Unrepentant Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled gave her blessing to online events celebrating her at universities across the U.S. and Canada. |
The university leaders listed below (seven in the U.S. and two in Canada) failed to object to, or take action to prevent, a scheduled October 23, 2020 “message from Leila Khaled,” the unrepentant Palestinian terrorist. The series of coordinated, independently produced online conferences was dubbed “We Will Not Be Silenced! Against the Criminalization and Censorship Of Campus Political Speech.” Conceived as protests against Zoom’s cancellation of Khaled’s September 23 virtual appearance at San Francisco State University, “We Will Not Be Silenced!” featured professors and activists along with Khaled’s “message.” University of Massachusetts - Boston professor and host Heike Schotten stated that Khaled “is very much in support of these webinars"; “she knows about [today’s events], she’s given her blessing.” Speakers condemned Zoom’s September “censorship,” while Khaled touted her life as a terrorist and vowed to continue the “struggle” against Israel. Zoom canceled several of the sessions in advance, although others were recorded and are available for viewing on YouTube.
“We Will Not Be Silenced” was hatched by the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), an antisemitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) organization that seeks the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state.
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Flag |
Khaled, a current member of the U.S.-designated terrorist organization the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, hijacked two civilian airliners in 1969 and 1970. In the second incident, she and an accomplice shot and seriously wounded a flight attendant before her coconspirator was killed by an air marshal. Khaled pulled the pin of a grenade that failed to explode in a botched suicide bombing that would have killed 156 passengers and crew. She continues to advocate “armed struggle” against Israel. All the leaders listed below – seven presidents, one chancellor, and one dean – failed to take any actions to prevent their universities from celebrating a terrorist barred from entering the U.S. and several other countries. In each case, the organizers’ actions glorified terrorism to lend it a veneer of legitimacy. Radicalizing their students via such agit prop isn’t just an outcome of their efforts; it’s their goal.
To voice your objections to these university leaders’ willingness to host a terrorist and would-be mass murderer, we offer these talking points as a guide. We suggest that you be firm and succinct, but avoid vitriol.
- These events were not academic presentations on terrorism, but were specifically designed to whitewash Khaled’s violent past and glorify her record as a terrorist.
- Universities forsake their mission to educate students and contribute to scholarly inquiry when they abandon all standards of civilized conduct to celebrate terrorists.
- Khaled is an unrepentant terrorist and the first female hijacker. Her actions resulted in the serious injury of a flight attendant on El Al Flight 219 from Tel Aviv to New York on September 6, 1970. Had the hand grenade she armed exploded as she intended, she would have killed all 156 other passengers and crew.
- Khaled is a current member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization that in 2001 assassinated retired Israeli general and minister of tourism Rehavam Ze’evi and engaged in other acts of terrorism that killed Israeli civilians. Khaled is barred from entry to the U.S. and several other nations.
- Khaled continues to advocate terrorism against Israel under the guise of “resistance,” claiming falsely that “resistance is a legal and recognized and experienced means for a people to get their freedom.”
American Universities:
David Lassner, President, University of Hawaii
Email: david@hawaii.edu
Tel: 808-956-8207
Madeleine Landrieu, Dean, Loyola University New Orleans School of Law
Email: landrieu@loyno.edu
Tel: 504-861-5847
Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, Chancellor, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Email: Marcelo.Orozco@umb.edu
Tel: 617-287-6800
Andrew Hamilton, President, New York University
Email: andrew.hamilton@nyu.edu
Tel: 212-998-2345
Melvin L. Oliver, President, Pitzer College (Claremont Colleges)
Email: PitzerPresident@pitzer.edu
Tel: 909-621-8198
Lynn Mahoney, President, San Francisco State University
Email: president@sfsu.edu
Marc Tessier-Lavigne, President, Stanford University
Email: president@stanford.edu
Tel: 650-723-2481
Canadian Universities:
Bill Flanagan, President and Vice Chancellor, University of Alberta
Email: uofapres@ualberta.ca
Tel: 780-492-3212
Alan Shepard, President and Vice Chancellor, University of Western Ontario
Tel: 519-661-3104
Winfield Myers is director of academic affairs at the Middle East Forum and director of its Campus Watch program.
