San Francisco State University (SFSU) has invited unrepentant terrorist Laila Khaled to take part in a university event this Wednesday, Sept. 23, that is in breach of US anti-terror laws.
Khaled is a member of and has held senior positions in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP is designated as a terrorist organization in the United States, the European Union, Canada and Israel.
The PFLP is responsible for scores of terror attacks that resulted in the deaths of dozens of Israelis. Terror attacks of particular note include the assassination of Israel’s Minister of Tourism, Rehavam Ze’evi, the sending of suicide bombers, and the recent murder of Israeli teenager Rina Schnerb on August 23, 2019.
Khaled has been an active terrorist of the PFLP for over five decades. In 1969, Khaled and other terrorists hijacked TWA flight 840 from Rome to Tel Aviv. The plane was diverted to Beirut where all the non-Israeli passengers were released. While some Israeli passengers were released soon after, other spent months in captivity. Khaled was so motivated to continue hijacking civilian aircraft that after her picture appeared in the press, she underwent six plastic surgery operations to change her appearance. In 1970 together with an accomplice she attempted to hijack an EL-AL flight from Amsterdam to New York, in which a flight attendant was murdered. This hijacking was one of four simultaneous hijackings carried out by the PFLP. The hijacking was foiled by security personnel who shot Khaled’s accomplice, Patrick Argüello, and overpowered Khaled. Khaled was handed over and held by British police until she was exchanged on Oct. 1, 1970 for hostages held by the PFLP.
Khaled has never given up on terror as a means to achieve the goal of “liberating Palestine” – i.e., murdering Israelis and destroying Israel. The following are terrorist Khaled’s opinions on terror, hijackings, negotiations, and destroying Israel – in her own words:
Unrepentant terrorist Leila Khaled
On plane hijackings:
“It is the people’s right to invent forms of struggle, one of which is hijacking planes in order to release the male and female prisoners in the occupation’s (Palestinian term for Israel – Ed.) prisons, in addition to directing the world’s attention to the Palestinian cause.”
[Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egyptian newspaper, Oct. 20, 2018]
On negotiations to achieve peace:
“[I am] against vain negotiations”
[Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egyptian newspaper, Oct. 20, 2018]
“The path of negotiations has failed… we have already learned that the negotiations are absurd and useless.”
[Amad, independent Palestinian news website, June 5, 2017]
On terror instead of negotiations:
“Resistance in all manners (including violence – Ed.), and it is the only option”
[Amad, independent Palestinian news website, June 5, 2017]
“I’m in favor of the revolutionary activity”
[Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egyptian newspaper, Oct. 20, 2018]
“Freedom of peoples is not obtained in a pleasant manner, but rather by force”
[Amad, independent Palestinian news website, June 5, 2017]
On tools of terror available for pressuring Israel:
“Young people who are rising up in the West Bank are still carrying their knives and driving their cars (i.e., stabbing attacks and car ramming attacks).
[Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egyptian newspaper, Oct. 20, 2018]
On destroying Israel (“liberating Palestine”):
“[We must] continue in our resistance and unity until the liberation of Palestine – all of Palestine; and return to it as victors.”
[Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egyptian newspaper, Oct. 20, 2018]
“[That is] the essential question. Palestine will be liberated through resistance in all its forms (i.e., including terror), and foremost among them is armed struggle.”
[Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egyptian newspaper, Oct. 20, 2018]
On terror to force Israel to accept millions of refugees:
“Resistance is the means for our return, to which we adhere to our right.”
[Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egyptian newspaper, Oct. 20, 2018]
On Arab states normalizing relations with Israel:
“I’m in favor of the revolutionary activity and against vain negotiations… because it opened the door for the Arab governments for normalization with the Zionist entity.”
[Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egyptian newspaper, Oct. 20, 2018]
Logo of PFLP – goal is destruction of Israel
Logo of the PFLP
Among the senior positions held by Khaled in the PFLP is the Chief of the Department of Refugees and the Right of Return. The logo of the PFLP, which depicts all of Israel as “Palestine” clearly demonstrates the intentions of the organization.
As Palestinian Media Watch recently demonstrated, the goal of the Palestinian so-called “Right of Return,” is to destroy Israel as a Jewish country.
SFSU Event Violates US Law
Khaled’s participation in the SFSU event is only possible via the internet, since members of US designated terror organizations obviously cannot receive visas to enter the US. In Khaled’s case, additional provisions also apply.
American law cites involvement in “terrorist activities” as grounds for deeming an alien “ineligible for visas or admission” to the US. This statute extends to any alien who:
- “has engaged in a terrorist activity” [8 U.S.C. § 1182 (a)(3)(B)(i)(I)] including [Bii] “the hijacking or sabotage of any conveyance including an aircraft, vessel or vehicle.”
- “has, under circumstances indicating an intention to cause death or serious bodily harm, incited terrorist activity” [8 U.S.C. § 1182 (a)(3)(B)(i)(III)]
- “endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization” [8 U.S.C. § 1182 (a)(3)(B)(i)(VII)]
By hosting the event, SFSU is also probably in violation of 18 U.S. Code § 2339A for providing “material assistance to a terror organization.”
Terror organizations cannot survive without international support, both public and financial, for their terror. The more exposure and public awareness the terror organizations achieve, the number of potential terror supporters worldwide grows. Choosing to give a terrorist a platform, SFSU is furthering the goals of, and in all likelihood providing “material assistance to a terror organization.”
The following are longer excerpts of the interviews mentioned above
Headline: “Laila Khaled: Whoever wants a homeland does not need to wait for an objective situation, but rather to create it”
“Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) political bureau member Laila Khaled said, …in an interview with journalist Saif Al-Din on the Palestinian Cards program on the [Cairo-based] Al-Ghad satellite channel, that the path of negotiations has failed practically and ethically. She emphasized that the talk about negotiations giving the Palestinians rights is an illusion that will never be realized, and also emphasized that the freedom of peoples is not obtained in a pleasant manner, but rather by force, and we have already learned that the negotiations are absurd and useless.
Khaled added that the new American administration does not wish to find solutions that will give rights to the Palestinian people, and emphasized that there is another option – resistance in all manners (i.e., including violence), and it is the only option that stands before the Palestinian people.”[Amad, independent Palestinian news website, June 5, 2017]
“[Q:] How do you respond to those who consider plane hijacking an act of terror?
Laila Khaled: Resistance is a legitimate right for a people that is collapsing under occupation, and it is the people’s right to invent forms of struggle, one of which is hijacking planes in order to release the male and female prisoners in the occupation’s prisons, in addition to directing the world’s attention to the Palestinian cause, and indeed we succeeded at this. The occupation is the embodiment of terror, while the resistance is the natural [counter] balance to the occupation…
[Q:] What are the cards for pressuring that are in the possession of the Palestinians and Arabs, in the shadow of the collapse of most of the resistance movements?
Laila Khaled: The young people who are rising up in the West Bank are still carrying their knives and driving their cars (refers to stabbing and car ramming attacks –Ed.), and are still raising their voices against the occupier and its collaborators, in addition to the movement of the Palestinian people in the 1948 territories (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel), which will not be stopped due to the terrorist racism that the occupation state represents…
[Q:] In your opinion, when will Palestine be liberated?
Laila Khaled: [That is] the essential question. Palestine will be liberated through resistance in all its forms (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror), and foremost among them is armed struggle. It will be liberated when we unite, because unity is the peoples’ weapon at the stage of national liberation…
[Q:] Are you now in favor of the revolutionary activity or the negotiation table, and why?
Laila Khaled: I’m in favor of the revolutionary activity and against vain negotiations, which have been proven not to be beneficial and have negatively affected our people, because it opened the door for the Arab governments for normalization with the Zionist entity, and because negotiations have been attempted for 25 years and the Palestinian side has failed in dealing with the occupiers… The natural equation that is not subject to change is: Wherever the occupation is, there the resistance will be. And this is the law of the peoples who crave freedom…
[Q:] What do you say to the Palestinians in this period of struggle?
Laila Khaled: My message to the Palestinians in the homeland and in the diaspora: We will record in the history of humanity that freedom and the Palestinians are one and the same, and resistance is the means for our return, to which we adhere to our right, which requires that we be loyal to our Martyrs, our wounded, our male and female prisoners; continue in our resistance and unity until the liberation of Palestine – all of Palestine; and return to it as victors.”
[Website of Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egyptian newspaper, Oct. 20, 2018]
