In 1969, Leila Khaled hijacked her first airliner, commandeering TWA flight 870 and becoming the first woman to hijack an airplane. The hijacking was undertaken in support of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, an organization designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. Department of State in 1997.
Today, a half century later, two faculty members at San Francisco State University had planned to host — via Zoom — a “roundtable conversation” and “Q&A discussion” with Khaled, described as a “Palestinian feminist, militant, and leader.” Critics of the event, however, argued that the discussion would be unlawful, even criminal. The planned discussion was condemned by dozens of pro-Israel organizations, including the Zionist Organization of America, which urged that the “program be cancelled immediately, since a violent terrorist has nothing of value to offer your students.”
Yesterday, Zoom refused to allow the university to use its service for the discussion — a cancellation praised by FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, who said there was no “need to hear both sides.” It is not yet clear whether the organizers of the event will switch to another channel of communication.
Source: FIRE