Student Groups Praise Terror Mastermind on Anniversary of Death
Ghassan Kanafani, a leader of the PFLP terror organization who was responsible for the deaths of Americans and Israelis, was glorified by multiple US-based nonprofits, including student groups
On July 8, multiple U.S.-based student organizations issued statements commemorating the Israeli Mossad’s assassination of Ghassan Kanafani, an infamous Palestinian figure, referring to him glowingly as a “poet,” “author,” and “activist.”
However, critics have noted that the groups praising Kanafani omit that he was also a key member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group responsible for countless acts of terrorism, including hijackings, bombings, and attacks that deliberately targeted civilians. The PFLP is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, Israel, and the European Union. Its most notable attack was the 1972 Lod Airport Massacre, in which 28 people were murdered, including 17 Americans.
Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM)
PYM is one of the organizations that has celebrated Kanafani. Known for its radical stance, the PYM aligns itself with terrorist groups like Hamas and the PFLP, both of which are notorious for their use of violence to achieve political aims. In a post marking Kanafani’s death, PYM hailed him as a “Palestinian thinker and revolutionary figure,” labelling him a “leading revolutionary voice in both Palestine and the wider Arab world.”
U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
USPCN is another group that has glorified Kanafani. Known for its sharp criticism of U.S. and Israeli policies, the USPCN is directly associated, through co-founder Rasmea Yousef Odeh, to terrorism. Odeh was convicted for her involvement in the 1969 British Consulate and supermarket bombings in Jerusalem, in which two Israeli students were killed.
Like PYM, USPCN’s admiration for Kanafani reflects their endorsement of violent resistance, when they praise him as a “revolutionary leader” who “inspired millions of Palestinians and others across the globe.”
National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP)
NSJP, for its part, glorified Kanafani by calling him a “martyr” and posting that “we honor his impact in the struggle for Palestinian liberation and his global influence beyond.”
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)
JVP, an anti-Israel organization that has been accused of having ties to Lebanon, celebrated Kanafani by writing that “Kanafani’s ‘resistance literature’ moved the world to connect with Palestinian experiences of struggle, exile, love, and loss.”
