The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in favor of Lara Alqasem, after two lower courts denied earlier appeals in her case.  Lara Alqasem is a 22 year-old American student, who obtained a one-year student visa to complete her master’s degee in human rights and transitional justice at Israel’s elite Hebrew University.  She arrived at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on October 2 and sat in detention for 16 days prior to her release on October 18.

The Ministry of Interior barred Lara’s entry and revoked her student visa on grounds that she held a “senior leadership position” in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (“BDS”) movement when serving as vice president and president of her college’s local chapter of a group called Students for Justice in Palestine (“SJP”). Israel passed a boycott law in 2017 to ban BDS supporters from entering Israel.  BBH Law attorney, Yotam Ben-Hillel, argued before the court that the Ministry of Interior abused its discretion, failing to prove that Lara met the requirements of the law.  Lara never played an active role in BDS, nor did she ever make a public call for boycott.  She served at the helm of a student group that numbered between five to eight students in a university of 55,000 and left the organization towards the end of her junior year.  Mr. Ben-Hillel added that even if the court were to rule that Lara had been engaged in BDS in the past, in order to be denied entry under the law, the state would have had to prove that she was currently active in BDS.  In this regard, Mr. Ben-Hillel argued that the state had failed to prove any ties to BDS after Lara’s resignation from SJP 18 months prior to her arrival in Israel.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lara and accepted all of Mr. Ben-Hillel’s arguments.   The court found that Lara was not a BDS activist, but rather an intellectually curious student who has chosen to study in Israel despite the academic boycott.

Lara Alqasem’s case is about the limits of free speech.  The Ministry’s actions prove that despite its own assertions to the contrary, it was not applying the boycott law narrowly but rather, as broadly as possible.  It penalized and demonized Lara not because she acted on behalf of BDS but because she supported BDS in the past.

The Supreme Court’s decision represents a victory for free speech, academic freedom, and the rule of law.  Lara Alqasem was never being targeted for her activities but rather for the political opinions she held.   The court ruled that the boycott law must be interpreted as narrowly as possible to protect free speech and that thought-policing has no place in an Israeli democracy.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-usa-student/us-students-lawyer-says-battle-goes-on-over-israel-anti-boycott-law-idUSKCN1MT1YR

https://www.apnews.com/db0a908cc1e54a4e813fde54b0f601d3

https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/186938-181022-exclusive-israel-s-handling-of-lara-al-qasem-was-stupid-and-damages-israel