JOHANNESBURG—Officials in South Africa’s biggest city, Johannesburg, have proposed renaming a major road after a Palestinian woman who was involved in the hijacking of passenger jets more than 50 years ago.
Sandton Drive, on which the United States Embassy is located, is in an area often referred to as “Africa’s richest square mile.”
Kenny Kunene, deputy leader of South Africa’s Patriotic Alliance party, which opposes the name change, told The Epoch Times the proposal is an attempt to “humiliate” the United States.
“If the name of Sandton Drive is changed to Leila Khaled Drive, American diplomats and officials across South Africa will be forced to reprint business cards and receive correspondence bearing the name of a terrorist who voices hatred against America,” Kunene said.
“The U.S. consulate’s website will also obviously bear Leila Khaled’s name, which will be a slap in the face of America and an insult to a country that does a lot of business in South Africa.”
An American official working in Johannesburg, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Epoch Times: “I don’t want to drive a daily route named after a Palestinian hijacker.
“It’s difficult to not see the [proposed] renaming of Sandton Drive as a kind of childish lashing out at the United States.
“It’s spiteful, vindictive, and petty. There are plenty of roads to rename in Johannesburg, why choose the one that’s synonymous with the U.S. Embassy?
“Why have a Leila Khaled Drive where there’s such a strong American presence?”
Many of the world’s most prominent multinationals, in fields including banking, insurance, and mining, have offices in Sandton.
It contains Africa’s largest stock exchange and most luxurious shopping mall, where U.S. companies such as Hard Rock Café, Krispy Kreme, and Calvin Klein ply their trade.
The district also houses the African headquarters of several American business behemoths, including Anglo American (mining), Anheuser-Busch (beer brewing), and British American Tobacco.
Brooks Spector, a former American diplomat now an international relations analyst at Johannesburg’s Wits University, told The Epoch Times: “The move to rename Sandton Drive, given the area in which it’s located, could be seen as intended to antagonize the U.S. government and the local American business community.
“It’s not the smartest move, especially when one takes into account that American-controlled companies employ many South Africans and pay many millions of dollars in annual taxes to the country’s treasury.”
Khaled, now 80, participated in two hijackings in 1969 and 1970, and is recognized as the world’s first female hijacker.
She is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which has been designated by Israel and its main ally, the United States, and other Western countries as a terrorist organization.
The PFLP is part of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the internationally recognized representative of the Palestinian people. Unlike the main PLO faction, Fatah, the PFLP does not recognize Israel’s right to exist.
In August 1969, Khaled was part of a team that hijacked an American TWA flight from Rome to Tel Aviv, diverting it to Damascus.
No one was injured, but after the passengers disembarked, the hijackers used TNT to blow up part of the aircraft.
Speaking from her home in Amman, Jordan, Khaled told The Epoch Times: “It was a good photo, but it caused me many problems.
“I did not wish to be famous; I just was doing a job fighting for freedom of Palestinians, a cause I thought then would be fulfilled quite quickly.”
After the publication of the photograph, Khaled endured six plastic surgery operations to conceal her identity.
In September 1970, Khaled and fellow terrorist, Patrick Arguello, a Nicaraguan with American citizenship, attempted to hijack an El Al flight from Amsterdam to New York.
They threatened to detonate grenades unless they were given access to the cockpit. After a scuffle, sky marshals shot and killed Arguello and the plane diverted to Heathrow Airport in London.
Khaled was arrested and released just months later as part of a hostage exchange deal with Israel.
The plan to rename Sandton Drive after Khaled is spearheaded by South Africa’s biggest political party in a coalition government, the African National Congress (ANC), and its Islamic ally, the Al Jama-ah party.
“Renaming the road will show solidarity with the Palestinian people and recognize their struggle,” Thapelo Ahmad, chairperson of Al Jama-ah in Johannesburg, told The Epoch Times.
Ahmad denied that the potential renaming of Sandton Drive is intended as an affront to the United States.
“Honestly, the fact that the American consulate happens to be on this road did not enter our minds when we first came up with the idea,” Ahmad said.
“We chose Sandton Drive simply because it’s one of Johannesburg’s best-known roads and Leila Khaled deserves to have a major road named after her.”
Several political parties and the country’s Jewish community have criticized the renaming plan.
“The ANC and Al Jama-ah have run the city of Johannesburg into the ground and people go for months without running water and electricity,” said the leader of the Democratic Alliance, John Steenhuisen.
“But instead of fixing their mess and delivering adequate services to residents they now want to rename a road after a terrorist.
“Such a name-change will cost businesses tens of millions of rands, if not more. It’s highly irresponsible and completely unnecessary,” Steenhuisen told The Epoch Times.
Rolene Marks, spokesperson for the South African Zionist Federation, told The Epoch Times: “I think it’s extremely insensitive to honor a person whose greatest achievement in life is being the first woman to hijack a plane and who is still proudly linked with terrorist organizations.
“This is a woman who is still a member of a group dedicated to wiping Israel off the face of the earth.”
The U.S. State Department said the PFLP continues to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians in Israel and the West Bank.
Marks said it’s “no coincidence” that the ANC and its allies want to rename the road on which the U.S. consulate is situated.
“It’s a provocation, definitely to Jewish people and I’m sure Americans will also be insulted and provoked by this,” she said.
When the ANC took over government in 1994 following decades of apartheid rule, it forged close ties with Palestinian groups, including the PLO and Hamas.
South Africa has accused Israel of committing genocide in the war in Gaza in a case currently before the International Court of Justice.
ANC ministers have also kept close contact with officials of Hamas, the group responsible for the terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which ignited the conflict in Gaza.
Khaled has visited South Africa on several occasions since the mid-1990s, receiving a hero’s welcome from the ANC and its allies and railing against Israel, Zionists, and “imperialists.”
Since the mid-1990s, town and city councils controlled by the ANC have renamed streets and other infrastructure, such as dams.
“We have done this to do away with the names of colonialists and racists,” said ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri.
