My column “Lara Who?” published to the Israel Today website on October 14 was written before the Supreme Court had ruled against the government’s effort to deny entry to anti-Israel activist Lara Alqasem. Israeli authorities had tried to keep Alqasem out based on the “Entry to Israel Law,” which bars entry to any foreigner who actively calls for boycotting the Jewish state. It is applicable to both individuals and organizations.
And Lara Alqasem had done precisely that, and with considerable zeal. According to Canary Mission, which monitors individuals and organizations that “promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses,” Lara Alqasem has “actively campaigned for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and was the 2016-2017 president of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Florida (UF), according to now-deleted UF SJP Facebook posts.”
Alqasem’s denial of entry was anticipated, which is why SJP had deleted in advance anything connecting her to them. Furthermore, the quick response to her detainment at Ben Gurion Airport by Israeli “human rights” organizations strongly...
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