Palestinian female hijacker Leila Khaled of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has become the new Che Guevera among Generation Z students in the West.
By Rachel Avraham
According to a recent report put out by MEMRI titled “The PFLP Gets a Hollywood Makeover,” the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who was one of several Palestinian terror organizations to participate in the October 7 massacre, has increasingly been making inroads on college and university campuses across the Western world: “A perennially popular and frequently interviewed PFLP figure whose image, speeches, and talks regularly appear on campus is hijacker and terrorist Leila Khaled. She is regularly invoked by pro-Palestinian and other protestors – much like Che Guevara, whose famous photo continues to appear on T-shirts, posters, and radical literature. It was recently announced that South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg, would be naming a street after her.”
The Students for Justice in Palestine have also adopted Khaled’s image: “Members have displayed at a panel depicting Khaled carrying a rifle at University of California Riverside, promoted a “teach-in” about her at UNC-Chapel Hill, and shared images featuring the PFLP logo on Instagram at the University of Texas, Dallas, NYU Law, and the University of Massachusetts. Students have glorified Khaled on Instagram at San Francisco State University and sold merchandise bearing her image at the Fashion Institute of Technology, which is part of the State University of New York. These are just a few examples of the PFLP presence that is spreading across campuses.”
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs President Dan Diker “who authored Students for Justice in Palestine: Unmasked, explained that SJP is a Palestinian terror organization front. Numbering over 300 branches on North American campuses, SJP was founded by former UC Berkeley professor Hatem Bazian, who also founded the Hamas-affiliated American Muslims for Palestine. Bazian publicly called for the violent subversion of the United States via an “intifada.” SJP has hosted Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives, a veteran of the Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and attempted hijacker Leila Khaled, among other terrorists and their supporters.”
“The PFLP was established in 1967 by George Habash, and designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department, Japan, Canada, and the EU,” MEMRI continued. “It has carried out numerous terror attacks, beginning with passenger airplane hijackings in the 1970s and since moved on to suicide attacks, shootings, and assassinations. It is currently based in Damascus, Syria and, like Hizballah and Hamas, financed by Iran. Recently, it has called, multiple times, for terror attacks inside the U.S. and against U.S. Embassies and military bases, as well as at its rallies calls for “Death to Canada.” Despite its secular Marxist-Leninist origins and its virulent anticapitalism, its ideology also incorporates elements of jihad and martyrdom.”
According to MEMRI, “In addition to Habash, the PFLP’s general secretary who adapted modern terrorist tactics as a weapon, the organization’s other founders include terrorist operations chief Wadi Haddad, organizer of the 1976 Entebbe hijacking; the first woman hijacker in history, Leila Khaled; Abu Ali Mustafa, responsible for nearly a dozen car-bomb attacks; assassination mastermind and imprisoned PFLP secretary general Ahmad Sa’adat. These arch-terrorists are enjoying the fruits of a Hollywood makeover in hopes of inspiring a new era of Gen-Z students.”
They added, “Right after October 7, PFLP flags became a fixture at pro-Palestinian protests and at campus encampments. The PFLP flags – red with a white emblem representing the word “Front” and a Palestinian return to Israel – have become popular, as have PFLP headbands and other paraphernalia appearing at these venues across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. PFLP-linked events at U.S. colleges and universities have included teach-ins and speeches featuring and focusing on the organization and its officials and affiliates.”
MEMRI noted, “University campuses have always provided the PFLP with a large pool of recruits already radicalized by extremist professors who exemplify how many universities have failed to protect their impressionable students from being groomed. The PFLP’s secular Marxist-Leninist ideology, with its related goals for the destruction of Israel and of U.S. imperialism, have great appeal for these students. Gaining support from U.S. students continues to be a top strategy of the PFLP.”
To highlight this point, MEMRI stressed, “In an April 24 statement it underlined its appreciation for the “solidarity and support for the struggle of our people in various American universities.” In May, the organization’s deputy secretary general further encouraged the protests, saying that “the university intifada in America should be a model to be emulated in order to triumph for Palestine.” It was recently revealed that Hassan Diam, who as a member of the PFLP was involved in a terrorist attack on a French synagogue that killed four and wounded 40 in 1980, is now teaching at Canada’s Carleton University while France is demanding his extradition.”
In conclusion, MEMRI declared, “The outreach, indoctrination, and brainwashing efforts by PFLP leaders and affiliates – many of whom have been involved in terror attacks – that are directed at largely already-radicalized and receptive Western students and young people have only one possible goal: to further radicalize them towards taking their convictions one step farther – to actual terrorism. Counterterrorism and intelligence officials need to be paying close attention to what the PFLP is doing in the U.S. and in the West – including examining whether there are any ongoing influence campaigns and if so, who is behind them – and to be aware of the danger this group poses if they fail to do so.”
