The one-year anniversary of Hamas’ October 7th, 2023 attack on Israel wouldn’t be complete without a fiery antisemitic statement from a member of the congressional “Squad,” and this time it was Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) who met the moment.
A spate of nationwide college campus protests broke out beginning Monday which organizers have dubbed the “Week of Rage,” using the anniversary to draw attention to casualties, displacement, and famine suffered by Palestinians. At Columbia University in New York, hundreds of keffiyeh-clad students marched while hoisting the Palestinian flag and chanting antisemitic phrases such as “Resistance is glorious! We will be victorious!” That chant was echoed by Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, on Instagram, where she quoted the students in a brief reel that later expired. However, eagle-eyed followers captured a screenshot of the antisemitic language.
Other progressive Democrats, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), have been chided by mainstream media outlets including the Wall Street Journal for marking the anniversary with sharp words against Israel’s government than reserved for Jewish victims and their families. In a caustic editorial, the paper blamed Warren and other congressional progressives for instigating the protests beginning last spring, forcing Jewish students to flee for their safety. At Columbia, an epicenter of the movement occurred when students and armed anti-Israel organizers barricaded themselves in a university building until police forcibly removed them.
Omar, who is Muslim and Somali-born, has been among the most vocal critics of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden. In March, CNN conservative analyst Scott Jennings called the Minnesota Democrat a “mouthpiece” for anti-Israel terrorists. “I am surprised that, in the year of our Lord, 2024, there is a public relations agent for Hamas sitting in the United States Congress,” he said about Omar. Other Squad members like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) accused Jennings of “Islamophobia.” Congresswoman Ayana Pressley fired back in a post, “Blatant Islamophobia has no place in our society — let alone on primetime TV. It’s dangerous, unacceptable, and cannot be normalized.”
AOC, Pressley, and other Squad members threw a fit last year when the U.S. House moved forward with a censure of Omar at the request of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and completing another against Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MN) over similar statements. Tlaib previously called Greene’s measure “Islamophobic” as well.
The Columbia protests are also personal for Omar. In April, her daughter and two other students were suspended for their involvement in an unauthorized encampment protest on the university’s South Lawn, which has been a flashpoint in recent weeks. The protests gained additional visibility after a public endorsement by Rep. Omar, following a Congressional hearing on related issues.
“We’ve been visible, the three of us, and have been giving interviews with our government names. But it’s also like, we know that we are, there’s no hiding … for us, like they will find us. We’re pretty visible even as people, like Maryam has been a speaker at multiple protests,” student Isra Hirsi claimed at the time. “Encampment will not be intimidated. we will stand resolute until our demands are met… our demands include divestment from companies complicit in genocide, transparency of @Columbia ’s investments and FULL amnesty for all students facing repression.
