There’s been a lot of discussion over the fate of Lara Alqasem, the American student of Palestinian descent barred from entering Israel because of her previous support for BDS. An Associated Press report that was reprinted in publications all over the world claims:
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.
In addition to calling her detained, the story goes on to refer to her as being in custody. You could be forgiven for thinking Alqasem is being held against her will in a Ben Gurion Airport security room. After all, Merriam-Webster defines custody as “immediate charge and control (as over a ward or a suspect) exercised by a person or an authority,” while defining detain as “to hold or keep in or as if in custody.”
The fact is, Alqasem is neither “detained” nor “in custody.” Rather than be deported back to the US, Alqasem chose to remain in Israel in order to fight a legal battle against her ban, as is her right. So, although Israel is currently a no-go zone for Alqasem, she is free to go anywhere in the world. But AP didn’t mention that.
This is nothing like the case of Hassan al-Kontar, who fled Syria to avoid army conscription. He was stuck in Kuala Lumpur International Airport for six months, with neither the documents allowing him to enter or leave Malaysia. Kontar was arrested by Malaysian authorities last week and may be sent back to Syria.
This Associated Press dispatch is guilty of using misleading terminology and lacking context. After all, Alqasem’s choice to stay and ability to leave changes the circumstances of the report.
In comparison to the Associated Press, AFP got the facts right on Alqasem’s status:
An immigration authority spokeswoman, Sabine Haddad, said late on Tuesday that Alqasem would contest the ban in court.
“She can fly back to the United States whenever she likes,” Haddad said. “She decided to appeal and is being held in the facility for those refused entry,” she added. No date was given for the hearing.
There’s plenty of room to debate the wisdom of Israeli restrictions on the entry of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions activists.
But we can’t have intelligent debate or form our own opinions if we don’t have the real facts.
Update
After this critique was posted, I discussed the Alqasem situation on i24 News with former Peace Now director Yariv Oppenheimer.
Featured image: vectors by Vecteezy;
