Ilhan Omar Comes to Columbia University to Save Her Homeless Daughter: Squad Member Joins Anti-Israel Campus Camp After Attacking Police and President Mike Johnson
A week after Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, was arrested for protesting at Columbia University, she and her progressive “Squad” mother visited the pro-Gaza camp on campus to get off campus enjoy and take selfies with activists.
Hirsi was one of more than a hundred people arrested last Thursday for participating in an anti-Israel demonstration. She was also suspended from Barnard College the same day.
The “Squad” member’s daughter later went on cable news and advertised herself as homeless and hungry after being booted out of her dorm room and dining halls.
“I don’t know when I’ll be able to go home, and I don’t know if I ever will be able to,” she told an MSNBC host last week.
Hirsi also criticized the college for not providing meals, saying: “There was no food support, nothing.”
But her fortunes changed when she was spotted with her congresswoman mother on campus, posing for selfies with her fellow protesters, just a week after her arrest and suspension.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., (center) walks on the campus of Columbia University with her recently suspended daughter Isra Hirsi (right)
Omar appeared to enjoy her tour of the Ivy League school’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment, which has been going on for more than a week despite threats from police and the university
Protesters repeatedly stopped Omar from taking photos with the high-profile progressive
Hirsi and her mother Omar attracted quite a bit of camera attention during their visit on Thursday
“I had the honor of seeing Columbia University’s anti-war encampment with my own eyes,” Omar posted on X after her campus visit.
“In contrast to the right-wing attacks, these students are joyfully protesting for peace and an end to the genocide taking place in Gaza. I am in awe of their bravery and courage.”
Her post was accompanied by a video of her shaking hands with the protesters and receiving a warm welcome from the students.
Omar’s trip comes a day after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., visited the campus to condemn protesters to a chorus of boos and protests.
Johnson labeled the Columbia crowd “lawless agitators and radicals” and questioned their ability to become “leaders of America.”
He also praised the Jewish students who remain committed to their education and have staged vicious anti-Israel protests to that end.
“We will not remain silent while Jewish students are expected to run for their lives,” the speaker told the crowd.
Johnson, who met with Columbia University President Minouche Shafik before delivering his speech, publicly called for her to resign if she continues to be unable to control the protests taking place on campus.
He also threatened to withdraw federal funding from schools that are unable to ensure the safety of their Jewish students.
Omar, on the other hand, has encouraged the protesters and praised their efforts.
The Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Columbia’s campus is home to numerous tents
“I must tell you that I am incredibly moved by your courage and bravery as a student organization in putting your bodies on the line to stand in solidarity and put an end to the genocide that is taking place in Gaza right now,” Omar told the demonstrators at a University of Minnesota protest earlier this week.
She even clearly called out her daughter in her remarks: “What started with just 70 students organizing at Columbia University five days ago has now led to a nationwide college movement.”
Omar also mentioned a recently uncovered mass grave of 200 Palestinians, calling the discovery “incredibly painful” before celebrating the crowd’s efforts to give a “voice to the genocide taking place in Gaza.”
But Omar is not the first Squad member to defend the pro-Palestinian protests.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., criticized the NYPD on Wednesday night for deploying counterterrorism units to target protesters at Columbia University.
“Not only has Columbia made the heinous decision to mobilize the NYPD against their own students, but the units they engage have some of the most violent reputations in the force,” the New York Democrat wrote on X.
She was responding to a video of NYPD counter-terrorism officers engaging with pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasted the NYPD for deploying counter-terrorism units to target pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University
NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell responded to Ocasio-Cortez’s criticism by inviting her to come to Columbia University and NYU herself to hear their “comments of pure hatred.”
“NYPD promised the city that they would not deploy Strategic Response Groups to protests,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “Then why are these anti-terrorist units here?”
Later, NYPD Chief of Police John Chell responded to Ocasio-Cortez and lectured her and the protesters.
“Columbia decided to hold its students accountable to the school’s laws. They see the consequences of their actions. Something these kids were probably never taught,” Chell wrote in a response to the Democrat on X.
“Good SAT scores and personal rights do not take precedence over the law,” the NYPD chief continued. “I’m sure you agree that we need to teach them these valuable life skills.”
He told Ocasio-Cortez to go to college campuses herself to hear the hateful rhetoric the protesters were using.
“The only incidents on campus that day were the student’s hateful anti-Semitic statements and vile language toward our officers. I’m sure you agree that hate speech is unacceptable.”
“You should reconsider your comments to a simple thank you to the NYPD, and hate has no place in our society,” Chell added.