Lara Alqasem, leader of BDS actions while an undergraduate student at the University of Florida, who was allowed last week to enter Israel for graduate work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem after initially being denied entry into the country earlier this month, is apparently not the only anti-Semite in her family.
Her father, Rafiq Alqasem, a lecturer at his daughter’s alma mater, the University of Miami, is a staunch supporter of BDS and Students for Justice in Palestine, for which his daughter served as president of its chapter while in Florida.
Additionally, Rafiq, who is vice president of HNTB Corporation, which identifies itself as “an employee-owned infrastructure solutions firm serving public and private owners and contractors,” has promoted former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and neo-Nazi propaganda.
He has also posted anti-Semitic content on social media, such as conspiracy theories related to Jewish influence and comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.
Rafiq’s daughter, whose grandparents are Palestinian, is starting her work on a master’s degree in Human Rights & Transitional Justice at Hebrew University.
