Italy has barred Leila Khaled, a member of the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine terror group and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions advocate, from entering the country due to an invalid visa, Benjamin Weinthal reported Wednesday for The Jerusalem Post.

Khaled, according to the Italian paper, La Stampa, did not have a valid Schengen visa, which would allow her to travel freely throughout most European Union countries. Weinthal noted that “it is unclear why Germany, Spain,. Denmark, Austria and Greece, all of which are in the Schengen zone, did not forbid Khaled from entering into their countries.”

Noting that Khaled had addressed the EU Parliament earlier this year, Olga Deutsch, director of the Europe Desk for the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor told Weinthal, “We hope that Italy’s move, coming on the heels of European Parliament President Tajani’s decision to bar terror-linked individuals and organizations from EU premises, signals a new awareness among European leadership, and that it leads European Institutions and governments to reexamine policies that fund such NGOs.”

Khaled is infamous for her involvement in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and the attempted hijacking of EL AL Flight 219 a year later. Though she now lives in Jordan, she travels on behalf of the PFLP, designated by the United States and EU as a terrorist organization, advocating boycotts of Israel.

Khaled has been quoted as saying that for Palestinians, “negotiations will be held only with knives and weapons.”

[Photo: Sebastian Baryli / WikiCommons]