The Dec. 2 program included a talk by a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terror group in both Canada and the United States.
Jewish News Syndicate
BY FAYGIE HOLT
Photo by: GoToVan / Wikimedia Commons
(December 1, 2021 / JNS) A program scheduled at the University of British Columbia on Dec. 2, which was to include a talk by a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the airing of a movie that glorified a convicted terrorist, has been postponed, according to a university spokesman.
Matthew Ramsey, director of university affairs, said āat this time, the event in question is postponed pending a safety and security review in accordance with university procedure.ā
The event was titled āFedayin: Georges Abdallah Film Screening,ā which organizers say āchronicles the course of a Lebanese Communist imprisoned in 1984 for his involvement in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine and Lebanon from Zionist occupation.ā
It was being sponsored by the Palestinian Youth Movement, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights UBC and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, and was to include a talk by Khaled Barakat, who has been named as part of the leadership of the PFLP abroad.
While the movie seeks to paint Abdallah as a political prisoner, he is a convicted terrorist who was found guilty of murdering Lt. Col. Charles R. Ray, a U.S. military attachƩ in Paris, and Yacov Barsimantov, an Israeli diplomat in 1982.
The decision to postpone the event came amid an outcry by Jewish groups, which noted that the PFLP is a designated terror group in both Canada and the United States.
āThe PFLP is responsible for terror attacks that resulted in the murder of countless civilians, including a massacre at an Israeli airport where a Canadian citizen was murdered. Therefore, we thank UBCās administration for intervening and postponing the event,ā said Steven Greenwood, executive director StandWithUs Canada. āIt is unfathomable that any student organization would host an event that glorifies terrorism featuring members of a Canadian and American federally recognized terrorist organization and invite them to set foot on UBC grounds where Jews and Israelis who are Canadian citizens attend.
āWe expect that UBCās administration will prioritize the safety and security of its students, hold the organizers of this despicable event accountable, and protect and support UBCās Jewish and Israeli community,ā it said.
Marty York, a spokesperson for Bānai Brith Canada, said: āWe have been informed that this event has been postponed. We will continue to work on this issue until we have been ensured that this terror-glorifying event has been permanently canceled.ā
Bānai Brith Canada noted itās not the first time that the university has hosted a program with a PFLP member. It said that in 2013, a recognized club on campus hosted a Skype program with Leila Khaled, who in 1969 hijacked a plane en route to Israel.
Click here for the full article.
