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Ilhan Omar Joins Daughter for Pro-Palestine Protest at Columbia University Despite 21-Year School Ban
Congressman Ilhan Omar labeled as her daughter, Isra Hirsireturned to Columbia University this week to protest Israel’s actions in Palestine, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Hirsi, a junior sociology major at Columbia’s sister school Barnard, has been suspended for her involvement in the ongoing demonstrations. She was kicked out of the dorms and banned from campus after she and other activists set up dozens of tents on school grounds demanding peace in Gaza.
Despite being banned, Hirsi returned to Columbia on Thursday with her famously progressive mother in tow, as both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian crowds flocked to campus.
Representative Omar posted a short video of the event on X and wrote in the caption that she was “impressed” by the students’ “bravery and bravery.”
“I had the honor of seeing Columbia University’s anti-war camp firsthand,” the U.S. Representative for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District said in the post.
“In contrast to the right-wing attacks, these students are joyfully protesting for peace and an end to the genocide taking place in Gaza,” Omar continued.
The New York Times reported that tensions have escalated between administrators and activist students at the Ivy League school amid ongoing negotiations over the encampment. Dozens of students have been arrested after refusing to move despite the university threatening suspension.
Hirsi, 21, announced on April 18 via X that she was “one of three students suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing genocide.”
“I have never been reprimanded or given disciplinary warnings,” she wrote.
Hirsi also said in the post that she was an organizer of a student coalition called Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which has called on the school to sever his financial ties with pro-Israel companies.
The coalition gathered a crowd at the gates of CU on Tuesday, chanting: “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.”
The demonstrations started last Wednesday as president of the university Nemat Shafik testified at a Congressional hearing on anti-Semitism in schools.
Omar questioned Shafik about the suspensions and expulsions of students for their participation in the events, and the president said the school had to take these measures because students refused to cooperate.
Administrators sought help from the New York Police Department after students occupied part of the university’s South Lawn for 30 hours last Thursday. NBC.
mayor Eric Adams said after more than 100 people were arrested that while “the students of Columbia University have a proud history of protesting and raising their voices,” they had no right to disobey school policy.
“We will not be a city of lawlessness,” Adams said.
