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American Lara Alqasem, center, sits in a courtyard in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. A senior Israeli cabinet minister on Wednesday defended the government's handling of the case of an American graduate student held in detention at the country's international airport for the past week over allegations that she promotes a boycott against the Jewish state. (Sebastian Scheiner / Associated Press)
TEL AVIV, Israel – An American graduate student who has been held in detention while fighting an expulsion order in Israel, appeared in court on Thursday.
It was the first time that Lara Alqasem has appeared in Israel at Ben-Gurion Airport on Oct. 2.
Alqasem, 22, appeared calm during the hearing, her hands folded on her knees. She kept quiet and stared straight ahead, at first struggling to suppress a giddy smile when swarmed by reporters and photographers.
She is to remain in detention until the court delivers her written verdict in the coming days. The judge gave no indication which way he would lean or when he would make his decision.
"I think we have a good case. The Yotam Ben-Hillel said, referring to a short-term rejection of Alqasem's first appeal.
The 22-year-old American, whose father is Palestinian, arrived in Israel with a valid student visa and was registered at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.
But it has been deported, based on suspicions that it is an activist in the boycott movement.
Israel has said that it is not going back to the country. It also says it would reconsider its decision if it apologizes and renounces the boycott movement.
Israel enacted a law last year banning entry for any foreigner who "knowingly exits to a public call for boycotting Israel." It has come under heavy criticism for its handling of Alqasem's case.
Alqasem, from Southwest Ranches, Florida, is a former president of the University of Florida. The group is a branch of the BDS movement, whose name comes from its calls for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel.
BDS supporters say that in urging businesses, artists and universities to Israel, they are using nonviolent means to resist unjust policies towards Palestinians. Israel says the movement masks its motives to delegitimize or destroy the Jewish state.
Asher Fredman, a senior official in the Strategic Affairs Ministry, who oversees Israel's anti-BDS efforts, said that Alqasem was being denied entry because of past activities, not her opinions.
"We have clear criteria," he said. "We believe that Miss Alqasem meets those criteria based on her actions, and the actions of the organization of which she was a senior leader over several years."
Alqasem's lawyers say that she is no longer engaged in BDS activity, and has promised to do so in the future. They claim their involvement in what they say is a small and insignificant chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine does not warrant Israel's deportation order.
Ben-Hillel told the court that his client had come to Israel to learn Hebrew and study the Holocaust and other issues.
Former professors have described her as a curious and open-minded student. Jewish groups in the United States as well as the Hebrew University, where she is registered to pursue a master's degree in human rights, have also flocked to her defense.
Hebrew University Lawmakers and Lawmakers testified in his defense, saying the government's tough stance was wrong and hurting the country's image abroad.
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