Israel detains American student for her alleged boycott support

[Scurrilous]

Source: CBS News

<snip>



"In a groundbreaking case, Israel has detained an American graduate student at its international airport for the past week, accusing her of supporting a Palestinian-led boycott campaign against the Jewish state.

The case highlights Israel's concerns about the boycott movement and the great efforts it has made to stop it. The grassroots campaign has made significant inroads in recent years, particularly among university students and millennials.

Lara Alqasem, a 22-year-old U.S. citizen with Palestinian grandparents, landed at Ben-Gurion Airport last Tuesday with a valid student visa. But she was barred from entering the country and ordered deported, based on suspicions she is a boycott supporter.

An Israeli court has ordered that she remain in custody while she appeals. The weeklong detention is the longest anyone has been held in a boycott-related case, and it was not immediately clear on Tuesday when a final decision would be made."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-detains-u-s-student-lara-alqasem-for-alleged-boycott-support-2018-10-09/

---

Israel Uses Canary Mission Blacklist Info To Bar Activists

<snip>

"Israel’s Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy Ministry is using information from the controversial right-wing website Canary Mission, to bar political activists from entering the country, according to documents obtained by Haaretz.

The internal documents, some of which were submitted to the appeals tribunal in the appeal against the deportation of American student Lara Alqasem, show that officials briefly interviewed Alqasem, 22, at Ben-Gurion International Airport on her arrival Tuesday night, then passed her name on for “continued handling” by the ministry because of “suspicion of boycott activity.” Israel recently passed a law banning the entry of foreign nationals who engage in such activity.

The ministry then sent the officials at the airport an official report classified “sensitive” about Alqasem’s supposed political activities, which included information from five links – four from Facebook and one, the main source, from the Canary Mission site, which follows pro-Palestinian activists on U.S. campuses.

Canary Mission, now the subject of major controversy in the American Jewish community, has been collecting information since 2015 about BDS activists at universities, and sends the information to potential employers. Pro-Israel students have also criticized their activities."

Read more: https://forward.com/news/411453/israel-uses-canary-mission-blacklist-info-to-bar-activists/

[Cary]

1. If she is boycotting what is she doing in Israel?

Maybe if you hate a country that you aren't a citizen of, it isn't a good idea to be there?

[Honeycombe8]

5. The article says she was going to get her M.A. there.

Seems odd to me.

[dembotoz]

19. Perhaps air travel to Palestine is easier thru Israel

The old u can't get there from here thing.
Friend travels for work... direct flights????in her dreams

[dembotoz]

20. Google says Palestine doesn't have an airport.israel destroyed it

Site suggested travel into Hebron then a bus

[leftynyc]

24. There is no airport in Hebron

Maybe through Jordan. That said, all countries have the right to allow or disallow people to come into their countries. I can't go to most Muslim countries because I have Israeli visas on my passport but I don't whine about it.

[dembotoz]

36. you were not detained at the airport

[leftynyc]

37. She was NOT detained

She could have LEFT anytime she pleased. She was refused entry. I'll be sure to whine about that after some of you here gives a crap that I can't even close my eyes on the Temple Mount without risking arrest in Jerusalem.

[dembotoz]

45. Um read the first sentence of the frickin article

[leftynyc]

47. I did read it

AND the rest of the article (which you apparently didn't). She was free to go back whenever she wanted. She wasn't being held - she was being refused ADMISSION. Or don't you think each country has that right? To admit who they want and refuse same. I also noticed you had nothing to say about REAL facts - like in Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount, I can't even close my eyes without risking arrest because no "infidels" can pray there. You have very selective outrage and that says a lot.

[dembotoz]

48. Nutty Yahoo and trump separated at birth??

That government sucks

[leftynyc]

49. That I happen to agree

with you about trump and bibi is completely besides the point. Why can't you admit you either outright lied or only read the headline in stating she was being HELD and DETAINED? And still nothing about nobody but muslims being able to pray on the Temple Mount while you rail against bibi.

[dembotoz]

51. israels treatment of Palestine is offensive and they seem not interested in fixing it

got a number of faiths that claim the same real estate as very holy...either figure out how to share or learn to live with death

maybe bulldoze it and put up a massive taco bell is the answer

[leftynyc]

52. But the elected TERRORIST hamas

treats the Israelis so incredibly well? Tell me, who are they to make peace with? It appears the Palestinians have no problem with dead Jews as they continue to use OUR tax dollars to pay the families of killers and terrorists. I see you don't want to talk about THAT either. Or the fact you completely misread that article before you spouted off. Israel isn't going anywhere and will fight for their right to exist every fucking day so the Palestinians better get used to it and stop listening to morons who insist if they just suffer a little while longer, they will get what they want. They wont. Ever. Unless they sit down and negotiate as Egypt and Jordan both did.

[dembotoz]

53. the french underground were seen as terrorist too

[JudyM]

54. Absolutly agree.

[karynnj]

55. She was to start a Master's program at an Israeli University

THEY accepted her. This is not some tourist whose itinerary needed to be changed and the days planned for Israel changed to another place. Not to mention, Israel GAVE her a valid student visa. It was in assessing that application that it would have been fair for Israel to have rejected her. From the accounts, she was a member of Students for Justice in Palestine -- and the grievous offense was boycotting Sabra Hummus. As she pointed out, the very act of studying in Israel means she is NOT boycotting Israel.

When you started college, imagine that the city/country the college was in rejected you as you arrived to start your studies. I KNOW if that happened to me, I would have been furious and devastated.

Actions like this - and the nation state law, the continuing effort to delegitimize any non orthodox Jews, the Peter Beinart detention and the questioning of a Bradeis University trustee who has given a huge amount of money to Israel are driving a wedge between Israel and the liberal Jewish diaspora. My guess is that the long time financial, emotional and political support from us is now not as valued as their support from right wing evangelists.

[leftynyc]

57. The University is not the government

who has every right to decide who comes in to ANY country. Whether their complaint is legitimate or not is not what we were discussing. The LIE that she was being detained and held hostage was what we were discussing. She could have left any time. I'm a liberal reform Jew and I have no problem getting in and out of the country at all and don't see anyone trying to delegitimize me or any of my liberal Israeli friends. I mean, have you ever been to Tel Aviv? Hardly an orthodox haven.

[karynnj]

58. You miss the point - the GOVERNMENT, not the University issued the visa

I did not disagree with you on whether she was held hostage - she stayed to appeal the decision. I had no trouble getting iton and out of Israel when I went years ago. I know that recent incidents have caused many people at my conservative synagogue that is planning a trip next fall.

There have been things - like an Israeli rabbi from their equivalent to conservative synagogue arrested for officiating at a wedding - something only the orthodox can do. I read this in Haaretz, but their stuff is behind a pay wall. https://www.jta.org/2018/07/20/news-opinion/israel-detained-rabbi-performing-wedding-people-angry Add in the woman at the wall stuff -- and it is clear that the communities are getting further apart.

I have been to Tel Aviv -- and I agree it is not an orthodox haven, but liberals no longer encompass the majority in Israel.

[leftynyc]

59. Then you also know

there are no such distinctions in Israel like we have here. There are no reform or conservative Jews - everyone defines themselves as Orthodox - even the secular Jews. Their distinctions are Orthodox and Frum (the Chassidic). The Frum are actually very small in numbers but with the system of government they have their, they wield a lot of power as their 10% can be the difference between making and breaking a government. That's why bibi had to forget about his promise to make them serve in the military (outrageous they're not forced to). If it weren't for that 10%, his government would fall.

As for this woman, I don't really give a crap - that's for the Israeli's to decide - while she herself may not be a problem, I suspect they have information about people she aligns with who ARE a danger. I was simply stopping people from lying about what had happened.

[karynnj]

60. Absolutely wrong - not all Jews in Israel are orthodox -- even though the Orthodox have enormous

power. There are Masorti synagogues - Here is a map of where they are in Israel. http://masorti.org/congregations/map-of-masorti-kehillot/ Many synagogue sponsored tours include going to one of these synagogues on shabbats. I completely understand that Netanyahu makes many concessions to the Orthodox to get their parties in his narrow coalition.

PS - I know what frum is, what chabbad is - I have relatives who live near their communities. They are NOT a positive influence in Rockland County NY where they destroyed at least one excellent school system when they took over the school board.

I think Israel is free to shot itself in the foot, which is what they are doing here.

[leftynyc]

61. Nope - you are wrong

and it sounds like you've never actually been to Israel or even spoken to Israeli's. NOBODY in Israel would describe themselves as Reform or Conservative. NOBODY.

[karynnj]

62. I have been to Israel

They would not use the WORD conservative or reform -- but I gave you the link to the denomination that is essentially conservative. That was, in fact, the phrase my rabbi used to speak of the congregation we will attend services if we go to Israel. Not to mention - I gave you a link that spoke of a rabbi arrested (later they backed off) for preforming a wedding because he was NOT Orthodox.

I have spoken to Israelis -- for years.

Could your circle of Israeli friends be too small to make generalizations? Remember that proving there are NO people in a category means that even one disproves it. I gave your a link of the congregations.

[leftynyc]

63. So I was right reform and conservative don't EXIST

Of course there are those less or more religious but they don't make distinctions like US Jews. I have many friends and colleagues in Israel so no, hardly a small sample. I was there again this past July when putrid hamas was sending fires over the border. And to the person, everyone would like nothing more than being able to walk through the Jaffa Gate without worrying about getting stabbed.

They have NOBODY to talk TO and its fucking pathetic that people expect them to sit with terrorists who only want the entire country eliminated. Forget it, it's never going to happen and its time for the Palestinians to grow the fuck up and figure out if they want a state or just to continue to live in misery. Because those are their only two choices and Israel doesn't give a shit what anyone has to say about it.

[Honeycombe8]

2. I've read that Israel is very strict with who it allows into the country.

Instead of doing what America does (make everyone take their shoes off and such), they go by background, individual interviews, some blanket denials of entry, etc. It's a small country with several terrorist groups targeting it, so it's really strict, I've read.

[Cary]

3. A friend of mine went with a backpack and a beard

He was grillled for 8 hours, and was shocked that he could still recite his Haftorah portion 12 years after his Bar Mitzva. He was cleared, told to come back tomorrow and never to fly El Al with a backpack and a beard ever again.

Yes they are serious.

[More_Cowbell]

8. That's no reason to detain her for a week. nt

[Honeycombe8]

13. I don't think they "jailed" her. If she had said she'd leave, they would have let her, I think.

She was kept because she didn't want to leave, but they wouldn't let her in, right? Maybe they conducted further inquiries, while she waited. Who knows.

But whatever...if I have online support for Palestinian causes, I wouldn't plan on going to college in Israel, or at least I would expect some trouble getting in. If I knew they were very strict, she must have known. It's been reported on for years, maybe decades.

[Sgent]

18. That's her choice

she was refused entry, she could have flown back to the US and appealed from the US as well.

[MaryMagdaline]

12. Donna Shalala was detained for a few hours when she went on a trip for U of Miami

(She was President of school then).

[karynnj]

56. Shouldn't they have done all that before giving her the student visa?

Had they refused that, she would have had to change her academic plans. Instead, they gave her a visa, she thought all was set -- then she was refused entry.

How would you feel had one of your children applied to a program, been accepted, given the necessary visa -- then rejected at the border.

[Honeycombe8]

64. The online anti-Israel support stuff may not have been there before.

IF they do the same sort of background check for visas that they do for entry to the country, which I don't know.

I'm sure it's not a trick to get people they know they won't allow in, to fly there and try to gain entry.

It's really sort of odd that she'd get involved in a boycott against Israel in support of Palestinians, right before she goes to attend college there.

Young people need to realize that other countries are all different. They're not all mini-me United States. Each country has its own laws and rules. Israel is very strict about gaining entry. They have a particular problem there, and that's one way they've chosen to address it. It is a small country surrounded by other countries that want to wipe out the country. For us, the terrorists are far away. For Israel, they are right across the border. So they're strict.

So many young people have been locked up in other countries for doing minor things that are taken far more seriously there than here. Like that young man who died last year after he'd been jailed in North Korea after pulling a government poster off a wall. Then a couple of people were imprisoned as spies because they were hiking near the border of N. Korea. Iran has also imprisoned people for minor things. I also saw a show where some Americans ended up in a Mexican prison for something. You don't want to end up in a Mexican prison, for sure.

I hope young people in the future research the countries thoroughly, if they plan on attending college in foreign countries and living there for years. If she had done that, she would have known that joining a movement to hurt Israel economically would be a big deal to Israel, esp for a foreign student with Palestinian grandparents. If I were her, I'd choose another college in another country. They're probably going to spy on her the whole time she's there, if they let her in.

[sandensea]

4. Now they're taking hostages.

Bibi has turned his country into a veritable rogue state.

[7962]

17. Except thats not what they did at all.

[leftynyc]

25. That's drama queen bullshit

She wasn't a hostage and could have left to go home at any time.

[saidsimplesimon]

6. I refuse to visit Israel. This is one why.

Tourism, along with "donations", provide income for the state. Sounds like thought police dictate who is worthy of touching sacred soil.

The second why, not that anyone cares, is that the PM and his wife are suspected of being both corrupt and greedy.

ps: I would love to visit. One of my college housing mates, Judith, a nursing major, planned to join a Kibbutz when she graduated.

[Honeycombe8]

7. Groups of Americans go on vacations to see "the Holy Land" every year.

So it can't be that hard.

I guess a traveler just has to realize what would trigger a grilling. Public support of pro-Palestinian (and therefore anti-Israeli) causes would do it, I would think. Looking or dressed like a terrorist. Coming in from a suspicious country. Things like that.

I wouldn't mind going, but no way I could afford it. There are other places I'd go before there, though. I'd like to see Ireland, the south of France, Egypt.

[More_Cowbell]

9. A "grilling" is not the same as a week in detention

[Honeycombe8]

10. I didn't say it was. But they interview extensively anyone who sets off the radar.

That's what I've read, anyway.

She didn't have to stay there a week, if she hadn't wanted to pursue getting in. But she didn't want to leave, I guess. She was going to get her M.A. there.

[leftynyc]

38. She was not detained

She was refused entry and could have gone home at anytime. When are people here going to get that straight?

[saidsimplesimon]

11. It's not that difficult for

"evangelicals". They donate and fund Israel in hopes of bringing on the "rapture". The leader of Israel does not have my respect.

I don't support any form of violence against humanity. Religion, or lack of, has never been a political or personal focus for me.

Just another opinion

[RandiFan1290]

23. "Looking or dressed like a terrorist."

????

Please explain

[Honeycombe8]

39. Read the post above where someone was held and interrogated, & then advised ...

to in the future not wear a backpack and a beard.

Israel is not America. Israel can stop people wanting to come into the country, if they fit a profile. I don't think we can do that in America, where stopping someone because of his appearance is a violation of civil rights.

This is how Israel controls terrorism in its country. It seems to work. Israel is a tiny country that is the object of several terrorist groups in the vicinity of Israel, yet has managed to be successful in preventing terrorists from coming into the country, for the most part. This is one way it does it. It takes what we might think is an extreme screening process based on a variety of factors.

[leftynyc]

26. You want to talk about "sacred soil"

As an American Jew (or any other kind of infidel), I can't go to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem because if I merely close my eyes, I can get ARRESTED for praying there. There is no place in Israel where a non-Jew would get arrested for praying so why aren't you complaining about THAT?

[Crowman2009]

15. She can't come in, but fundie-assclowns hoping for Israel's destruction in their warped version of..

...the apocalypse is OK by Bibi & the Likudniks! Wonder if Nuttyahoo will allow skinheads in since he believes they only wanted to expel the jews.

[Cary]

21. Far be it from me to defend the religious right, but

I don't recall them being an actual existential threat to Israel.

There are 22 Arab nations. If someone is intent upon boycotting Israel why go there? Are 't there plenty of opportunities in those Arab nations?

[atreides1]

22. But you are defending them!

And they are a threat to Israel...they're just careful not to show it!

Here's an article you might want to read...it even names Trump's favorite Baptist Pastor, Robert Jeffress!

https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-evangelicals-love-israel

[leftynyc]

27. The Israeli's are quite aware

of what the evangelicals are all about and consider them useful idiots.

[Cary]

33. Back up your conclusions witb facts

Prove that I am defending them, as opposed to being objective. Show me facts to prove that you have actual insight into my state of mind and that your comment is objectively reasonable. A certification of your telepathic abilities might suffice.

As for your claim that the religious right is an actual existential threat to Israel, show me where they have effected something akin to boycotts of Jews, terrorism, rocket attacks, and the like. Keep in mind that boycotts of Jewish businesses in Jerusalem go back over 100 years. My recollection of that history is that the religious right had nothing to do with it.

There is plenty of legitimate criticism of Israel available to you. Why not opt for that instead?

[Trust Buster]

16. Fascism at work.

[leftynyc]

28. Oh please

More hyperbolic bullshit.

[Trust Buster]

29. Being held in detention as a result of her political beliefs IS Fascism. Wake up.

[leftynyc]

30. She could have LEFT anytime she pleased

She wasn't in detention, she wasn't being allowed into the country. Now you should wake the fuck up and stop using words you don't know the meaning of. NO country is under ANY obligation to allow ANYONE in they don't want to. And like I pointed out above, I can't go to 90% of Muslims countries because I have Israeli visas on my passport and I don't expect anyone to have a hissy fit about it.

[Trust Buster]

32. This American college student was detained based solely on her political beliefs.

She was not a terrorist threat. The Israeli’s detained her solely based on her political beliefs. That IS Fascist.

[leftynyc]

34. Too fucking bad

That doesn't make Israeli's fascist or her "detained". She was free to leave anytime. You have no fucking idea what fascism looks like if you think a country ABSOLUTELY MUST allow anyone into their borders. I don't see you crying over the fact I can't visit most Muslim countries or pray in Jerusalem at the Temple Mount without getting arrested. I also don't destroy language by calling that fascism.

[Trust Buster]

40. Israel represents today's Apartheid. Netanyahu has very fascist policies towards the

Palestinian people and anyone who even has a thought in their head that supports the Palestinian cause.

[leftynyc]

41. You just love to butcher the English language

Tell me, when was it that black South Africans served in their government under REAL apartheid? When did they serve in the military? You're using words you obviously don't actually know the meaning of. And let's not forget the Palestinians are the ones who thought it would help them to elect a TERRORIST ORGANIZATION as their leaders. How has that worked out for them and why I don't I EVER hear about how the Egyptians control THAT border? The fact that I detest Bibi is completely besides the point.

[Trust Buster]

42. Israel has executed a plan to seize Palestinian property. They control Palestian borders to

Economically depress Palestinian trade. But Israel learned a lesson from the failures of Apartheid. Apartheid fell apart due to economic boycotts. Israel hires lobbyists in this country who shower state and federal legislators with campaign donations to vote down any attempts for state and federal business to be boycotted with respect to Israel. Now, as they are receiving billions in taxpayer funded aide every year, Israel detains and harasses an American college student for merely possessing the thought of Palestinian support. The is textbook fascism.

[EX500rider]

43. "They control Palestinian borders to..."

You mean besides the border with Egypt?

[Trust Buster]

44. Their seaports.

[EX500rider]

46. They have a whole border with Eygpt they could use if they weren't such bad neighbors.

Eygpt take a dim view of terrorists crossing the border and causing havoc in the Sinai for some reason.

[aikoaiko]

31. I think her master's thesis may have just taken a new focus.

[Nitram]

35. Trump and Netanyahu - two fascist politicians leading us back to the era of the Holocaust.

I only hope we can stop them before it is too late.

[ripcord]

50. I find her trip a bit ironic

"I support a boycott of Israel, one ticket to Israel please."