College and University Monitor

Barnard College, a private women’s liberal arts college in New York that partners with Columbia University, is hosting an event on August 2 that features an organization with alleged ties to the Palestinian terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The event, titled “Breaking Bars: Fighting Incarceration from U.S. to Palestine,” features the organization Addameer, which, according to NGO Monitor, has several members who are either currently in Addameer, or were formerly in the organization, that have extensive ties with the PFLP.

For instance, Addameer’s chairperson, Abdul-latif Ghaith, is currently in the midst of an Israeli travel ban due to his PFLP membership. Addameer vice-chairperson Khalida Jarrar was convicted of belonging to the PFLP and calling for violence against Israeli soldiers, serving prison time as a result.

Yacoub Odeh, an Addameer board member, was sentenced to life in prison for his PFLP membership and was only released as part of a prisoner exchange.

Addameer has called attempts to link it to the PFLP part of a “smear” campaign.

Pro-Israel groups on campus are troubled that the event is featuring Addameer.