‘Zoom BANS San Francisco Event Featuring Anti-Israel Terrorist + TOP ISRAELI LAW FIRM, SHURAT HADIN, DEMANDS CALIFORNIA U DROP PFLP HIJACKER/TERRORIST AS SPEAKER’ – SAN FRAN STATE ON NOTICE: THE WHYS & WHEREFORES; THE MERGING OF THE RED-GREEN AXIS! [VIDEO EVIDENCE]
ISRAEL/NATIONAL/NEWS | September 23, 2020
San Francisco State University event giving platform to convicted PFLP terrorist Leila Khaled barred from using Zoom’s broadcast services.
An event featuring a convicted Palestinian Arab terrorist has been barred from using the Zoom online video conference service, following pressure from Jewish groups.
The event in question is sponsored by San Francisco State University’s women and gender studies department as well as by the college’s Arab and Muslim studies program, and is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.
Leila Khaled is the guest speaker of the event, which was billed as “Whose Narratives? Gender, Justice & Resistance: A Conversation with Leila Khaled”.
Khaled, a convicted Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist who was involved in a series of airplane hijackings which targeted Israel in the late 1960s and early 1970s, was described by organizers as a “Palestinian feminist, militant, and leader.”
As first reported by Arutz Sheva, the event drew heavy criticism from Jewish and pro-Israel groups in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Act-il project, which lobbied Zoom to deny the event use of its services.
Tom Berman, director of Act-il at the Abba Even Institute for Diplomacy, told Arutz Sheva, “More than a thousand members of the Act-il community have already sent emails to the university’s administration, demanding the cancellation of the lecture that gives a platform to terrorist Leila Khaled, even though she encourages terrorism against Israel.”
The Lawfare Project warned Zoom that if it hosted Wednesday’s event, it could be in violation of federal law which prohibits assisting foreign terrorist organizations.
On Wednesday, Zoom told the Lawfare Project that due to Khaled’s affiliation with a US-designated terrorist organization, the event was in violation of the company’s terms of service.
“Zoom is committed to supporting the open exchange of ideas and conversations, subject to certain limitations contained in our Terms of Service, including those related to user compliance with applicable U.S. export control, sanctions, and anti-terrorism laws. In light of the speaker’s reported affiliation or membership in a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization, and SFSU’s inability to confirm otherwise, we determined the meeting is in violation of Zoom’s Terms of Service and told SFSU they may not use Zoom for this particular event.”
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JERUSALEM/POST | By Donna Rachel Edmunds | September 18, 2020
Plane hijacker Leila Khaled is due to address San Francisco State University’s Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas study program on September 23.
The president of a leading law firm dedicated to opposing terrorism through legal channels has written to the Chancellor of the California State University to demand that an invitation extended to terrorist Leila Khaled to address a study program be withdrawn.
Khaled, who as a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked El Al Flight 219 on September 6, 1970, is due to address an event hosted by San Francisco State University’s (SFSU’s) Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) study program, entitled “Who’s Narratives? Gender, Justice and Resistance: a conversation with Leila Khaled” on September 23, 2020.
SFSU has already rejected previous requests to withdraw the invitation, including a request made by Rodney Khazzam, a passenger on Flight 219 who almost lost his life when Khaled attempted to detonate a grenade while the plane was aloft. Now Nitsana Darshan Leitner, president of Shurat HaDin, a Tel Aviv-based law firm which specializes in defending the right of the State of Israel to exist, has written to the university on Khazzam’s behalf to demand the same.
“SFSU President Lynn Mahoney rejected Mr. Khazzam’s request she withdraw the invitation, victimizing him yet again by honoring the terrorist who tried to kill him as a child,” Darshan Leitner wrote, adding: “There is no place in civil society and academic settings for an event or program glorifying or advocating “resistance” or violence under the guise of free speech. I call upon you and the Board of Trustees to correct this grave error and rescind the invitation.”
Flight 219 was one of four planes hijacked that day by the PFLP, and the only one that failed: Khaled’s co-conspirator Patrick Argüello was killed by an air marshal, while Khaled was subdued and handed over to British authorities in London. Three other planes were successfully diverted to Dawson’s Field, a remote desert airstrip in Jordan, where the 56 Jewish passengers were separated from non-Jews and held hostage. Three days later a fifth plane was hijacked in an attempt to force authorities to release Khaled and other PFLP prisoners, and a deal was struck on September 30 which saw the hostages released in return for their freedom.
In her letter, Darshan Leitner describes Khaled as the “well-known poster girl for Palestinian terrorism since 1969 posing while holding an AK-47 and wearing a Keffiyeh,” and says of the PFLP that it is “a Palestinian, secular, Marxist-Leninist terror group designated by the European Union, Canada, Israel, and the US State Department, Bureau of Counter-terrorism as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The organization calls for the liberation of all “Palestine” and is closely associated with BDS. It has targeted civilians with suicide bombings, assassinations, hijackings, and shootings since its founding in 1967.”
Of Khaled’s role in the hijackings, she writes: “Khaled terrorized the passengers, and without hesitation, tried to murder Mr. Khazzam and every innocent on that plane by attempting to detonate a grenade. She was apprehended only to be released by British authorities as part of a prisoner exchange. Leila Khaled did not pay for her crimes and the terror she inflicted on Mr. Khazzam and his family. Khaled has never expressed regret for her actions and remains an unrepentant terrorist. She frequently equates Israel and Zionism with terrorism and advocates violence against Israel as a legitimate weapon.”
