A fundraiser organized by Students for Justice in Palestine, or SJP, at DePaul University has sparked widespread furor because the recipient of the rally — Rasmea Odeh — is a convicted killer living in the United States who was just found guilty of lying on her immigration papers.
Odeh was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group that’s designed by the United States, as well as Canada and the European Union, as a terrorist group.
She was convicted in 1970 in an Israeli court for killing two Hebrew University students while bombing a Jerusalem grocery store and was sentenced to life behind bars. Odeh was freed in 1995 during a prisoner exchange, however, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
In the United States, Odeh was just recently found guilty in federal court of lying on her immigration forms — specifically, she answered “no” to the query about previous criminal convictions.
Tuesday, Odeh was the subject of a money-raiser at DePaul University to help pay for her legal defense — and to further the narrative that she is a victim of Zionist oppression, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Hanna Aishaikh tweeted of the event: “Rasmea Odeh in her own words: ’Justice is a human right that must be taken … we will achieve justice and freedom.’ “
The rally was widely criticized.
Rabbi Seth Winberg, the executive director of Metro Chicago Hillel. told Fox News on Wednesday that DePaul students were bluntly supporting a convicted terrorist.
“For me, it’s a very disturbing development on college campuses,” he said on national television. “We’re seeing the line between nonviolent and violent … being blurred.”
Mr. Winberg led up a counter-rally at DePaul to honor the two victims who were killed by Odeh — Leon Kanner, 21, and Edward Joffe, 22.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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