Asaf Romirowsky, the executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME), said that Israel has the right to ban foreign academics from entering the country if it deems them a security risk, The Algemeiner reported.
Romirowsky was responding to an angry complaint by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London that Israel had barred and deported one of its lecturers.
Dr. Adam Hanieh, a lecturer in the SOAS Developmental Studies Department was detained at Ben Gurion Airport in September and after being questioned for ten hours was deported and banned from coming back to Israel for the next ten years.
The director of SOAS, Baroness Valerie Amos, said that the decision to deport and ban Hanieh was “an arbitrary breach of academic freedom”.
Romirowsky disagrees. “If Hanieh was questioned, it’s because he was determined to be a security risk.”
“It is not a matter of academic freedom, something SOAS and some academics refuse to accept. SOAS has failed to draw the line between academic freedom and hate speech.” Romirowsky stated.
He lamented that SOAS, which was "once a great institution,” has instead become a “haven for pan-Arabic scholarship and a breeding ground for pro-Arab, pro-Palestinian sentiment.”
The Israeli embassy in London said it was looking into the matter of Hanieh's deportation and ban.