Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, suspended from Barnard College for her involvement in anti-Israel protests
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.
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.”
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.
