Leila Khaled to Speak During University of Hawaii Zoom Webinar

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) member Leila Khaled is scheduled to speak during a webinar hosted by Students and Faculty for Justice in Palestine at the University of Hawaii (UH) on October 23.

The event, which is co-sponsored by the UH Mānoa (UHM) Departments of Ethnic Studies and Political Science, is part of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel group’s “Day of Action Against the Criminalization and Censorship of Campus Political Speech.” The Day of Action was prompted by Zoom, Facebook and YouTube deplatforming San Francisco State University’s (SFSU) September 23 webinar featuring Khaled as a speaker.

“This is a hitherto unprecedented act of Big Tech compliance with public-private silencing of speech: academic speech, Palestinian speech, and political and social justice speech,” the Facebook page for the UH webinar stated. “It is emblematic of the corporate takeover of our universities and the influence of Zionist and right-wing organizations and individuals, along with the power of information capital, to set the agenda for what can and cannot be said or taught in a public university.

“Webinars such as the one at UH will be held throughout the day on Zoom itself, if possible with livestreaming on YouTube or Facebook, along with announcements on Facebook and Instagram, so as to challenge these corporations and force our universities to stand in support of students and faculty, our right to academic freedom, and struggles for justice and liberation, from the US to Palestine.”

https://www.facebook.com/SFJPUH/photos/gm.1879089705579129/206526874172515

StandWithUs CEO and co-founder Roz Rothstein, Center for Combating Anti-Semitism Director Carly Gammill, and Saidoff Legal Department Director Yael Lerman sent a letter to Zoom CEO and founder Eric Yuan urging him to deplatform the event.

“In light of Khaled’s membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a U.S. State Department-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, and, more importantly, her terrorism convictions in connection with the 1969 hijacking of TWA Flight 840 and the 1970 hijacking of El Al Flight 219, we ask that you immediately take all necessary steps to ensure that a convicted terrorist not receive a platform on Zoom,” they wrote.

Rothstein, Gammill, and Lerman also stated that the argument that academic freedom protects Khaled’s right to speak is “specious” because “refusing to provide convicted terrorists or supporters of terrorism a platform is a sound decision that protects your company legally, distances Zoom from appearing to support morally repugnant individuals, and in no way interferes with academic freedom. Terrorists can still speak elsewhere. You simply send the message that they are not welcome on your platform, just as Facebook and Twitter have recently communicated similarly in new policies banning Holocaust denial on their platforms.”

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, director of the AMCHA Initiative nonprofit that fights anti-Semitism on college campuses, said in a statement to the Journal, “It is important to recognize that this is so much larger than one or two or even a half dozen Leila Khaled events.  This is about the abuse happening on dozens of campuses where, under the mantle of academic freedom, faculty are permitted to use their positions and the name and resources of their university to host events whose goal is not to educate, but to indoctrinate students into anti-Zionist views, condone terrorism and promote BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions].

“Universities must stop turning a blind eye to this abuse, which not only undermines the academic mission of the university, but all too often results in an uptick in anti-Semitic assaults, vandalism, threats and harassment. It’s time for university leaders to step up to the plate and take action against this blatant faculty abuse.  Otherwise we’re going to be playing whack-a-mole as the Leila Khaleds of the world go on their hateful tours on virtual campuses across the country, and our children suffer the consequences.”

“Universities must stop turning a blind eye to this abuse, which not only undermines the academic mission of the university, but all too often results in an uptick in anti-Semitic assaults, vandalism, threats and harassment.” — Tammi Rossman-Benjamin

The University of Hawaii and Zoom did not respond to the Journal’s requests for comment.

The September 23 SFSU event, which was sponsored the university’s Arab and Muslim Ethnicities Diaspora Studies and Women and Gender Studies Departments, had been scheduled to feature Khaled as part of a panel. Zoom announced on September 22 that it wouldn’t allow the event on their platform; the next day, Facebook scrubbed the webinar’s link and event page, and YouTube cut off the livestream of the event a little more than 20 minutes in. SFSU Professor Rabab Abdulhai, co-moderator for the event, blamed SFSU for joining the “Zionist chorus,” alleging that the university responded with “radio silence” when she reached out to campus officials for alternative platforms to hold the webinar.

University President Lynn Mahoney wrote in an email to the campus community that day stating that SFSU disagreed with Zoom’s decision to deplatform the event.

“We cannot embrace the silencing of controversial views, even if they are hurtful to others,” Mahoney wrote. “We must commit to [free] speech and to the right to dissent, including condemning ideologies of hatred and violence against unarmed civilians.”

UPDATE 1: Daniel Meisenzahl, a spokesman for the university, said in a statement to the Journal, “The organization sponsoring the event is one of 200-plus registered independent organizations at UH Mānoa. The administration was just informed yesterday about the event via this and similar inquiries. The University of Hawaii is an institution where controversial viewpoints can be peacefully and openly considered and discussed. The sharing and debate of diverse and difficult ideas and opinions is fundamental to the mission of higher education in our society.”

UPDATE 2: Zoom is not allowing the webinar to be held on its platform.