Omar’s daughter says she was sprayed with ‘chemical weapons’ during protest

The daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said she and others were sprayed with “chemical weapons” while protesting the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza at Columbia University.

Isra Hirsi, 21, told MSNBC on Monday that she believes there is “some hypocrisy” in the way the university punishes pro-Palestinian protesters, when compared to its treatment of counterprotesters.

“This is 100% targeted,” Hirsi said. “At every protest we have, there is a group of counter-protesters who bring all their items, their flags and things like that. And they are not seen as having unauthorized protests, or actually received the kind of disciplinary warnings that many of our fellow organizers receive just for being seen at these protests.”

“And so there is definitely some hypocrisy here, especially you can see it with the students who have been…sprayed…with chemical weapons,” she added.

Hirsi was one of more than 100 students arrested last week for participating in ceasefire protests in Columbia. She was also suspended from Barnard College, preventing her access to food and housing.

Columbia informed its students that they would also be suspended for their involvement.

On a interview with Teen VogueHirsi said she was “basically evicted” after her suspension and is concerned about her access to food as she relies on her meal plan for meals.

The demonstrations shook the Columbia University campus, lasting until the seventh day on Tuesday. Hundreds of students occupy the center of the campus, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the suspension of US military aid to Israel.

Columbia authorities last week authorized the New York Police Department (NYPD) to arrest students involved with protesters, further escalating tensions.

While most of the protests were considered peaceful, concerns were raised about student safety and the proliferation of anti-Semitic rhetoric. Some protest groups have rejected the characterization of their demonstrations as anti-Semitic, pointing to the significant portion of protesters who are Jewish.

Concerns were further fueled by a call from a campus rabbi for Jewish students to return home “as quickly as possible” before the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover on Monday night.

Asked if she believes the protest camp made other students uncomfortable, Hirsi said, “I think the camp was honestly one of the beautiful forms of solidarity.”

“We sang songs, we ate meals together, people prayed together,” she continued. “They held Shabbat yesterday, and it really has been a very community-centered space.”

Columbia University’s main campus will shift to hybrid learning as a reminder of the semester amid ongoing tensions, the school announced Monday.

Protests have escalated on other campuses, including New York University, where the NYPD moved toward a crowd of protesters and took several people into custody Monday night.

On Monday morning, police arrested dozens of protesters at Yale University after a camp grew to several hundred people calling for the school to divest from military weapons manufacturers.