A student from the University of Pennsylvania was arrested after stealing an Israeli flag on campus after she initially praised the initial Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
The individual was later identified as Tara Tarawneh who is a 2020 graduate of King's Academy in Madaba, Jordan. She was taken into custody on Nov. 4 for stealing an Israeli flag from the front of a Campus Apartments house near the Ivy League campus.
UPenn Students Praises Hamas Attack
The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office has charged the defendant with theft and receiving stolen property stemming from the Oct. 28 incident. Tarawneh previously penned a column decrying "settler colonialism" as a "violent machine."
The student also gave a hate-filled speech during a Philadelphia rally that was held last month. Video footage of Tarawneh that showed her addressing the pro-Palestine crowd went viral on social media platforms.
During the rally, the student told the crowd that she remembered the feelings of being empowered and happy and that she was confident that victory was near and tangible. This was in reference to the Hamas militant group's initial assault on Israel, as per the New York Post.
Tarawneh also said that she wanted everyone who attended the rally to hold that same feeling in their hearts and never let go of it. She urged the people at the event to channel that feeling through every action they take and bring it to the streets.
Footage that showed the UPenn student and her address during the rally quickly drew widespread rebuke online. This included criticism from Rep. Ritchie Torres who denounced the video in a post on X last week.
The lawmaker said that Tarawneh was not a patient at a psychiatric hospital, noting that she was a student at an Ivy League institution. The student is said to consider herself a passionate human rights activist who planned to study English Literature and Art at UPenn.
Israel-Hamas Conflict
In a statement, the vice president for Public Safety, Kathleen Shields Anderson said that Penn Police responded to a call about theft at the property. They initiated an investigation and identified Tarawneh as the suspect in the crime, according to the Daily Pennsylvania.
Shields Anderson added that the suspect later turned herself into law enforcement personnel. The Department of Public Safety (DPS) said that upon submitting the results of the investigation to the District Attorney's Office, charges of Theft and Receiving Stolen Property were approved against Tarawneh, who was arraigned on Nov. 5.
The attack on Oct. 7 that Tarawneh praised resulted in thousands of deaths and prompted a series of retaliatory strikes from Israel. The bombing of the Gaza Strip has since had a growing number of casualties, with the latest tally at more than 10,000.
A conservative group with an audience of more than 500,000 on X, Republicans Against Trump, posted on the platform, tagging UPenn, asking the university about its plans regarding Tarawneh. Another user said that while she was happy about the apartheid barrier being broken down, she was not happy about people dying, said the Daily Mail.9
