Israeli Court Rules Lara Alqasem Must Be Allowed To Enter Country
An American student who was initially barred entry into Israel under a law against foreign pro-Palestinian activists who call for boycotts of Israel will be allowed to stay in the country, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.
Lara Alqasem, 22, flew to Israel on Oct. 2 on a study visa but was refused entry by security officials who cited her role as president of a small local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Florida.
The Supreme Court in its ruling, seen by Reuters, overturned a lower court decision that initially backed the decision by Israeli authorities.
“The Supreme Court’s decision is a victory for free speech, academic freedom, and the rule of law,” Alqasem’s lawyers said in a statement.
Alqasem’s case has touched off debate in Israel over whether democratic values have been compromised by a 2017 law that bars the entry of foreigners who publicly support boycotts over Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO