An American student detained in Israel: NPR

Lara Alqasem, a 22-year-old Florida native, landed Tuesday at the Ben Gurion airport in Israel, hoping to begin her studies in human rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Instead, she spent last week in detention.

Alqasem, whose father is of Palestinian origin, does not have the right to enter the country and is accused of supporting the boycott of Israel launched by Palestinian leaders.

Her mother, Karen Alqasem, told WMNF that "when she walked through the door to try to enter the country, they asked her father – you know that she's named after her." Alqasem – so they asked where this name came from, where was his father born? "

She showed the security guards her student visa, said her mother, but they made a call and arrested her.

Alqasem has been denied entry into Israel because of a 2017 law banning visitors who support or call for a boycott of the country or its settlements in the West Bank. This measure was adopted after the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, a Palestinian pressure campaign to pressure Israel, gained ground on the international stage.

"Israel, like any democracy, has the right to prevent the entry of foreign nationals, especially those who seek to harm the country," said the Israeli Minister of Public Security and Strategic Affairs, Gilad Erdan. m said Monday. "Therefore, we are working to prevent the entry of those who promote the anti-Semitic BDS campaign, which calls for the destruction of Israel."

Erdan m said the student was "president of a chapter of one of the most extremist and hateful BDS groups" in the United States, which includes chapters that "regularly engaged in anti-Semitic activities and violent in order to intimidate and silence the students simply for their support of Israel. "

He also asked why she had "changed her story several times" since arriving in Israel and wiped out her social media accounts before traveling.

He also stated that she was free to return to the United States.

According to an Alqasem profile page on a website that claims to document people and organizations "that promote hatred of the United States, Israel and Jews on North American campuses," she said. was president of Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Florida. .

Alqasem appealed the decision, declaring to the Tel Aviv Court of Appeals that she was no longer identified with the boycott movement. The court recommended that she remain in detention until a decision is made. "The detention of one week is the longest in a boycott – related case," reported the Associated Press.

Pending the court's decision, she told her mother that there was an infestation of bed bugs in her cell, according to the AP. Her mobile phone was confiscated and she felt "completely cut off from the world".

Tuesday, Erdan m said that the government would reconsider its entry if it denounced the boycott movement.

His lawyer, Yotam Ben-Hillel, did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment.

"We are talking about someone who just wants to study in Israel, who is not boycotting anything," said Ben-Hillel at the AP. "She's not even part of the student organization anymore."

Erdan m said The leader of the boycott movement, Omar Barghouti, has an Israeli residence permit and studied at the Tel Aviv University. Erdan explained that studying in Israel did not mean that Alqasem could not be part of the boycott movement.

Dror Abend-David, professor of Jewish language and culture who taught Hebrew alqasem at the University of Florida, supported him in a letter of opinion to Haaretz: "It was impossible not to notice that she was an outstanding student – hardworking, curious and ambitious … She was curious about Israel and never expressed negative feelings or anger at it. "

A spokesman for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem told NPR that she would join Alqasem's appeal. Some 400 university academics and other Israeli schools have asked that she be allowed to enter the country, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The rector of the Hebrew University, Barak Medina, told The Washington Post that the authorities had prevented university officials from visiting him at the airport on Sunday.

"This kind of legislation could actually reinforce the tendency to boycott Israel instead of mitigating it," Medina was quoted as saying. "These are a set of policies that not only aim to restrict freedom of expression, but also show how Israel does not behave like a liberal democracy."

In recent months, a number of harsh criticisms by the Israeli government, including US journalist Peter Beinart, have been questioned about their political views by border officials. As NPR's Daniel Estrin reported, this practice revived the debate over whether Israel was repressing dissent.