Saturday, January 11, 2014

AMCHA Commends Hadassah Chapter for Raising Concerns about the Glorification of Terrorism at SFSU

 http://www.amchainitiative.org/

AMCHA Initiative would like to commend the Santa Cruz chapter of Hadassah for writing a letter to San Francisco State University President Wong in response to a campus event glorifying the murder of Jews, which AMCHA had exposed.

In their letter they note, “We were extremely troubled to learn of the November 7, 2013 campus event where several student organizations promoted hand-made stencils glorifying terrorist Leila Khaled and the statement “My heroes have always killed colonizers.”


Of particular interest is the personal story related by Santa Cruz Hadassah President Anastasia Torres-Gil regarding Leila Khaled:
“On a personal note, my friend was on the El Al flight highjacked by Leila Khaled. He describes watching in horror as Ms. Khaled pointed her gun at the terrified flight attendant’s head and after Ms. Khaled pulled the pin from her grenade, waiting to see if it would detonate, murdering everyone. We are deeply saddened that this is who some misguided SFSU students seek to emulate and romanticize.”

Leila Khaled is a convicted hijacker and the most famous member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a US State Department-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. According to the global terrorism database operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with the University of Maryland, the PFLP has been responsible for 159 terrorist acts including bombings, explosions, armed assault and assassinations, resulting in numerous injuries and deaths, including those of more than 20 US citizens.

In one particularly horrifying incident, PFLP members hijacked a cruise liner and shot Leon Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound elderly Jewish tourist, in the forehead and chest and threw him overboard.

Still a member of the PFLP, Leila Khaled continues to advocate for the elimination of the Jewish state through violent means, and the need for North American youth to join in struggle for the “liberation of Palestine.” Speaking at "Return and Liberation," a student-organized conference at the University of British Columbia in May 2013, Khaled said:
 
"The day, Nakba, means that never ever will we co-exist with Zionists  [loud applause]...the Zionists are anti-human. They are the new Nazis of the 21st century...this entity, which is called Israel, we should never ever recognize…[loud applause].”

I believe, and a very important part of our people believe, that armed struggle is the only way...Armed struggle is the shortest way towards liberation...Now there are calls for stopping using arms... We can't liberate a land with language only... and this will open the road for us to be back to our homeland."

"I see a lot of you, the young people -- one day I was young, too -- and I think you will exceed me and exceed others with your work and with your struggle and with your minds, and with using all means to escalate the struggle of our people."
 
AMCHA Initiative fully supports the position of the Santa Cruz chapter of Hadassah, that glorifying a violent terrorist such as Leila Khaled  on a university campus is deeply troubling and cannot help but create a hostile and threatening environment for all members of the campus community, especially Jewish students.

To date, SFSU President Wong has not publicly announced any steps the University has taken to address this serious and growing problem and to ensure the safety of all students on his campus.

AMCHA Initiative is preparing further action regarding the situation at SFSU. We will be updating you soon.

 
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A reminder: Please like and share a wonderful new community group for students and community members to post pictures and incidents of antisemitism on college campuses: https://www.facebook.com/StudentsAgainstJewHatred

Thank you for your support!

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