Attorneys for Lara Alqasem have appealed to Israel’s Supreme Court to allow her to enter Israel and begin her studies at Hebrew University. Wednesday’s hearing was her first before the high court.

Israel barred Alqasem, a University of Florida graduate, on Oct. 2 due to her alleged support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel, or BDS. A 2017 law allows Israel to prohibit entry to BDS supporters. Alqasem has since remained at Ben Gurion Airport while appealing the entry refusal. She was granted a scholarship for the graduate program at Hebrew University and a student visa from Israel’s consulate in Miami.

Israeli authorities say that Alqasem’s college activism shows that she supports a boycott of Israel, and that the country has the right to deny her entry. A lower court had ruled against Alqasem last week, upholding the state’s right to bar Alqasem’s entry due to evidence of her supporting BDS. The district court confirmed that ruling Friday.

Alqasem’s attorneys argued that the refusal to allow her to enter the country does not fit the criteria of the Strategic Affairs Ministry, under which it can deny entry to current “leading activists” working in a “consistent and continuous” manner. The University of Florida graduate was president for a short time of the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, which supports BDS. The chapter at that time reportedly was comprised of less than a dozen students.

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Alqasem has said publicly and in court that she does not support BDS.

Hebrew University has joined Alqasem’s appeal. “We chose to join the appeal because of the importance we place on taking in foreign students and researchers. We are not afraid of Lara Alqasem. Her right to change her mind and to be exposed to life here must be respected,” a university representative told the court, Haaretz reported.