alqasem at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on October 17, 2018

Alexander Fulbright writes in Times of Israel, “The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that an American student accused of advocating boycotts of Israel can enter the country, putting an end to a weeks-long saga that drew scrutiny of an Israeli law allowing alleged anti-Israel activists to be barred from entry. Lara Alqasem, 22, had been held in detention for 15 days after arriving in Israel for a master’s program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The state alleged that Alqasem, who headed the local chapter of the pro-boycott Students for Justice in Palestine group while she was a student at the University of Florida, currently supports the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.”

“In court, Alqasem insisted that she has not participated in boycott activities for a year and a half, and promised not to engage in BDS in the future. State lawyers argued that Alqasem’s deletion of her social media aroused suspicion and that she remains a threat. In accepting her appeal, the Supreme Court overturned a ruling by a lower court that upheld the ban on her entry under a 2017 law forbidding BDS activists from entering Israel.”

Hebrew University on Mount Scopus seen from Jerusalem’s Old City

“Justice Neal Hendel, one of three Supreme Court judges who heard the appeal, affirmed in the ruling that while the state has the authority to bar BDS activists from the country, the law was not applicable in Alqasem’s case…The Supreme Court ruling also was also welcomed by left-wing lawmakers and organizations, while right-wing politicians assailed it. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, whose ministry is tasked with enforcing the law, called the ruling a “disgrace.” (more…)

Times of |Israel blog, Miultiple items), “Erdan slams ruling in favor of Lara Alqasem as ‘big victory for BDS’…”“The court played down the extremist and anti-Semitic characteristics” of Students for Justice in Palestine, for which Alqasem was the president of a local branch, he adds. The decision has enabled “all boycott activists in the world to come to Israel and claim that ‘at the moment’ they don’t support a boycott,” he says, vowing to change the current law to close the “loophole opened by the Supreme Court.” (more…)