Israel’s High Court of Justice stopped Sunday’s scheduled deportation of former University of Florida student Lara Alqasem, according to reports from Israel.

The Jerusalem Post said Justice Uzi Vogelman told the Israeli government and Alqasem to file responses in writing within 24 hours of a hearing scheduled for Wednesday on her appeal against her deportation.

At that hearing, the court will determine whether it will hear Alqasem’s appeal.

Alqasem has been frozen at Ben Gurion Airport just outside Tel Aviv, refusing to return to the United States but not allowed into Israel to study in a Hebrew University masters program.

She obtained a student visa before Israel learned that she was president of UF’s Students for Justice in Palestine. Israel considers that group part of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) Movement, which calls for one or all of those measures against Israel for its treatment of Palestinians.

Alqasem has said she left the BDS Movement in 2017.


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