The New York Police Department arrested more than 100 protestors who set up an anti-Israel encampment at Columbia University, including the daughter of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who was suspended from the university’s partner school for participating in the demonstration.
The organizers of the event set up tents early in the morning on Wednesday and invited others to participate in the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” to protest Columbia University’s purported “complicity in genocide.”
According to CNN, the encampment was organized by a “student-led coalition” of over 120 organizations, including Columbia University Apartheid Divest, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.
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Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, was among the hundreds of individuals arrested, with a police official telling the outlet she would likely receive a summons for criminal trespass charges. Hirsi, an organizer with Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, announced in a post on X Thursday that she and two other students had been suspended from Barnard College.
“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,” Hirsi wrote. “i just received notice that i am 1 of 3 students suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide.”
In a follow-up post, Omar’s daughter declared that the people who participated in the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” will not be “intimidated,” adding that the protestors will “stand resolute until our demands are met.”
The Christian Post reached out to Omar’s office for comment, but a staffer said that while they couldn’t comment on Hirsi’s arrest, they intend to release a statement soon.
According to Fox News, the NYPD arrested 108 people, two of whom received a summons for obstruction of governmental administration. Some protestors went peacefully and did not resist arrest; however, a police official told the outlet that around 500 students left the classroom and screamed “baby killers” at the officers.
Other protestors screamed “KKK” at the officers or told them to kill themselves, and some of the demonstrators attempted to block police vehicles, Fox News reported.
Columbia University President Minouche Shafik said in a statement Thursday that she authorized police to clear the encampment from the South Lawn of Morningside campus “out of an abundance of concern” for campus safety. Shafik explained that she took this “extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances.”
“The individuals who established the encampment violated a long list of rules and policies. Through direct conversations and in writing, the university provided multiple notices of these violations, including a written warning at 7:15 p.m. on Wednesday notifying students who remained in the encampment as of 9 p.m. that they would face suspension pending investigation,” Shafik stated. “We also tried through a number of channels to engage with their concerns and offered to continue discussions if they agreed to disperse.”
While the university president clarified that Columbia is committed to “academic freedom” and “free expression,” Shafik stressed that such actions must align with the school’s policies and respect the safety of others.
“This is a challenging moment, and these are steps that I deeply regret having to take,” the Columbia University president concluded. “I encourage us all to show compassion and remember the values of empathy and respect that draw us together as a Columbia community.”
The university president testified earlier this week before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce about how the school has responded to antisemitism.
On Thursday, Claremont Institute fellow Matthew Tyrmand shared a video on X that showed a group of students holding American and Israeli flags singing “God Bless America” while demonstrators wearing masks or holding Palestinian flags can be heard chanting “Death to America.”
In a separate video shared by The New York Post on Thursday, protestors near Columbia University can be heard shouting threats at a man wearing a kippah and an Israeli flag, “Keep it moving, you Zionist pig.” The demonstrators also chanted, “We’re all Hamas! Long live Hamas.”
Hamas is a terrorist organization that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. On Oct. 7, Hamas militants launched attacks on Israel, resulting in the massacre of at least 1,200 people and the abduction of over 240 others.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
