AOC throws her support behind pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University and says cleaning out camp would be a 'failure of leadership'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is backing 'nonviolent' pro-Palestinian demonstrators who have disrupted Columbia University by setting up an encampment on the campus grounds in protest of U.S. support for Israel in the war in Gaza.

The New York progressive denounced Columbia President Minouche Shafik for allegedly threatening to call in the National Guard to disperse the group of demonstrators who call themselves the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.

'Calling in police enforcement on nonviolent demonstrations of young students on campus is an escalatory, reckless, and dangerous act,' AOC wrote on X.

She added: 'It represents a heinous failure of leadership that puts people's lives at risk. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.'

Shafik gave up on her midnight deadline after the group ignored the demand to break up and extended it for another 48 hours after they reportedly pledged to remove a 'significant' number of tents and non-students from the demonstration.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is backing the large encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters who have overrun Columbia University's campus in recent weeks

'Calling in police enforcement on nonviolent demonstrations of young students on campus is an escalatory, reckless, and dangerous act,' AOC wrote on X Monday evening

AOC (D-N.Y.) says the Manhattan Ivy League school is wrong to try and stop the demonstrators from besieging the campus.

It isn't the first time AOC has praised protesters who oppose Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas terrorists in Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

The squad member applauded pro-Palestinian protesters when opening for President Joe Biden at an Earth Day event in Virginia on Monday.

Alongside fellow progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey, AOC told the crowd: 'It is especially important that we remember the power of young people shaping this country today, of all days, as we once again witness the leadership of those peaceful student-led protests on campuses like Columbia and Yale and Berkeley and many others.'

The daughter of fellow squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) was among 100 protesters arrested earlier this week with protesters from Barnard College – a sister university of Columbia.

Isra Hirsi, 21, was part of the days-long anti-Israel protest at Columbia University and says she was evicted from campus housing and banned from the dining hall after the arrest.

'I was a little bit frantic, like, where am I going to sleep? Where am I gonna go? And also all of my s**t is thrown in a random lot. It's pretty horrible,' she told Teen Vogue.

President Shafix wrote an email to the so-called 'Gaza Plaza' group on Tuesday evening giving an ultimatum to dismantle voluntarily or else be cleared out.

In the midst of the unrest, Columbia president Minouche Shafik has been faced with calls to resign. She wrote in an email to the community they need to disperse or face being cleared out

AOC condemned reports of threats for law enforcement or National Guard being called in

Columbia has cowed to protesters and allowed their encampment to remain on campus for an additional 48 hours after a deadline to disperse passed

It was also reported on Tuesday night that NYPD counterterrorism officers were mobilizing to finally put an end to the protest.

Republican Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Tom Cotton (Ark.) have called on President Joe Biden to bring in the National Guard to any campuses where Jewish students claim they are feeling threatened by growing protests against Israel.

Cotton called the protests at Columbia 'nascent pogroms.'

'If Eric Adams won't send the NYPD and Kathy Hochul won't send the National Guard, Joe Biden has a duty to take charge and break up these mobs,' the senator wrote.

Hawley told the president he must act, writing: 'We've seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews. This blatant antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous.'

'You must immediately mobilize the National Guard and any other authorities necessary to ensure the safety of Jewish American students and citizens,' Hawley wrote.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower called in troops as well as the 101st Airborne Division to protect black students attending Central High School in Arkansas in 1957.