How Leila Khaled Became the Anti-Israel Icon
The anti-Israel movement is enamored with Leila Khaled. A terrorist with the distinction of being the first female Palestinian hijacker, Khaled is the most famous member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an organization designated as a terrorist group by America, Canada, Australia, Japan and the European Union.
After hijacking two planes, she not only walks free today – which she did after both hijackings – but is a leader in the anti-Israel movement. That movement has unapologetically made her their hero.
Across college campuses and social media, Leila Khaled’s picture adorns university “apartheid” walls, posters, advertisements, backpacks and buttons. The most iconic picture of her shows her swathed in a Palestinian keffiyeh cradling an AK-47. It was taken shortly after her release following her first hijacking in 1969.
Her presence has become ubiquitous in the movement. Even well-known Palestinian comedian and anti-Israel activist Amer Zahr recently posted a video to his 100,000 Instagram followers of himself in an airport proudly wearing a T-shirt adorned with Khaled’s rifle-toting image.
Zahr, who was waiting to board a plane at the time, said:
“People say to me, Amer, enough. Do you have to be Palestinian all the time, like even in the airport?” (To which Zahr answered, “Yes, even in the airport … it’s never a bad time.”)
Now, at 78 years old, Khaled is still a sought-after speaker, idolized by anti-Israel activists, both on and off campus.
Watch Within Our Lifetime founder and leader Nerdeen Kiswani gush about Leila Khaled who she terms a “fearless freedom fighter.” In the video, Kiwani shamelessly rewrites the history:
Leila Khaled: Why Is She So Popular?
Khaled is a fervent believer in armed and violent struggle. Over the years, she has not moderated this stance. For example, Khaled contends that the Second Intifada (uprising) in Israel (2000-2005) failed because it was not violent enough. The Second Intifada was characterized by Palestinian suicide bombings and shootings that killed 1,100 Israelis and wounded 8,000.
In addition, Khaled’s group, the PFLP, is a Marxist-Leninist organization. This makes it in sync with most of today’s anti-Israel leaders and their myriad allies.
In fact, Khaled’s appeal crosses off a number of intersectional boxes: woman, feminist, militant, communist, “victim.”
Still, Leila Khaled’s terrorist exploits in her early years represent her main appeal to the anti-Israel crowd.
Historic Hijackings: TWA 840
On August 29, 1969, Khaled and fellow PFLP operative Salim Issawi hijacked TWA Flight 840 from Rome to Tel Aviv. The PFLP dispatched the two after receiving intel that Yitzhak Rabin, then Israeli ambassador to America, would be on board. (He was not.)
Khaled and Issawi diverted the plane to the Damascus International Airport in Syria. They then instructed the passengers to exit the plane quickly after placing explosives in the nose of the plane.
The Syrian authorities arrested Khaled and Issawi and released the 12 crew members. They released all the passengers except the six Israelis who were on board. Four of the Israelis were freed the next day. The remaining two were held captive. In December, the Syrians exchanged them for 71 Syrian and Egyptian soldiers in Israeli custody.
A month and a half later, Syria released Khaled and Issawi without charges. Shortly after, famous American photographer Eddie Adams snapped the famous picture of her with the AK-47.
El Al Flight 219
Less than a year later, on September 6, 1970, Leila Khaled attempted to hijack El Al Flight 219 from Amsterdam to New York City. Since her first hijacking, she underwent six plastic surgeries on her nose and chin to conceal her identity.
This time, Khaled teamed up with Patrick Argüello, a Nicaraguan-American who was part of the socialist Sandanista National Liberation Front. The action was part of what was later called the Dawson's Field hijackings, a series of five near-simultaneous hijackings carried out by the PFLP. (Three of the planes were forced to land in Dawson’s Field, a remote desert airstrip in Jordan, which became the PFLP's "Revolutionary Airport.")
At the beginning of the hijacking, Arguello shot and gravely injured a crew member. He then put a gun to the head of a stewardess.
Yet, thanks to destabilizing maneuvers the El Al pilot learned from his training in the Israeli air force, the hijacking didn’t go as planned. As the plane dove 10,000 feet in less than 60 seconds, El Al sky marshals caught the hijackers off guard. They killed Arguello and overpowered Khaled.
However, Leila Khaled was not subdued before she removed a pin from one of her grenades and tossed it down the aisle of the plane. Miraculously, the grenade did not explode. If it would have, most likely the plane would have depressurized and crashed.
The pilot then diverted the aircraft to London’s Heathrow Airport to save the injured crew member who was in danger of bleeding out. British authorities delivered Leila Khaled to the Ealing police station. Less than a month later, on October 1, the British government released Khaled in exchange for hostages from other Dawson Field hijackings.
Leila Khaled: Unrepentant Terrorist
Khaled continued to return to the UK for speaking engagements until 2005 when she was finally refused a visa by the British embassy. She was invited to speak at an arts festival in Ireland but instead made her appearance through a video hook-up.
In September 2020, Khaled was scheduled to speak at a Zoom conference at San Francisco State University hosted by Professors Rabab Abdulhadi and Tomomi Kinukawa. Following intense outcry, Zoom, along with YouTube and Facebook, prohibited the conference from using their platforms. The companies cited compliance with U.S. export control, sanctions and anti-terrorism laws.
Khaled’s capital has only grown over time. She still is a sought-after speaker and the subject of numerous “art” projects, from pop songs, murals and documentaries. In 2018, a street in Johannesburg, South Africa, was renamed Leila Khaled Drive by the city council. The American consulate in Johannesburg is located on the street, making the move an indisputable in-your-face protest against American support for Israel.
Yet nowhere in the free world is the love affair with Leila Khaled more pronounced than in America, where Khaled and the PFLP have replaced Hamas as the indisputable favorite of the most prominent anti-Israel groups including Students for Justice in Palestine and Within Our Lifetime.
Her widespread support among anti-Israel activists represents the bitter truth that an ideological alliance exists between terrorists and many anti-Israel activists, including those in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement.
As PFLP admirer and SJP activist Subhi Husien tweeted, “When Zionists say ‘BDS isn't a solution to peace’ they're half right. BDS is important for weakening the Zionist entity but violent revolution will be the only solution to gain liberation.”