Israel has lodged an official protest to Ireland over the invitation of Leila Khaled, a convicted Palestinian plane hijacker who has continued to advocate violence against Israelis, to speak at a teachers’ club in Dublin belonging to the Irish National Teachers’ Organization.
Violent jihadist “plane hijacker Leila Khaled” is invited to speak at a teachers’ club, while free speech activists and supporters of democratic values continue to be demonized.
It’s the theatre of the absurd. Human rights, tolerance, pluralism and the freedom of speech once flourished across Europe; now, those who uphold hatred, intolerance, violence, and the forcible silencing of dissenting views are celebrated and lionized.
The invitation to Khaled, even though it was ultimately rescinded under pressure, is another step for Ireland down the path to self-destruction. Irish officials also recently asked homeowners to house Muslim migrants in the spare rooms of their homes for up to a year. The Irish government paid media to promote a plan to bring in one million Muslim migrants.
“Israel urges Ireland to cancel speech by Palestinian terrorist,” by Michael Bachner, Times of Israel, May 31, 2018:
Israel has lodged an official protest to Ireland over the invitation of Leila Khaled, a convicted Palestinian plane hijacker who has continued to advocate violence against Israelis, to speak at a teachers’ club in Dublin belonging to the Irish National Teachers’ Organization.
Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan sent the protest letter to Dublin’s education minister, Richard Bruton, demanding that he cancel Khaled’s appearance, Hadashot TV reported Thursday.
Khaled is scheduled to speak via video link in a public talk hosted at the club by the socialist groups Anti Imperialist Action Ireland and Lasair Dhearg.
“It is hard to understand why Ireland, which has also experienced many terror attacks, would agree to honor a terrorist at an educational event, who expresses solidarity with terror attacks and views them as a legitimate tool,” Erdan wrote.
“I implore you to cancel Khaled’s speech in Ireland and join the large number of countries banning terrorists from spreading their criminal messages and ideas,” Erdan added in the letter….
Khaled was arrested by Israeli sky marshals in 1970 during an attempt to hijack an El Al flight from Amsterdam along with an accomplice, who was killed by the security officers. She was carrying two grenades. British authorities later released her in exchange for hostages from another hijacking which occurred a month after her arrest.
She had previously hijacked an American passenger plane in 1969, landing it in Damascus, where the two Israeli passengers aboard were held for three months before they were traded for Syrian prisoners of war held in Israeli jails.
Khaled is also a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, an organization which is blacklisted as a terrorist entity by the European Union.
The planned speech by Khaled in Ireland titled “The Nakba and the Great March of Return,” gained public attention in Israel when it was first reported Friday…..