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UPenn student who called Hamas attack ‘glorious’ later arrested for stealing Israeli flag
Tara Tarawneh stole the flag from the front of a Campus Apartments house near the Ivy League campus
A University of Pennsylvania student who was seen in a video saying the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel was“glorious, joyful, and powerful” during a demonstration was later reportedly busted forstealing an Israeli flag on campus.
Tara Tarawneh is a 2020 graduate of King’s Academy in Madaba, Jordan, and was arrested on November 4 for allegedly stealing an Israeli flag. She stole the flag from the front of a Campus Apartments house near the Ivy League campus, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office charged Tara with theft and receiving stolen property.
Tara Tarawneh’s disturbing speech
The recent incident, where Tara was seen delivering the disturbing speech,took place when the Philly Palestine Coalition marched against the Gaza assault recently. She wasalso heard referring to Hamas terrorists as “freedom fighters.”
“Do you guys remember the photo of the kids and men laughing and smiling as they sat on top of the Israeli military jeep captured by our freedom fighters? Do you remember that picture? How about the picture of the bulldozer breaking through the border? Do you remember that picture?” Tara is heard saying.
“And the several other joyful and powerful images of which came from the glorious October 7. I want you to picture those in your mind. I want you all to remember how you felt when you saw those images and heard the news,” she added.
“I remember feelings so empowered and happy, so confident that victory was near and so tangible, “she said. “I want all of you to hold that feeling in your hearts. Never let go of it. Channel it through every action you take. Bring it to the streets.
Speaking of the Israeli airstrikes, she said, “Go down to the streets every day and don’t ever let them feel that you quietly accept this genocide.”
In the past, Tara had written a column decrying “settler colonialism” as a “violent machine.” In an article in The Daily Pennsylvanian, which was published in September, she promoted thePalestine Writes Literature Festival that was coming on the Philadelphia campus. “For a land and a people who suffer from a history of colonialism, displacement and erasure, the festival is an extremely important site of cultural preservation,” she wrote in the article.
Denouncing “settler colonialism,” Tara called it “a violent machine which seeks to exterminate any semblance of Palestinian existence, including Palestinians’ narrative of their own history.”
