Israel has denied entry to a University of Florida graduate claiming the female student is involved with a group that urged a boycott against the country for its policies toward Palestinians according to Israeli news reports.
Haaretz and The Times of Israel said that 22-year-old Lara al-Qasem a US citizen with Palestinian grandparents was prevented from entering Israel after she arrived at Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday.
Al-Qasem had been granted a student visa from the consulate general of Israel in Miami to study in a master’s program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Haaretz reported. The visa was valid for a year.
The consulate general confirmed on Thursday that the visa was issued in Miami.
Lior Haiat the consul general of Israel in Miami told the Miami Herald in a statement: “Every country has the sovereign right to decide who is admitted to enter its borders. Once we realized that Ms. Al-Qasem is involved in anti-Israel 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.”
Reports from Israel say al-Qasem was detained and held at the airport by the immigration and border authority which manages security at Israeli borders and later ordered to leave the country.
According to these reports the student had served as president of Students for Justice in Palestine when she was a student at the University of Florida in 2016-17.
