Lara Alqasem, a 22-year-old alumna of the U. of Florida, has been held for a week at an Israeli airport for recently serving as president of the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter. Alqasem, now a graduate student, is appealing an order to deport her. U. of Florida
Israel has detained a University of Florida alumna, Lara Alqasem, for a week at its main international airport. The reason: She has been accused of supporting a pro-Palestinian campaign against the Jewish state, the Associated Press reports.
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Lara Alqasem, a 22-year-old alumna of the U. of Florida, has been held for a week at an Israeli airport for recently serving as president of the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter. Alqasem, now a graduate student, is appealing an order to deport her. U. of Florida
Israel has detained a University of Florida alumna, Lara Alqasem, for a week at its main international airport. The reason: She has been accused of supporting a pro-Palestinian campaign against the Jewish state, the Associated Press reports.
On Tuesday of last week, Alqasem, a 22-year-old U.S. citizen, landed at Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport with a student visa on her way to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She was not allowed to enter the country and was ordered to be deported, according to the AP. Alqasem has remained in custody at the airport while she appeals the deportation order.
Alqasem is a former president of the University of Florida’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter. The group is part of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, known as BDS, which advocates that those actions be taken against Israel for its treatment of the Palestinian people.
One week is the longest time anyone has been held in a case related to the BDS movement, the AP reports.
Alqasem’s lawyer said that she is no longer part of the group. She was set to study human rights at the Hebrew University. The institution said it supports her and is joining her appeal.
Last year Israel enacted a law that barred from entering the country any foreigner who had called for a boycott of Israel.
On Tuesday, Gilad Erdan, the Israeli-government official who is in charge of the country’s efforts to defy the boycott, said he would “reconsider” the decision to deport Alqasem if she renounced her support for the boycott and apologized.
Last month an associate professor at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor withdrew a letter of recommendation he had written for a student who was hoping to study in Israel. The faculty member cited his support for the BDS movement as grounds for his action. The faculty legislature condemned the gesture, and the university disciplined him.
Recently another instructor on the Ann Arbor campus denied a student a letter of recommendation after learning that the student wanted to study in Israel.
Fernanda is the engagement editor at The Chronicle. She is the voice behind Chronicle newsletters like the Weekly Briefing, Five Weeks to a Better Semester, and more. She also writes about what Chronicle readers are thinking. Send her an email at fernanda@chronicle.com.
