Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) has taken to social media to express how “enormously proud” she is of her daughter’s recent arrest at an anti-Israel protest.
“I am enormously proud of my daughter,” Omar wrote on X on Friday, detailing her daughter Isra Hirsi’s history of activism. “She has always led with courage and compassion, from organizing a statewide school walkout on the 20th anniversary of Columbine at the age of 15, to leading the biggest youth climate rally at our nation’s Capitol at 16, and now pushing her school to stand against genocide.”
As per the Guardian, Hirsi was among more than 100 anti-Israel protesters who were arrested on Thursday at Columbia University in New York City. Crowds of students joined hands and circled a makeshift tent encampment, chanting “Palestine is Arab” and “Zionism will fall.” The anti-Israel rally, organized by Columbia University Apartheid Divest, also placed banners on the tents that read, “We Are Taking Back Campus” and “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.”
Columbia University President Nemat Minouche Shafik authorized the New York Police Department to clear the encampment, stating that the protesters had violated the school’s rules and policies against holding unauthorized demonstrations. Hirsi later revealed on social media that she had been suspended from Barnard College, an affiliate of Columbia University, where she is a junior, for participating in the protest.
Despite the consequences, Omar stood by her daughter’s actions, saying, “Stepping up to change what you can’t tolerate is why we as a country have the right to speech, assembly, and petition enshrined in our constitution.”
