Zionist groups, MPs aim for ban on Palestinian icon Leila Khaled

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The Times
5 Mar 2024 15:59
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Leila Khaled is one of at least 800,000 Palestinians who were forcibly expelled from their homes in Palestine during the 1948 Nakba.

Leila Khaled, pictured on July 28, 2006, marches through the streets of Cape Town city centre, South Africa (AFP)

Palestinian freedom fighter and prominent activist Leila Khaled is currently being targeted by a defamation campaign to prevent her participation via video link at a fundraiser organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) this Friday. The campaign organized a rally during which the slogan "from the river to the sea" was projected onto the Houses of Parliament.

Unsurprisingly, Khaled's participation has raised concerns among Zionist groups and Members of Parliament (MPs), leading to discussions with ministers, accusing her of "terrorism".

Khaled, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, stated in an interview for the activist blog Green Left last month that, according to her, the Resistance Palestinian movement Hamas did not target civilians during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. Khaled mentioned that the freedom fighters focused on Israeli settlements, and any harm to civilians occurred when borders were open and others took action independently.

“Neither Israel nor the Western media could prove that there were massacres. The civilian hostages [who were released in one of the deals negotiated] said they were dealt with very kindly. So why are they speaking like this about massacres? Just to say that the freedom fighters are terrorists," she said.

“So they made lies because they did not have any evidence. Even when [President] Biden showed some pictures, CNN said that he did not have evidence that this was what happened on October 7,” she added.

It is also worth noting that a campaign is underway to prevent Leila Khaled from obtaining a visa for her planned appearance at an event in Australia scheduled for June.

Khaled still visited the UK for speaking engagements until 2002, despite being denied a visa by the British embassy in 2005 for a meeting in Belfast.

She is set to participate in a fundraiser organized by the West Midlands branch of the PSC in Sparkbrook, Birmingham.

This is occurring as "Israel" perpetrates a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, resulting in the killing of over 30,000 people and causing the starvation of at least 2 million residents in the enclave.

Khaled, currently 79, was born in Haifa and is one of at least 800,000 Palestinians who were forcibly expelled from their homes in Palestine during the 1948 Nakba. Raised in a refugee camp in Tyre, Lebanon, she dedicated herself to the armed struggle in the course of liberating her occupied land by the age of 15.

Khaled is regarded as a freedom fighter, and her image will persistently appear on posters, in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and on the separation barrier.