The Palestinian-American writer Susan Abulhawa was detained at Ben Gurion airport Thursday morning as she entered Israel en route to a literary festival in Palestine. Israeli authorities sought to deport her on the grounds that she did not have a visa. She has appealed the deportation and is in a detention center, according to a friend who has spoken with Abulhawa’s lawyer.

Earlier this month, BDS Vancouver activists launched a campaign after learning that Ballet BC was planning to perform in Israel in January, 2019. The petition that was started has now garnered over 4200 signatures, with a clear call to Ballet BC to not be complicit in helping Israel cover up its war crimes.

NYU Student groups pledge to boycott NYU’s Tel Aviv campus over Israel’s targeting of Arab & Muslim students and academic freedom in the US.

Alice Rothchild is told never to travel to Vienna, for she will not be welcomed by the Jewish community there. Why? Because she supports the BDS movement, and “Boycott is a form of violence.”

The defense of Lara Alqasem who was barred entry by Israel for her studies, was based on the notion that she does not currently practice BDS. Thus, her victory at Supreme Court is also a blow to BDS and a victory for liberal Zionists. She has become a pawn in an internal Israeli-Zionist political game, where the right and left compete against each other about who is a “better Zionist”.

Israel’s Supreme Court said Lara Alqasem, the 22-year-old Palestinian-American student detained for 15 days at Ben Gurion airport, is free to enter the country and pursue studies. Though championed by J Street and Americans for Peace Now, Alqasem got no public support from her representatives, Florida Senators Nelson and Rubio, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Two New Zealand BDS activists who counseled pop-star Lorde to cancel Israel concert have been fined by an Israeli court for harming the “artistic welfare” of three fans, but the two are not paying, and directing funds to Gaza mental health efforts.

The case of Lara Alqasem, the American citizen fighting deportation from Israel, is shining a bright light on Israel’s racial profiling of American students, the growing witch hunt against BDS activists, and the very real impact of smear websites. It is also catapulting into prominence the rationale behind the academic boycott of Israel.  

A French court ruled to end requiring retailers to label goods originating from the West Bank, overturning a 2016 law where products from the settlements could no longer be stamped “made in Israel.” The JTA reports, “Earlier this year The Lawfare Project, a pro-Israel think tank, initiated a legal action challenging the labeling requirements on behalf of Psagot Winery LTD, an Israeli vineyard whose European distributors are subject to the labeling rules.”

Palestinian, US Jewish, and Israeli groups joined theater artists in signing a letter calling on Toronto, New York and Pittsburgh arts organizations not to host Israel’s Gesher Theatre or partner with the Israeli government.