A notorious Palestinian terrorist is scheduled to speak at San Francisco State University (SFSU) later this month in what is being billed as an academic seminar program.
Leila Khaled — a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who took part in the hijacking of a Tel Aviv-bound commercial flight in 1969 — will appear at an event titled, “Whose Narratives? Gender, Justice and Resistance: A Conversation with Leila Khaled,” on Sept. 23.
The discussion is being organized by the SFSU’s Department of Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies headed by Prof. Rabab Abdulhadi — an uncompromising anti-Zionist who has been accused of fostering hate speech and harassment against pro-Israel students on campus.
Among those appearing alongside Khaled will be Ronnie Kasrils — a Jewish supporter of the South African Communist Party (SACP) who promotes the boycott campaign against Israel and frequently peddles anti-Zionist conspiracy theories online.
The 76-year-old Khaled — who lives in the Jordanian capital Amman — remains affiliated with the PFLP, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union.
The PFLP executed suicide bombings and other attacks during the Second Intifada, resulting in more than 100 deaths. Members of the PFLP also claimed responsibility for a 2014 massacre at a Jerusalem synagogue.
Khaled compared Israelis to Nazis in a 2017 speech at the European Parliament.
“You can’t compare the actions of the Nazis to the actions of the Zionists in Gaza,” she claimed, later adding, “The Nazis were judged in Nuremberg but not a single one of the Zionists has yet been brought to justice.”
Khaled’s image is often glorified by anti-Zionist student organizations in the US. In 2016, Temple University’s SJP chapter tweeted a stylized image of Khaled holding an AK-47 for International Women’s Day.
In 2019, the Women’s Resource Center at San Diego State University sent out the same picture in an email newsletter, with the caption, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free.” The school apologized after outcry from pro-Israel student groups.
