Anti-Israel students at several leading UK universities have adopted a convicted terrorist plane hijacker as a figurehead for their Gaza encampments, the JC can reveal.

Activists at one university have endorsed “legendary” Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) member Leila Khaled by playing an audio message from her for demonstrators in which the fêted terrorist praises their “strength” and promises them they are on “the right side of history”, while on another campus, students have renamed an occupied building in her honour.

Khaled first achieved notoriety for her role in the 1969 hijacking of a Trans World Airlinesflight flying from Rome to Tel Aviv. She was arrested the following year for attempting to hijack an El Al flight from Amsterdam to New York but was released in exchange for dozens of PFLP-held hostages.

Students at Cardiff listen to a voice note from Leila Khaled on behalf of the PFLP (Photo: Instagram)

The PFLP was one of eight different armed Palestinian factions that claimed partial responsibility for October 7, publishing celebratory photos of its members infiltrating IDF outposts in southern Israel.

Now, activists at universities in Britain are drawing inspiration from Khaled, who brands herself as a “freedom fighter” and has praised their “struggle” against the “apartheid state of Israel”.

At Cardiff University, a voice note recorded by Khaled was sent to members of one group, Cymr Students for Palestine, in which she thanked students “on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, whom I am a part of in this ongoing struggle”.

Khaled told protesting students: “This is Leila Khaled speaking, I am a freedom fighter... You are doing a lot for the Palestinian struggle and against genocide committed by the Israeli state, the apartheid state of Israel. I look upon you as our future in liberating Palestine. You give us strength that you are with our struggle.”

Khaled went on: “We are defending humanity. In Gaza they are with their blood, with their children under rubble, they are defending humanity from those who are inhumane, from those who are just killing our children and women and men in Gaza and in the West Bank.

“Long live Palestine, long live the student intifada. I see an intifada in the whole world which means that you are on the right side of history. We are defending our future history and also with this we will be victorious.”

Students listening to the recording applauded Khaled’s message.

A spokesperson for the university said: “At this stage, it is unclear if Cardiff University students were involved in the distribution of this material in the camp.”

The occupied building named after Khaled at Liverpool John Moores has been decked out in Palestinian flags (Photo: Telegram)

Elsewhere, at Liverpool John Moores University, have demonstrators renamed a building “Leila Khaled’s Hall” and have occupied it indefinitely or “until all our demands are met” to show solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Their demands include upholding the Thawabit, a set of extreme dictates laid down by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation in the 1970s. They have also called for Liverpool John Moores to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine and “the rights of the colonised people to resist against occupation”, and to “denounce all forms of normalisation”.

A building at Liverpool John Moores University has been renamed after the terrorist and students are calling for the university to uphold the Thawabit (Photo: Telegram)

In 2022, it emerged that a former Sheffield Hallam lecturer had previously met Khaled and praised her as a “beautiful fighter”, while two years previously Khaled addressed Leeds students over Zoom, telling them that Palestinians will “continue using all means of struggle including armed struggle.”

When the JC revealed that PFLP propaganda had been distributed at the University of Essex in 2019, the Union of Jewish Students called the reports "deeply concerning”, adding: “Action must be taken to provide universities with the tools to eliminate support for the PFLP and root out extremism on campus wherever it may come from."

PFLP badges are available at the UAL encampment (Photo: Instagram)

The PFLP is proscribed in the US, Canada, Japan and the European Union, although this has not stopped their material from appearing at various anti-Israel encampments across the States.

Under EU law, the PFLP was subject to sanctions in the UK, but that no longer applies due to a Brexit loophole. The Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council wrote to the UK government in 2018 warning that the PFLP, as well as the political wing of Hamas and the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade (AAMB), would benefit from the loophole.

While Hamas was proscribed in 2021, the PFLP and AAMB are still technically legal in the UK.

A Board of Deputies spokesperson said: “We sincerely hope that the government will now act to close the loophole opened up by Brexit and re-proscribe the PFLP and AAMB.”

The CST urged the Home Office in October last year to proscribe the PFLP and all Palestinian armed groups that took part in the October 7 massacres.

The Gaza encampment at Newcastle University is marked by a poster of Khaled

A Cardiff University spokesperson said: “We will not tolerate antisemitism and any other form of racial or religious hatred, or other unlawful activity on our campus. The camp has, so far, been peaceful but we will report any illegal activity and investigate any complaints received about our students’ behaviour. We are in regular contact with our Jewish Student Society to offer reassurance and ongoing support.”

A UAL spokesperson said the institution believes in “academic and free speech within the law.”

A documentary about the terrorist was screened at the Newcastle encampment

They said: “The university supports and protects our students' right to protest but we also take the safety and wellbeing of our community extremely seriously. UAL does not tolerate any forms of racism or discrimination, including promotion of groups proscribed by the law.”

A University of Manchester spokesperson said: “The University of Manchester and our Students’ Union are united in our position that we will not tolerate any forms of discrimination or harassment.”

They added: “We also believe that universities should, above all other institutions, be places of freedom of expression, tolerance, and open debate, with respect for others of different views. But we wish to be very clear that this does not in any way allow discriminatory comments or actions – or any other unlawful conduct – within our university, which is very distressing to many within our community.”

Liverpool John Moores University, Newcastle University and Cymru Students for Palestine were approached for comment.