When Omar Barghouti, the founder of the Boycott Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement, was denied entry to the U.S. last month, the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) wasted no time publishing a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo protesting the decision. After all, MESA regularly sides with anti-Israel academics and causes, while whitewashing Palestinian misdeeds.
In an article posted at History News Network, Campus Watch Fellow A.J. Caschetta explains why MESA, in defending Barghouti, is defending an “activist” whose web of anti-Israel groups provide cover for terrorist organizations.
Amazingly, Barghouti lives in Israel, not in Gaza, Nablus, or Ramallah, as one might expect from a man who describes Israel as an apartheid state. He was refused entrance to the U.S. on April 10 when immigration officials prevented him from boarding a flight at Ben-Gurion airport. Barghouti was scheduled to speak at several American universities, be interviewed by journalist Peter Beinart and Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill, and attend his daughter’s wedding.
