Lara Alqasem
Her father, Rafiq Alqasem, staunchly supports BDS and has posted anti-Semitic content on social media, such as conspiracy theories related to Jewish influence and comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.
Dozens of anti-BDS anti-terror posters directed at Lara Alqasem were hung and distributed at Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus ahead of Lara Alqasem’s arrival.
American Jewish leaders and Israel-related groups express mixed reactions over the Israeli Supreme Court’s controversial decision to allow the entry of BDS activist Lara Alqasem, with some accusing the court of overstepping its boundaries.
“We will continue to fight for the principle that whoever acts to harm the State of Israel and its citizens should be refused entry,” said Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs and Public Security Gilad Erdan.
The reactions of Jewish and Israel-related groups are mixed over Israel denying entry earlier this month to 22-year-old American BDS activist Lara Alqasem, whose case will be heard by Israel’s Supreme Court after the Tel Aviv District Court rejected her appeal.
The Zionist organization Im Tirtzu sent letters to dozens of Hebrew University donors, calling on them to not “stand idly by” while the university continues to provide legal support to Lara Alqasem.
The Tel Aviv District Court said “any self-respecting state defends its own interests and those of its citizens, and has the right to fight against the actions of a boycott … as well as any attacks on its image.”
“As a general principle, we value freedom of expression even in cases where we don’t agree with the political views expressed and this is such a case,” said State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino.
Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan tells JNS, Lara Alqasem served as “president of a chapter of one of the most extreme and hate-filled anti-Israel BDS groups in the U.S. She is free to return to her home in the United States whenever she wishes.”
