Conservative, Jewish NY Times columnists slam Israel for BDS ‘paranoia’
Bret Stephens and Bari Weiss warn that by expelling its harshest critics, Israel is ‘powerfully’ reinforcing their prejudice
Two Jewish pro-Israel New York Times columnists have excoriated Jerusalem for what they say are “paranoid policies” over the continued detention of an American graduate student at the airport over her alleged support for the Palestinian-led boycott campaign against the Jewish state.
The column by conservatives Bret Stephens and Bari Weiss in support of Lara Alqasem reflected what analysts say is growing unease in the US Jewish community, even among staunch Israel supporters, with hamhanded policies pursued by the Netanyahu government.
Alqasem, a 22-year-old US citizen with Palestinian grandparents, landed at Ben Gurion airport last Tuesday with a valid student visa to study in a masters program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. But she was barred from entering the country and ordered deported, based on suspicions she is a boycott supporter.
Alqasem has denied she supports the BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaign against Israel, and has remained in custody for the last eight days while she appeals the deportation order. Israel says she is free to leave the country should she choose to do so, but she is fighting a court battle to be allowed in. TheHebrew University is backing her.
In a joint Wednesday op-ed titled“Why is Israel afraid of this young American?” Stephens and Weiss write that by expelling its harshest critics, Israel is only reinforcing their prejudice.
“Societies that shun or expel their critics aren’t protecting themselves. They are advertising their weakness,” Stephens and Weiss wrote, after expressing their Zionist bona fides. “Does the Jewish state, which prides itself on ingenuity, innovation and adaptability, really have so much to fear from a 22-year-old graduate student from Florida?”
The writers said that expelling boycott supporters “powerfully reinforces the prejudice of those visitors (along with their supporters) that Israel is a discriminatory police state.”
Pushing back against the column, Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan defended Israel’s right to bar Alqasem.
“We are doing whatever we believe that is right for the security of the state of Israel and that is more important than whatever the New York Times or other newspapers around the world will say about our policy,” Erdan told the Associated Press Wednesday.
Last year, Israel enacted a law banning any foreigner who “knowingly issues a public call for boycotting Israel” from entering the country. It also has identified 20 activist groups from around the world whose members can be denied entry upon arrival. It so far has blocked 15 people from entering, according to the ministry.
In addition to the anti-BDS campaign, Israel has detained or interrogated a number of vocal Jewish critics, both Israeli and foreign, about their political views while entering the country in recent months. These tactics, along with legislation curbing the influence of anti-occupation advocacy groups, have raised concerns that the nationalist government is trying to stifle dissent.
Also Wednesday, more than 300 academicspenned a letter in the British Guardian Wednesday calling the case “an attack on academic freedom.”
Alqasem, from the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Southwest Ranches, Florida, is a former president of the University of Florida chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. The group is a branch of the BDS movement.
The Population Immigration and Border Authority has said the decision to stop Alqasem at the airport was due to her “boycott activity,” while Strategic Affairs Ministry officials noted that she was a member of the National Students for Justice in Palestine, a campus group that calls for boycotting Israel over its policies toward the Palestinians.
In her appeal, Alqasem has argued that she never actively participated in boycott campaigns, and promised the court that she would not promote them in the future.
“We’re talking about someone who simply wants to study in Israel, who is not boycotting anything,” said her lawyer, Yotam Ben-Hillel. “She’s not even part of the student organization anymore.”
Meanwhile, Alqasem’s family said Israel was exaggerating her involvement in SJP, saying she only belonged to the campus group for a semester.
In an interview from Florida, her mother, Karen Alqasem said her daughter has never made any threats against Israel and is not religious.
“She may have been critical of some of Israel’s policies in the past but she respects Israeli society and culture,” she said. “To her, this isn’t a contradiction.”
“She is being treated like a criminal but she is not a criminal,” Karen Alqasem said.
Her lawyer and a group of opposition lawmakers have visited Alqasem and say she is in safe, but subpar, conditions.
The United States Embassy said it also has visited Alqasem in detention to ensure that she has food and water. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the government is aware of the case, but “ultimately, it is up to the government of Israel to decide who it wants to let into the country.”
On Tuesday, Erdan floated a possible compromise, saying in a radio interview that he would rethink his decision to expel her if she apologizes and renounces her support for BDS.
AP contributed to this report.
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