The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is a Marxist-Leninist Palestinian terrorist group with ties to the Iranian regime that is often praised by anti-Israel activists, including those affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and Samidoun. The PFLP was founded in 1967 by a group of radical socialists led by George Habash and became infamous in the 1970s for airplane hijackings. PFLP member Leila Khaled, who participated in the hijacking of two civilian airliners (in 1969 and 1970), became particularly well-known and is venerated today by many anti-Israel activists. The PFLP also took part in the October 7th terror attacks, including the taking of hostages, and the group is currently aligned with Hamas in the war. 

The PFLP opposes Israel’s right to exist and has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Israel, Canada, the European Union, and Japan. A PFLP member carried out the assassination in 2001 of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi, and the terror group participated in a number of suicide bombing attacks against Israelis throughout the Second Intifada. In 2014, PFLP claimed responsibility for two terrorists who killed four worshippers in a Jerusalem synagogue.