US student, Lara Alqasem, detained in Israel for alleged alleged boycott of BDS calls for detention

TEL AVIV, Israel – An American graduate student in detention at Israel International Airport after being arrested allegations that it encourages the boycott of the Jewish state appealed his detention Thursday in an Israeli court in Tel Aviv. Lara Alqasem seemed calm, mostly keeping her hands on her lap during the audience, smiling only curtly when she was surrounded by journalists and photographers. She must remain in detention until the court renders its decision. no date for the decision has been fixed.

The 22-year-old American with his Palestinian grandparents landed at Ben Gurion airport last week on a valid student visa and was enrolled to study human rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

But she was forbidden to enter the country and ordered deportation, on the basis of suspicions that she is an activist in the boycott movement. Israel insists that she can leave at any time but must renounce the BDS boycott movement if she wishes to be reconsidered for her admission.

Last year, Israel promulgated a law banning entry to any foreigner who "knowingly made a public call for boycott of Israel". He was strongly criticized for his treatment of the case of Alqasem.

Alqasem, of the suburbs of Fort Lauderdale in the Southwest Ranches, Florida, is a former president of the Florida University section of Students for Justice in Palestine. The group is a branch of the BDS movement, whose name comes from its calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

BDS proponents said that by urging companies, artists and universities to break ties with Israel, they used non-violent means to resist unfair policies against Palestinians. Israel says the movement is hiding its motives for delegitimizing or destroying the Jewish state.

Gilad Erdan, Israel's Minister of Strategic Affairs, described Students for Justice in Palestine as an extremist organization. "We do not want to see their activists come to Israel and try to use our infrastructure to hurt us and destroy us," he said.

Alqasem's lawyers said she was no longer involved in BDS activities, and former professors described her as a curious and open-minded student. Jewish groups in the United States as well as the Hebrew University itself came to his defense.

Two Dovish Israeli lawmakers also attended Thursday's hearing to protest the long detention of Alqasem. Mussi Raz de Meretz asked Erdan to release her and stop a growing "snowball".

"Stop this circus, you are causing serious damage to the image of Israel," he said.