Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, revealed Thursday that she has been suspended from Barnard College over her involvement in disruptive anti-Israel protests on Columbia University’s Morningside campus at which scores of demonstrators were arrested.
“I just received notice that I am 1 of 3 students suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide,” the 21-year-old wrote on X.
“I’m an organizer with CU Apartheid Divest @ColumbiaSJP, in my 3 years at @BarnardCollege I have never been reprimanded or received any disciplinary warnings,” she added.
Hirsi was one of more than 100 protesters who were hauled away in cuffs by the NYPD Thursday afternoon after they erected a tent city on the campus of the $90,000-per-year Ivy League school.
By late afternoon Thursday the protests had dispersed, and cleaning crews were brought in to disassemble and remove dozens of tents that littered the campus.
Antisemitism controversy at Columbia University: Key events
- More than 280 anti-Israel demonstrators were cuffed at Columbia and the City of New York campuses overnight in a “massive” NYPD operation.
- One hundred and nine people were nabbed at the Ivy League campus after cops responded to Columbia’s request to help oust a destructive mob that had illegally taken over the Hamilton Hall academic building late Tuesday, NYC Mayor Eric Adams and police said.
- Hizzoner blamed the on-campus chaos on insurgents who have a “history of escalating situations and trying to create chaos” instead of protesting peacefully.
- Columbia’s embattled president Minouche Shafik, who has faced mounting calls to resign for not cracking down sooner, issued a statement Wednesday saying the on-campus violence had “pushed the university to the brink.”
- Columbia University president Minouche Shafik was accused of “gross negligence” while testifying before Congress. Shafik refused to say if the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is antisemitic.
- More than 100 Columbia professors signed a letter defending students who support the “military action” by Hamas.
As the daughter of a controversial and outspoken congresswoman, whose own eyebrow-raising statements have led to accusations of being anti-American and anti-Semitic, Hirsi has spent much of her life attending demonstrations.
She attended her first protest at age six, according to Vice.
In 2015, at 12, Hirsi joined her family at a Black Lives Matter protest that forced Mall of America to shut down and required over 200 police officers, including 50 riot cops to restore order.
On Thursday, Hirsi and the two other students – identified as Maryam Iqbal and Soph Dinu — received notice of their suspension from Barnard Dean, Leslie Grinage, the anti-Israel student group Apartheid Divest said in a statement.
“This decision is based on information received from Columbia University Public Safety that you have been involved in an unauthorized encampment on the Columbia University campus and you have not ceased participation in this unauthorized encampment despite repeated requests from Barnard and Columbia on April 17, 2024 that you do so,” the dean’s email read, according to the student group.
The Barnard junior — who is one of three children Rep. Omar shares with her ex-husband Ahmed Hirsi – had shared footage of herself participating in the controversial protest a day earlier, calling it a “huge historic moment.”
Follow The Post’s coverage of the pro-terror protests at colleges across the US:
- Tear gas sprayed at UCLA encampment as cops face off with anti-Israel protesters wielding fire extinguishers
- Stanford submits ‘deeply disturbing’ photo of campus anti-Israel protester wearing Hamas headband to FBI
- Iranian college offers free tuition to US students expelled for participating in anti-Israel protests: ‘Our people’
- MAP: US colleges where students have been arrested over anti-Israel protests
In a follow up tweet revealing her suspension, a defiant Hirsi said protestors “will not be intimidated.”
“We will stand resolute until our demands are met. Our demands include divestment from companies complicit in genocide, transparency of @Columbia’s investments and FULL amnesty for all students facing repression,” she wrote.
Hirsi, who describes herself on X as an “angry black girl,” has fired off a barrage of tweets as the school’s anti-Israel protests rage on, including one posted by her mom, saying she was “in solidarity” with rallying students.
Omar, a progressive Democrat, was booted by Republicans from the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee in February last year over her anti-Semitic comments.
Over less than five years in office, Omar has racked up an impressive catalog of antagonistic and often bizarre statements, including accusing the US and Israel of committing war crimes.
Additional reporting by Chris Nesi.
