Ohio State SJP to Host Book Club on Memoir of PFLP Terrorist & Airplane Hijacker
The event's promotional imagery features PFLP hijacker Leila Khaled holding an AK-47. A new email campaign is urging Little Moon Cafe and OSU to cancel the event over concerns of legitimizing violence
Students for Justice in Palestine at the publicly-funded Ohio State University will host a book club discussion on January 3rd focused on the autobiography of Leila Khaled, a senior member of the U.S.-designated terror group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who participated in two airplane hijackings in 1969 and 1970. The event, scheduled for 2 PM at Little Moon Cafe, will discuss Khaled’s memoir “My People Shall Live,” which details her role in hijacking TWA Flight 840 and attempting to hijack El Al Flight 219.
News of the event has drawn attention from Jewish students and community advocates who argue that celebrating a terrorist hijacker normalizes political violence. An email template circulating online provides contact information for Little Moon Cafe and Ohio State administrators, allowing concerned individuals to express objections to the event.
The event announcement describes the autobiography as providing “insight into how life under occupation shapes Palestinian revolutionaries, and the necessity of the Palestinian struggle for Liberation.” The announcement by SJP-OSU, which is an official student organization at the university, features an image of Khaled holding an AK-47 rifle.
SJP-OSU: Repeated Glorification of U.S.-Designated Terror Groups
An examination of SJP-OSU’s social media activity and reading materials reveals a systematic pattern of commemorating PFLP officials and individuals convicted of terrorist acts.
On July 9, 2024, SJP-OSU posted a commemoration of Ghassan Kanafani, describing him as a “martyr” killed by “the Zionist regime.” The post omitted that Kanafani served as a co-founder and official spokesperson for the PFLP and publicly claimed responsibility for the 1972 Lod Airport massacre, in which three Japanese Red Army members killed 26 people, including 17 American citizens, and injured 80 others at Israel’s main airport. Kanafani appeared in photographs with the attackers shortly before the operation and defended the tactics used in interviews.
A December 2024 post celebrated the 37th anniversary of the First Intifada, referring to its “glorious heroes” and “revolutionary spirit.” Over the course of the intifada, 200 Israelis were murdered by Palestinian terrorists.
SJP-OSU also promotes a reading list titled “Our History of Popular Resistance” on its Linktree. Published by the “Popular University of the Palestinian Youth Movement,” the document explicitly states it covers “all forms of resistance taken up by Palestinians” including “military/armed resistance.”
The reading list features multiple works by or about individuals convicted of terrorism. It includes writings by PFLP terrorist Walid Daqqah, who was convicted in 1987 for participating in the kidnapping and killing of an Israeli soldier. The list also recommends a documentary about Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who was convicted in France for the 1982 assassinations of a U.S. military attaché and an Israeli diplomat, serving over 40 years in prison before his recent release.
SJP-OSU’s Anti-Americanism
SJP-OSU’s advocacy extends beyond Palestinian issues into broader anti-American positions. A Thanksgiving 2023 post referred to the United States as “Turtle Island,” using terminology that rejects American sovereignty, and characterized the nation as engaged in “ongoing, slow genocide” against Indigenous peoples. The post declared that “Turtle Island and Palestine are united by their shared history of ongoing resistance against settler colonialism.”
Another post from June 2024 called to “ABOLISH ICE! NOBODY IS ILLEGAL ON STOLEN LAND,” comparing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to Nazi Gestapo and describing U.S. immigration enforcement as “fascist” and “brutal.” The post explicitly connected these issues: “The system that brutalizes immigrants and tears apart families is the same system that greenlights and aids the genocide and occupation of Palestine.” It also delegitimizes the United States by referring to it as “stolen land.”
These activities occur in the context of a U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights investigation that was opened in early 2024 into whether the university failed to respond adequately to antisemitic incidents on campus. The original complaint specifically mentioned SJP-OSU activities. The current status of that investigation remains unclear, though the university was listed among institutions still under investigation in a March 2025 Department of Education press release.
Previous Suspension of Pro-Palestine Student Group
In December 2023, Ohio State suspended Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists (CORS), a far-left group ideologically aligned with SJP-OSU, after determining the organization posed a significant risk of substantial harm to campus safety. University spokesperson Dave Isaacs stated that among CORS’s violations, the group had disseminated materials featuring the logo of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
CORS had promoted an event titled “Intifada Revolution and the Path to a Free Palestine” using flyers that displayed the PFLP logo. The group was reinstated in February 2024 after appealing the suspension and public pressure from other pro-Palestine organizations.
Update: Jewish Onliner recieved the following response from an OSU spokesperson:
“This event is being held at a private business off campus. Ohio State seeks to foster a safe and welcoming campus for individuals of all backgrounds, and the university strongly condemns antisemitism and all forms of discrimination. Tools are in place for reporting student conduct complaints, including allegations about student organizations. Details about the complaint process are here. If a student, or student organization, is found in violation of the Code of Student Conduct, sanctions are assessed according to specific details of the case as well as the student’s/group’s conduct history. Additional information and details about the factors that are considered during the sanctioning process are available on the Office of Student Life website.”
I want to use your email link, but it's a substack redirection, which opens Mac Mail. Please post an actual link I can use. Thank you!