The wife of a former computer science professor who pleaded guilty to supporting terrorists took part in a protest at Columbia University in Manhattan last week and received encouragement from her extremist husband, who was deported to Turkey after serving a federal prison sentence. .
The NYPD confirmed that a woman with ties to a convicted terrorist supporter was present, without disclosing her name.
“Last week, the wife of an individual convicted of material support for terrorism was on campus,” NYPD Assistant Commissioner Rebecca Weiner said at a press conference Wednesday morning. “And although there is no evidence that she committed any criminal acts, if I were a parent of someone at Columbia, she is not necessarily someone I would want to influence my child.”
Sami al-Arian, a former University of South Florida professor who admitted conspiring to support the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization in 2006, shared a photo of his spouse at the West Lawn encampment in Colombia on Friday.
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Sami al-Arian, who has admitted to providing material support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group, shared a photo of his wife Nara joining anti-Israel agitators on Columbia University’s West Lawn. There they pitched a tent and caused a stir among their Jewish classmates. . (Sami Al-Arian/X)
“My wife Nahla stands in solidarity with the brave and extremely determined students of Columbia University,” he wrote.
Police said the woman they referred to was not charged with any criminal activity, but it was not immediately clear how or why she was able to enter the encampment. The campus was on lockdown, open only to students and faculty, and media visits were limited.
“Whoever brought her in wanted to see her,” said Liora Rez, founder and executive director of the watchdog group Stop Antisemitism. “The spouse of a convicted terrorist openly appeared on the New York campus without any repercussions, even though Columbia University administrators had made it clear that only students and faculty were allowed on campus. The fact that we were allowed to spend a beautiful day without it is now spreading like wildfire.”
Sami Al-Arian and his wife Nara, photographed in August 2002. (Chris Livingston/Getty Images/File)
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Al-Arian’s brother-in-law, Mazen al-Najjar, was imprisoned for three years on terrorism charges, and the United States deported him in 2003, the Associated Press reported at the time. He is Nala’s younger brother.
Al-Arian, once described by a federal judge as a “master manipulator” and leader of a terrorist group, lived in the United States for 30 years before his arrest in 2003, according to the Justice Department. After being sentenced to 57 months in prison, he agreed to be deported to Turkey as part of a plea deal on a single charge stemming from 17 federal charges.
Sami Al Arian’s appearance was released in August 2002. (Chris Livingston/Getty Images/File)
Then-U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez said in 2006 that the disgraced professor denied any involvement in the terrorist group for 10 years until prosecutors had enough evidence to bring charges.
“In his guilty plea, Mr. Al-Arian admitted that he and several co-conspirators were involved in Palestinian Islamic Jihad from the late 1980s to the early to mid-1990s,” the Justice Department said. said in a later statement. his verdict. “He further stated that he performed various services for PIJ since 1995, knowing that PIJ was a Specially Designated Terrorist and that PIJ had committed horrific and deadly acts of violence. Admitted.”
Anti-Israel agitators barricade themselves inside Hamilton Hall at Columbia University in New York City on April 30, 2024. (Alex Kent/Getty Images)
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These activities include helping members of terrorist groups apply for immigration benefits, concealing their identities from authorities, and assisting Islamic Jihad members with proceedings in federal court.
Two years before his arrest, the University of South Florida (USF) announced it would fire him over concerns about his extremism, but the school said he had been indicted by a federal grand jury on racketeering charges. He fought with the university in a labor dispute until he was prosecuted. Teachers’ union.
Anti-Israel agitators and their encampment on the Columbia University campus in New York City, April 22, 2024. (Peter Garber)
“There is internal corruption from anti-American faculty, and Sami al-Arian is a perfect example of that,” Rez told Fox News Digital. “Now, fast forward to 2024 and we have copies of Sami al-Arian from Columbia to Harvard University literally screaming in our faces…pro-Hamas, pro-terrorism, anti-American, Marxist impositions. It really imitates this rhetoric.”
“There is internal corruption from anti-American faculty, and Sami Al-Arian is a perfect example of that.”
Attention: NYPD re-raises American flag at CCNY after removing Palestinian flag
New York City Mayor Eric Adams spoke during a chaotic press conference Wednesday morning, hours after the NYPD removed a mob of anti-American and anti-Israel agitators who barricaded a Columbia University building and replaced the city’s American flag. He seemed to have had enough. University of Palestine Color.
A masked protester stands at a locked gate on Columbia’s West Lawn. (Michael Lewis/Fox News Digital)
“My uncle died defending this country. These men and women are putting their lives on the line,” Adams, a former New York City police lieutenant, told reporters. Tolerating this is despicable.”
“So blame me for being proud to be an American, and I think so, Secretary.” [Kaz] The girl who restored that flag. We do not surrender our way of life to anyone. ”
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Florida police say the gunman, Ata Osman, 39, was arrested during an anti-Israel protest on the University of South Florida campus this week. It was not immediately clear whether he had any ties to the school. (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)
USF, where al-Arian once worked, has been holding its own anti-Israel demonstrations in recent days, including on Tuesday, when police deployed tear gas to quell the unrest, and some of the detained suspects were arrested. The department announced that he was in his 30s. FOX 13 Tampa Bay report.
Police said one of them, Ata Osman, 39, brought a gun to the demonstration on school grounds.
