JERUSALEM • Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday overturned an appeals court ruling that agreed with the government’s decision to bar an American graduate student from entering the country over her alleged involvement in the boycott movement against the Jewish state. The court accepted Lara Alqasem’s appeal, saying her desire to study in Israel undermines the premise of her alleged support for a boycott. It said that if her deportation was based on her political opinion, then the state’s order was “a radical and dangerous step” that could erode Israeli democracy. Alqasem’s lawyers said she was released from Ben Gurion Airport, where she had been held in detention since arriving in the country Oct. 2 with a valid student visa to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Alqasem said she was “relieved at the court’s decision” and thankful for the support. Alqasem, 22, whose father is Palestinian, is a former president of the University of Florida chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.

File — In this Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018 file photo, American Lara Alqasem, center, sits in a courtroom prior to a hearing at the district court in Tel Aviv, Israel. Alqasem asked Israel’s Supreme Court to overturn an expulsion order over her alleged involvement in the boycott movement against Israel. Lara Alqasem has been held in detention since arriving in the country on Oct. 2 with a valid student visa. (AP Photo/Sebastian. Scheiner, File)

Sebastian Scheiner