Israel’s Holocaust Day 2011—Remember or Replay?

Terrorist Leila Khaled Speaks at Swedish Union Celebration

Arutz 7 reports that a Swedish trade union has invited PFLP terrorist Leila Khaled, who was convicted for her part in hijacking an El Al airliner 1970. Khaled also took part in the 1969 hijacking of a TWA flight in which two Israeli passengers were held hostage for 44 days after the plane was forced to land in Damascus.

Ms Khaled is the May Day celebrations guest of the Stockholm branch of trade union SAC - Syndikalisterna. However, the SAC refers to Khaled, not as a terrorist, but in celebrity terms and as a “Palestinian freedom fighter”. Khaled joins the list of other “activists” including the “representatives of the project Ship to Gaza” who were feted by the SAC for delivering minimal and mostly useless aid cargo to Gaza. According the trade union’s website:

-“Khaled is a world-renowned secular activist, fighting her entire life for equality…and a free Palestine…[SAC] is also member of the project Ship to Gaza aimed at the peaceful break the blockade of Gaza and the delivery of relief supplies to the Gaza population.”

Referring to the PFLP activist as “secular” and fighting for “equality” is deceptive. The Arutz7 article describes the 1969 multiple hijacking Khaled participated in:

-“Crew members and 56 Jews were segregated and held, while the majority of passengers (310) were freed.” If Khaled is secular, why was there this religious selection? This pattern was repeated in the PFLP/Baader Meinhof Entebbe hijacking of 1976—after landing in Entebbe, all non-Jewish passengers were freed:

“The hijackers deliberately sorted the hostages into two groups—Israeli nationals and others, or Jews and Gentiles. As they did so a Holocaust survivor showed [German terrorist Wilfred] Böse a camp registration number tattooed on his arm, Böse protested "I'm no Nazi! ... I am an idealist.”

The parallel to Nazi camp selections is not coincidental. Palestinian and Arab participation with the Nazis is well-documented. A recent book by David Patterson titled A Genealogy of Evil  discusses what Jerusalem Post reviewer (and Holocaust survivor) Alexander Zvielli describes as “an inextricable link between Nazi ideology, the exploitation of Jew-hatred and Islamic jihad’s ideological foundations.” The “secular” nature of the PFLP is less evident than its similarities to jihadist terror groups. Khaled’s slain partner in the multiple hijacking was referred to as a “martyr” in a video of demands made by the Dawson’s Field terrorists.

We may find it hard to understand why anyone supported the Nazis. On the other hand, the celebrity status given by SAC to a convicted and unrepentant terrorist like Leila Khaled is an insight into how evil attracts.

This year, we focus on the link between Islamists and Nazis, and ask you to remember the Jews of Islamic countries who also suffered from Nazi pogroms, brutal internment, and ultimately expulsion from their centuries-old communities.

If you are interested in protesting Leila Khaled’s appearance at Stockholm’s Labor Day Celebrations, here is the number for the trade union-- Press Contact 0762286309

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By Chanah Shapira