Blog 4

     The Article, “Israel’s Detention Of Alleged BDS Activist Lara Alqasem, Isn’t Something Democracies Do” was written by Sarah McLaughlin on October 15th, 2018. Sarah McLaughlin is the author of this editorial blog, she is a guest writer for Huffington Post, and is a senior program officer at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. 
     
     The blog starts off giving the reader information about Lara Alqasem, telling us that she was a former student activist of a group called Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement and is now detained in Israel because of her activism in the United States. McLaughlin goes into details of the event, telling us that Alqasem is on a student visa on her way to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem when she got stopped by customs. From the beginning, McLaughlin writes her article portraying Lara Alqasem as innocent college student pursuing Israel for academics. McLaughlin then goes into details of the case saying that “Alqaem ceased involvement with the activist group eighteen months ago and her desire to attend Hebrew University proved that she does not currently support the BDS.” Which might be true but, McLaughlin goes even further to say that Alqasem is in custody, without a cell phone, and allegedly in a bedbug-infested cell. By saying this McLaughlin is drawing sympathy from the reader. Israel's Affairs Minister suggested that in order for Alqasem to stay in the country, she would have to “release a public denouncement of BDS in her own voice, not through all kinds of lawyers or statements that can be misconstrued.” This statement is what McLaughlin bases her argument off of. She continues to say that free speech is not supposed to be censored.

       McLaughlin sets her blog up in a way that makes the reader feel sympathy for Lara Alqasem. She does not set up her argument to make the reader believe that Israel's detention of activist Lara Alqasem isn't something democracies do. She only gives a few examples of how it is not something a democracy would do and then wraps up her article on what other countries have done to activists. Instead of focusing on her argument McLaughlin makes the readers feel sympathetic towards Lara Alqasem.