Minister accuses Hebrew U of ‘chutzpah’ in case of detained US student

Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan accuses the Hebrew University of Jerusalem of “chutzpah” after it calls on him to allow an American student detained at the airport to enter the country.

Lara Alqasem, a US citizen of Palestinian descent, has been in custody since she arrived at Ben Gurion Airport last week for a master’s program at the university. The Population Immigration and Border Authority said the decision to deny Alqasem entry was due to her “boycott activity” against Israel and membership in Students for Justice in Palestine, a campus group that calls for boycotting Israel over its policies toward the Palestinians.

“It is very sad that the Hebrew University is taking the side of a foreign boycott activist who served in a violent group that ‘shuts the mouths’ of every Israel supporter on campuses in the United States,” Erdan, a member of the ruling Likud party, writes on his Twitter account.

“What chutzpah this body has, which is funded by the Israeli public, to ignore the law and the delegitimization campaign against the state and to instead help someone who boycotts and wants to harm Israel,” he adds.

In addition to calling on Erdan and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri to allow Alqasem to enter Israel, the university has also requested to join an appeal Alqasem filed against her deportation, the Haaretz daily reports.