American student wins appeal in Israel | WORLD
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American student wins appeal in Israel


A U.S. student detained after arriving in Israel has won her appeal to study in the country, according to the student’s lawyers. The Supreme Court of Israel ruled Thursday that Lara Alqasem can proceed with her studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem despite her alleged support for a pro-Palestine boycott campaign against Israel. Alqasem, whose grandparents are Palestinian, arrived at Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv on Oct. 2 with a valid student visa. She formerly served as president of the University of Florida chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a branch of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. Alqasem insisted she never actively participated in boycott campaigns and promised not to promote them in the future. Israel passed a 2017 law barring any foreigner who “knowingly issues a public call for boycotting Israel” from entering the country.


Lynde Langdon

Lynde is WORLD’s executive editor for news. She is a graduate of World Journalism Institute, the Missouri School of Journalism, and the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Lynde resides with her family in Wichita, Kan.

@lmlangdon


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Allen Johnson

There is a major difference between being anti-Israel and taking action against oppressive Israel policy. A true patriot will not acquesce to wrongful national policy, but instead will take steps to rectify the injustice.
Read the Bible, in particular, the prophets. They spoke out against and acted against national injustices. Would you consider them enemies of Israel? Jeremiah weeped for the nation. Jesus wept for the nation. But they did not condone the violence and evil and idolatry and political complicity of the nation.Of course, one way a nation can rid itself of conscience-pricking voices is to expell them...or in the case of Jesus, crucifixion.

 

MissyLane

Jews confuse me. Israel has such particular standards for who can come and stay in their country, yet they allow an anti-Israel Palestinian student to continue her studies in Jerusalem.

Left-leaning American Jews are even more perplexing. Louis Farakkhan spouts anti-Semitic filth out of his mouth and what do we hear from the left? Crickets.