A University of Florida graduate student has been detained by Israeli authorities for her alleged involvement in a campus group that calls for boycotting the Jewish state, Haaretz reports.
Lara Alqasem, a 22-year-old U.S. citizen, was ordered deported to London because she "promoted a boycott of Israeli companies and worked to harm Israel through a cultural boycott," while a member of the National Students for Justice in Palestine at UF, according to the Strategic Affairs Ministry. The group has repeatedly called for boycotting Israel over its policies toward the Palestinians.
Alqasem was accepted into a master's program in transitional justice for the 2018-19 school year at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and received a student visa from the Israeli consulate in Miami.
Lior Haiat, the consul general of Israel in Miami, told the Miami Herald the case was still being reviewed. Haaretz reported the deportation order was blocked by the Entry to Israel Law Review Tribunal, which gave the state until 9 a.m. Thursday to decide whether Alqasem can enter the country.
"Every country has the sovereign right to decide who is admitted to enter its borders," Haiat said. "Once we realized that Ms. Alqasem is involved in anti-Israel (and anti-Semitic) activities through the BDS movement, she was denied entry.
"She appealed to the Israeli courts and the case is still being reviewed. We find it ironic that someone who calls on the indiscriminate boycott of Israel, as a tool to harm and destroy the State of Israel, wishes to study in the very country which they call to boycott."
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