UK pro-Palestine activists to host speech from PFLP hijacker Leila Khaled

Leila Khaled is set to give a speech via video call at a fundraiser organized by the pro-Palestine activist group the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC) on Friday.

Khaled, 79, rose to prominence following her successful hijacking of one plane in 1969 and her failed hijacking of a second plane in 1970.

She was involved with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary socialist organization that has operated closely with other armed Palestinian groups. The PFLP has carried out attacks on civilians and was involved in the October 7 attacks.

Khaled praised the October 7 attacks and called Hamas "freedom fighters" in an interview with the Australian Green Left organization. 

"The freedom fighters did not attack ordinary people, they attacked the military settlements. But when the borders were open, some other people took civilians," she said.

Leila Khaled's hijackings

Khaled's first hijacking involved her taking control of TWA flight 840 on its way from Rome to Tel Aviv and diverting it to Damascus.

After the hijacking, photos of her smiling and holding an AK-47 were disseminated, and she became known as the "pin-up girl of revolution."

She supposedly underwent many plastic surgery operations to conceal her identity before she could participate in more hijackings.

Her second hijacking was of El Al Flight 219 from Amsterdam to New York and was part of a series of PFLP hijackings carried out simultaneously.

The hijacking failed, Khaled's accomplice was killed, and she was arrested, only being released in an exchange later that year.

Khaled has, since her release, given numerous speeches and talks about her life as a hijacker. She was granted entry to the UK numerous times until 2005, when she was refused a visa by the British embassy for a talk in Belfast.

She is slated to appear via video at the PSC fundraiser being held in Birmingham, UK. 

Outrage at the move was voiced by the West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, on UK radio on Tuesday.

He announced that he would be investigating whether it would be possible for the police to prevent the event for "reasons of public order."

Khaled's organization, the PFLP, is considered a terrorist organization in the European Union, the US, Canada, and Japan, but not the UK.

Following the outcry, PSC distanced itself from the fundraiser, saying "the framing of the event did not clearly fall within the framework of the principles” held by the organization, although the host of the event said it would still be going ahead, according to Jewish News.