T. Belman. Who’s running the country? The eletist Court or the elected Knesset? The leftist elite or the people?
‘A disgrace, Supreme Court decision was a huge victory for BDS’
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri joins other ministers and MKs in outrage after High Court rules BDS advocate be allowed to stay in Israel.
Lara Alqasem in Supreme Court, REUTERS
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri slammed the Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday permitting BDS activist Lara Alqasem to study in Hebrew University.
“The decision to leave the student who openly acts against the State of Israel in Israel is shameful,” said Deri. “Where is our national honor, even in the US, would it dare to act against the state and demand that we stay and study there? I will examine how to prevent such a recurrence. ”
Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan (Likud) said in response that “the Supreme Court granted a great victory to BDS this evening and emptied the law to prevent the entry of BDS activists. I am deeply saddened by the Supreme Court’s decision, which attests to a complete lack of understanding of the methods of action of the BDS organizations, and has undermined the ability of the State of Israel to fight the boycott activists who harm us all.”
“According to the judgment and logic of the justices, Omar Barghouti, the founder of the world BDS movement who studied at Tel Aviv University and is currently spreading hatred worldwide against Israel, was supposed to become an enthusiastic supporter of Israel due to his studies in an Israeli academic institution,” continued Erdan.
“The principle must be preserved: anyone who acts to harm Israel and its citizens should not enter its gates.”
MK Betzalel Smotrich also attacked the High Court following the ruling. “The Supreme Court insists on proving that the justice minister was right when she claimed that Zionism is it’s dead zone, and again trampled on the authority of the government and intervened in its discretion,” said Smotrich.
The court ruled Thursday evening against the state’s position that Alqasem is prohibited from entering the country under Israel’s anti-BDS law, which bars non-citizen supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement from visiting Israel.
Alqasem, 22, had served as the chapter president of the anti-Israel group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) during her undergraduate studies at the University of Florida. SJP is known for its staunch support of the BDS movement.
Following her graduation from the University of Florida, Alqasem applied for and received a student visa from Israel, enabling her to take part in a master’s degree program at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Upon her arrival in Israel on October 2nd, however, Alqasem was detained by border control authorities, who barred her entry under Israel’s anti-BDS law.
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Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) on Thursday blasted the Supreme Court’s ruling permitting BDS activist Lara Alqasem to enter Israel and study at the Hebrew University.
“The Supreme Court judges, in their shameful decision to allow the boycott activist to enter Israel, continue to act against democracy and against clear legislation by the Knesset, by creating a path for boycott activists to enter the country and continue to harm the state,” he said.
“Instead of the law enforcement authorities preventing her from entering the country and acting to bring her to justice, they allow her to receive academic degrees while exploiting the resources of the state she encourages to boycott. The Hebrew University and its leaders must renounce their support for Alqasem and cancel her registration,” added Levin.
The court ruled Thursday evening against the state’s position that Alqasem is prohibited from entering the country under Israel’s anti-BDS law, which bars non-citizen supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement from visiting Israel.
Alqasem, 22, had served as the chapter president of the anti-Israel group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) during her undergraduate studies at the University of Florida. SJP is known for its staunch support of the BDS movement.
Following her graduation from the University of Florida, Alqasem applied for and received a student visa from Israel, enabling her to take part in a master’s degree program at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Upon her arrival in Israel on October 2, however, Alqasem was detained by border control authorities, who barred her entry under Israel’s anti-BDS law.
Alqasem appealed the decision to bar her from entering the country, but the Tel Aviv district court upheld the ban in a ruling on Friday. On Sunday, the Supreme Court agreed to freeze the ban and hear Alqasem’s case before allowing her to enter Israel on Thursday.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri slammed the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier on Thursday.
“The decision to leave the student who openly acts against the State of Israel in Israel is shameful,” said Deri. “Where is our national honor? I will examine how to prevent such a recurrence. ”
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said in response that “the Supreme Court granted a great victory to BDS this evening and emptied the law to prevent the entry of BDS activists. I am deeply saddened by the Supreme Court’s decision, which attests to a complete lack of understanding of the methods of action of the BDS organizations, and has undermined the ability of the State of Israel to fight the boycott activists who harm us all.”
“According to the judgment and logic of the justices, Omar Barghouti, the founder of the world BDS movement who studied at Tel Aviv University and is currently spreading hatred worldwide against Israel, was supposed to become an enthusiastic supporter of Israel due to his studies in an Israeli academic institution,” continued Erdan.
“The principle must be preserved: anyone who acts to harm Israel and its citizens should not enter its gates.”
Unpopular is not the adjective I would use. @ Bear Klein:
I support what some students at the Hebrew University are doing.
I am going to say something very unpopular. I was for the original decision by the lower courts and government to keep this student out of Israel.
That said, the judgement given by one of the Conservative appointed Supreme Court Judges basically said that there was not substantial evidence that the petitioner was important or active in the BDS movement and she was not boycotting Israel as she was willing to study in it. They said since she already had a visa a higher standard and solid evidence was needed to rescind the student visa, than if this would have been used to keep her out.
The law was not annulled but applied as the high court thought reasonable.
This actually was a victory for democracy in Israel. Yes, I wish she should never have been granted a visa. The government did a lousy job in proving its case. There are many cases in which the High Court has overreached but even though I do not like the decision I find it reasonable and democratic.
To answer your question, Ted: the elitist court and the leftist elite are running the country. Definitely not the Knesset. Changing this is the issue that the whole national camp should be concentrating on.
The judges are traitors and have no place on the bench.
Shame on them!
I trust Min. Ayelet Shaked’s wisdom to find a way to reverse this adverse ruling.
What I don’t understand in this story is that not a single lawyer could be found in the state of Israel to counter her appeal. Normally, they are good at breaking cases based on flimsy evidence or technicalities. What went wrong this time, or are they all hoping for big fees in the future?
ISRAEL to day acts like a slow aged ol man. the **tch al qasem has the same smirk as zoabi could be twins. Khan al-Ahmar should have been history weeks ago.
al qasem should have been on her bike next flight out, let her make her appeal from u s a.
the non elected wait for others to make the decision now the terrorists have won Khan al-Ahmar, ISRAEL will approve it, build roads, supply hydro, water etc.
@ AryehbnBaruch:
Min Shaked is doing just that.
The answer to this is to remove the judges who voted to let her enter Israel and to replace them with more conservative judges. It might take years to complete a cleanup of the entire legal system, if ever.