Ilhan Omar’s Daughter Suspended From Barnard College After Participating in Anti-Israel Protest on Campus

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, says ‘I just received notice that I am 1 of 3 students suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide.’

Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate near Columbia University on February 02, 2024 at New York City. Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Updated at 3:20 P.M. E.D.T.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, says she’s been suspended from the New York City college she is attending for participating in protests on Columbia University’s campus. The news comes as police arrested protesters participating in a camp-in protest and cleared an encampment of tents on Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus.

In a tweet Thursday, Ms. Hirsi said that “I’m an organizer with CU Apartheid Divest @ColumbiaSJP, in my 3 years at Barnard College I have never been reprimanded or received any disciplinary warnings.”

She added, “I just received notice that I am 1 of 3 students suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide.”

The tweet came shortly before police entered the encampment on Columbia’s campus warning the protesters they were participating in an “unauthorized encampment” and were subject to arrest if they did not disperse.

“At the request of Columbia officials, we are on scene to disperse protestors who have erected an unlawful encampment on campus,” the New York Police Department said in a statement. “School officials had previously determined that the encampment and related disruptions pose a clear and present danger to the substantial functioning of the University.”

Ms. Hirsi said she was among those at the encampment in question.

“Those of us in Gaza Solidarity Encampment will not be intimidated. We will stand resolute until our demands are met,” Ms. Hirsi said. “Our demands include divestment from companies complicit in genocide, transparency of  @Columbia’s investments and FULL amnesty for all students facing repression.”

The school’s student newspaper, the Columbia Spectator, reports that an email notifying students of their suspension was sent late Thursday morning.

“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 email reads, according to the Spectator.

Ms. Omar is often criticized by Republicans for her positions both of foreign policy but also her liberal stances on domestic issues. She is one of the most left-leaning members of Congress and a member of the self-fashioned “Squad” alongside members like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Ms. Omar is also one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, taking office simultaneously with Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, as well as the first African refugee elected to Congress. She was born in Somalia.


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