Ilhan Omar’s daughter arrested at New York ‘Gaza solidarity camp’
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The daughter of Left-wing congresswoman Ilhan Omar has been arrested after taking part in a “Gaza solidarity encampment” at New York’s Columbia University.
Isra Hirsi, 21, said she was among three students suspended from the university over the unauthorised protest.
More than 100 pro-Palestinian student protesters were arrested on Columbia’s campus on Thursday, a day after its president was questioned in Congress over accusations of anti-Semitism at the Ivy League institution.
The encampment was organised by a student-led coalition of groups, including Columbia University Apartheid Divest, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.
Demonstrators were demanding that Columbia, which has an exchange programme with Tel Aviv University, divest from companies profiting from Israel’s incursion into Gaza.
The arrests and dismantling of tents came after Columbia’s president Dr Nemat Shafik authorised police to disperse the protesters, whom she said had violated campus security regulations.
Eric Adams, the New York City mayor, said police made over 108 arrests without violence or injuries. Police said the arrests were related to trespassing.
Ms Hirsi, 21, and at least two other students, Maryam Iqbal, 18, and Soph Dinu, 21, have been suspended from Barnard College, an affiliate of Columbia, according to US media reports.
The protest began on Wednesday, the same day Dr Shafik appeared on Capitol Hill, where she told a Congressional hearing she would enforce the university’s rules around unauthorised protests and anti-Semitism.
The committee had accused Dr Shafik of failing to protect Jewish students on campus, echoing accusations levelled against three other elite university leaders at a hearing last year that sent shockwaves through higher education.
She responded by saying the university was facing a “moral crisis” with anti-Semitism on campus, and Columbia had taken strong actions against suspected perpetrators.
Ms Omar, a Minnesota representative who serves on the committee Dr Shafik appeared before, did not mention that her daughter was among the pro-Palestinian protesters when she questioned Dr Shafik’s actions.
Ms Omar is a member of “The Squad”, a group of progressive members of the House of Representatives.
Fellow Squad member Jamaal Bowman claimed the suspension of Ms Omar’s daughter was in retaliation to the congresswoman’s probing of Columbia’s leadership.
“It’s clear what is happening here. Our educational institutions should not be in the business of political reprisals,” he said.
According to The New York Times, Ms Hirsi was among those detained and issued a court summons for trespassing.
“Those of us in the Gaza solidarity encampment will not be intimidated,” Ms Hirsi said on social media after being suspended.
Dr Shafik said the protesters had violated the university’s policies and were unwilling to engage with administrators.
Columbia said it was still identifying students who had participated in the tent encampment “and will be sending out formal notifications”.
The protest, reminiscent of the demonstrations against the Vietnam War at Columbia more than 50 years ago, is the latest in a series of demonstrations disrupting university campuses since the war in Gaza began late last year.
Separately on Thursday, about 500 demonstrators marched at the University of Southern California in support of Asna Tabassum, a Muslim student whose valedictorian speech was cancelled by the university, which cited safety concerns.
Universities’ approach to protests have become a hot issue in the US since the Oct 7 Hamas attack and Israel’s responding bombardment of Gaza.
Congressional Republicans, in particular, have taken up the issue, calling up the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to testify before the education and workforce committee last December.
Claudine Gay, Harvard president, resigned shortly afterwards, ending a six-month tenure marred by allegations of plagiarism and backlash over her congressional testimony about anti-Semitism on campus.
