JERUSALEM (JTA) — The co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, Omar Barghouti, was denied entry to the United States even before he left Israel.

Barghouti reportedly was traveling on a valid U.S. visa to Washington, D.C., to speak at a series of events hosted by the Arab American Institute when he was stopped by staff at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv. He was told that U.S. immigration officials had ordered the U.S. consul in Tel Aviv to deny him permission to enter the United States, National Public Radio reported.

The only explanation given was that it was an “immigration matter,” according to a statement from the institute. After his speaking engagements in Washington, at Harvard and New York universities, and at a Philadelphia bookstore, he was planning to attend the wedding of his daughter, who lives in the United States.

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