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Lara Alqasem: A Pawn in the PR Battle For and Against BDS

(Times of Israel) Amanda B. Dan - In 2017, the Israeli Knesset passed legislation which would deny visas and residence permits to foreigners seeking entry who have "knowingly issued a public call to boycott the State of Israel or pledged to take part in such a boycott." According to the Strategic Affairs Ministry, the state has enforced that law by denying entry to some 15 visitors. Lara Alqasem was president of the University of Florida chapter of the campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). There is no doubt that SJP promotes the BDS movement. There is little question that the BDS movement is in many ways an insidious wolf in sheep's clothing. The movement's foundational ideology is predicated on the utter dissolution of the Jewish state. Anti-BDS efforts are about guarding the gate and shoring up the borders of the sole Jewish state, a lone refuge for the ever-besieged, eternally maligned Jew. But what should the State of Israel do when it is on the opposing side of a well-meaning (and even trendy) pursuit of social justice for the downtrodden? It is quite likely that most U.S. students who support BDS have absolutely no idea of any of the founders' ulterior, even sinister, motives to see an end to the Jewish state.
2018-10-12 00:00:00
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