Friday, October 5, 2018

Government said to use Canary Mission blacklist to bar visitors


timesofisrael.com

As court upholds deportation of student Lara Alqasem, official document confirms right-wing website that names and shames campus activists used to prove anti-Israel history

Image from article, with caption: Nonviolence International former intern Lara Alqasem is currently detained by Israeli authorities and about to be deported. [...]

Excerpt:
Reports by a secretive right-wing website that collects and publishes information about anti-Israel activity of university students and others are being used by Israeli authorities to question or ban people attempting to enter the country, according to a report Thursday.

Documents submitted by the Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy  [JB emphasis] Canary Mission is an anonymous website that aims to name and shame anti-Israel activists on campus.

The site “documents individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses,” according to its “About us” page.

Critics have accused it of seeking to intimidate pro-Palestinian college students and stifle their activism with the threat of a blacklist.

In August, the Forward newspaper reported that a number of activists believed their Canary Mission profiles were being used by border authorities when they were questioned while trying to enter Israel.

According to Haaretz, authorities confirmed that Canary Mission information was being used to bar Lara Alqasem, 22. On Thursday, a Tel Aviv court upheld authorities’ decision to not allow Alqasem in the country based on her pro-BDS activity.

Alqasem, a Florida university student who has Palestinian grandparents, was prevented from entering the country after arriving at Ben Gurion Airport Tuesday night, despite having received a student visa from the Israeli consulate in Miami to study in a masters program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Haaretz daily reported. ...

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