Notorious plane hijacker Leila Khaled has not been allowed to leave Leonardo da Vinci International Airport and was forced to return to Amman, Jordsn yesterday
Khaled, a member of the PFLP terror group, spoke at the European Parliament in September, and the backlash was belated but fierce. The Parliament passed a motion not to allow members of known terror organizations to speak there again. In an era of Islamist bombers in European cities, it was realized that perhaps treating one of the earliest modern terrorists as a hero was not a good message to send.
She was scheduled to speak at the Porta Maggiore Hotel on Saturday for a meeting of the UDAP, the Arab-Palestinian Democratic Union, where the "right to resistance" (i.e., terror) is to be celebrated.UDAP issued a statement saying "The repatriation of comrade Leila Khaled is only a demonstration of the impotence of Italian institutions and their inability to escape Zionist blackmail:"
The plane that she hijacked in 1969 originated in Rome.
When asked to comment on her ban from Italy, Khaled said, "I was expecting it. Not because they are so afraid of me but of that the drama of the Palestinian people coming back to Italy. All the support that the Italian left once gave to our cause vanished as fog in the sun. They have all become conservatives, who have blotted out their ideas of solidarity with the oppressed peoples. But History goes on, it will end up overwhelming these bourgeoisie, who proclaim they are left but represent only their interests, and my wish is that the Italian people will judge them severely at the next elections."
Palestinian terror supporters have been dismayed recently at Italy's turning against them. This is indeed a turnaround; during the heyday of Palestinian airplane hijackings Italy used back channels to cooperate with Palestinian terrorists so they wouldn't hijack any Alitalia flights.
(h/t Andrea)