Barnard suspends Ilhan Omar’s daughter for anti-Israel protests
Isra Hirsi, the 21-year-old daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar, said she has been suspended from Barnard College over her participation in anti-Israel protests at neighboring Columbia University.
Hirsi and two other students were reportedly informed of their suspension by Barnard Dean Leslie Grinage early Thursday, according to a statement from Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student organizations at Columbia University. Barnard, a women’s college, is part of Columbia.
At least three students were arrested in connection to what they call the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” a group of more than 20 tents erected early Wednesday on Columbia’s lawn. That night, a large protest in the streets outside Columbia turned violent.
“I have never been reprimanded or received any disciplinary warnings,” Hirsi, an organizer with Apartheid Divest and the Columbia-Barnard chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Those of us in Gaza Solidarity Encampment will not be intimidated. we will stand resolute until our demands are met.”
Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, perhaps more than anyone in Congress, has drawn the ire of Israel supporters. She endorses the movement to boycott Israel, and has been accused of crossing the line into antisemitism in her rhetoric, some of which she has apologized for.
Thursday’s suspensions followed a congressional hearing Wednesday on Columbia’s response to rising antisemitism on campus.. In her testimony before the House Committee on Education & the Workforce, Columbia President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik, pointed to the suspension of two pro-Palestinian student groups as an example of actions the school has taken to curb antisemitism. Shafik also agreed that some professors’ commentary on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been antisemitic.
Ahead of the hearing, Hirsi and other students had gathered to protest Columbia University’s ties with corporations they accuse of profiting from “Israeli apartheid, genocide, and occupation in Palestine,” according to Apartheid Divest. In a video posted online, Columbia officials warn the students they will be suspended if they failed to disperse.
Last month, the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Columbia over the school’s November suspensions of Students for Justice in Palestine and the campus chapter for Jewish Voice for Peace following a walkout the groups organized. Columbia said the walkout was unauthorized and that the groups had repeatedly violated school policies by failing to comply with “requirements for advance notice and consultation” in organizing events on campus.
A confidential letter obtained by the Forward on Wednesday showed that investigations were opened over the conduct of several Columbia professors accused of making antisemitic and anti-Israel comments in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
Omar, who sits on the committee that grilled Shafik on Wednesday, questioned her and other Columbia officials about cracking down on anti-Palestinians protests.
In a 2020 interview with Fortune magazine, Omar, who was elected to Congress in 2019, praised her daughter’s activism. “If my generation had acted with the urgency that her generation had acted,” she said, “would my daughter be at the state capitol asking for us to introduce sensible gun laws and to protect the lives of young people?”
Hirsi was listed that year in the Fortune‘s 40 Under 40 Government and Politics list.
The post Barnard suspends Ilhan Omar’s daughter for anti-Israel protests appeared first on The Forward.
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