Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter Isra Hirsi busted at Columbia anti-Israel protest
Isra Hirsi, the daughter of Congresswoman and “Squad” member Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), was among the more than 100 protesters nabbed at Thursday’s anti-Israel protest at Columbia University.
“Yes, [Rep. Omar’s] daughter was arrested. She was also summoned for trespassing. She will be getting a summons.” Capt. Jaclyn Keane, executive officer of the Legal Bureau told reporters at an NYPD press conference announcing the arrests.
The 21-year-old Barnard College junior was spotted on video taken by The Post with her arms behind her back, grimacing as NYPD officers clad in riot helmets put her in cuffs. She was then led into an NYC Corrections bus.
She was released around 9 p.m. and refused to comment to The Post about her arrest.
Earlier in the afternoon Hirsi had revealed that she was suspended from the Columbia-affiliated Barnard College over her involvement in the protests.
“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.
Demonstrators had set up a makeshift tent city Wednesday on the university’s Morningside Campus, erecting dozens of tents in a scene reminiscent of the 2011 takeover of Zuccotti Park by Occupy Wall Street.
Only this time the protesters weren’t given two months to luxuriate. Shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday, Columbia University president Minouche Shafik brought the hammer down swiftly and decisively, calling in the NYPD to crack down on the encampment.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed the university’s decision to punish Omar’s daughter on social media.
“What is going on here @BardardCollege @Columbia?” Ocasio-Cortez said on X.
“How does a student with no disciplinary record suddenly get to a suspension less than 24 hours after a nonviolent protest? What merits asymmetric crackdowns on Palestinian human rights protests.”
Bronx and Westchester Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman also waded into the controversy on X, retweeting Hirsi and accusing Barnard of engaging in “political reprisals” over her suspension.
“The day after [Rep. Ilhan Omar] questioned Columbia leadership’s commitment to free academic expression, the school suspended her daughter? It’s clear what is happening here,” he wrote in the incendiary post.
“Our educational institutions should not be in the business of political reprisals.”
Keane said in all, 108 summonses were issued for trespass, with two additional citations doled out for obstruction of governmental administration.
Mayor Eric Adams acknowledged that the Middle East conflict has left many “grieving and angry,” but said that outrage didn’t excuse today’s behavior on the Columbia campus.
“Students have a right to free speech. They do not have a right to violate university policies and disrupt learning on campus,” he told reporters.
More than 200 protesters had gathered outside NYPD headquarters at 1 Police Plaza by sunset Thursday, loudly cheering as arrested anti-Israel protesters emerged.
The Post made multiple attempts to get comments from the protesters but they declined.
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 steeped in political activism.
She attended her first protest at age 6, 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.
Hirsi, who describes herself on X as an “angry black girl,” has fired off a barrage of tweets as Columbia’s anti-Israel protests have raged 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.
