I was on a plane hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. Why did a public university invite one of them to speak?

(JTA) — As my calendar announced the approach of September, I began to relive an event that took place exactly 50 years ago. On Sept. 6, 1970, my mother, my four siblings and I were on a plane that was hijacked by terrorists.

TWA flight 741 was one of three planes successfully hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine that day — the hijacking of an El Al plane was foiled by the onboard sky marshals.

At the time, I was a 14-year-old kid living in Trenton, New Jersey, whose only care was how the Baltimore Orioles were doing. This event changed my life, as well as the lives of...