This month, San Francisco State University is bringing Leila Khaled, a Terrorist in Suit, to teach our young generation about the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which is the new face of antisemitsm today.
Leila Khaled is a Marxist loving, convicted PLFP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) terrorist who hijacked two planes on separate occasions.
In August 1969, Khaled was part of a team that hijacked TWA Flight 840 on its way from Rome to Tel Aviv, diverting the Boeing 707 to Damascus, Syria.
Just a year later on September 1970, she attempted to hijack El Al Flight 219 from Amsterdam to New York City as part of a series of four simultaneous hijackings carried out by the PFLP known as 'Black September'. The only reason the hijacking was not successful was because Khaled’s grenades miraculously failed to explode.
Khaled was arrested in London and stated to the British authorities, “I am the leader of the hijack. My name is Leila Khaled and I am a member of the PFLP". When asked about her involvement, she stated "“I don’t regret it, I was honored by that mission".
In a 2014 interview Khaled suggested that the Second Intifada, which killed 1,137 Jews and injured 8,341 more, failed because it was not violent enough.
In a 2015 interview she claimed that ISIS is an American creation supported through Turkey with arms from Israel. She argues ISIS was supported by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, America’s allies “who planned the thing”.
In a 2017 speaking engagement with the European Parliament, Khaled had the audacity to compare the horrors of Auschwitz to that of Gaza and made several other comparisons between Nazi Germany and Israel; such comparisons have been declared antisemitic by the IHRA definition of antisemitism. She also declared that there will be no peace if there is even one Zionist (Jew) in Israel and that Zionists (Jews) should live in fear.
Despite her horrific actions and rhetoric, Leila Khaled has become the poster girl for radical progressives. She is often portrayed as a feminist trailblazer for the Palestinian resistance. Her image is often paraded on posters, flyers, t-shirts, and murals on college campuses.
Even more disturbing later this month, on September 23rd, San Francisco State University plans to host a discussion titled "Whose Narratives? Gender, Justice, and Resistance," featuring Khaled as their keynote speaker.
While the community has expressed massive outrage, the University refuses to cancel the event, stating "A University is a marketplace of ideas, and SF State supports the rights of all individuals to express their viewpoints and other speech protected by law, even when those viewpoints may be controversial."
San Francisco State University (SFSU), a federally funded school, is allowing a convicted terrorist to speak openly on campus to young, impressionable students. The school has received over $28 MILLION in Federal subsidies under the 2020 CARES act.
SFSU is no stranger to promoting antisemitism in public and last year after two Jewish students who allege the university discriminated against them, the Lawfare Project and Winston & Strawn LLP reached a landmark settlement in their lawsuits against the whole California State University (CSU) public university system, where CSU agreed to acknowledge Zionism as an important part of Jewish identity and implement wide-ranging measures to protect Jewish students
No matter how many excuses and cover-ups are attempted, Leila Khaled remains a convicted terrorist who continues to promote antisemitism, hate, and violence. San Francisco State University is a repeated antisemitic offender and is complicit in Ms. Khaled’s bigotry and Jew-hatred.