A Republican New York Metropolis councilwoman dealing with outrage over her “Islamophobic” posts ripped her lefty detractors for staying silent after one among her DSA colleagues condemned Muslim pro-Israel protesters to hell.
Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov dismissed requires her removing from workplace Friday by a brand new coalition dubbed “One Normal NYC” that rallied exterior Metropolis Corridor, with about two dozen faith-leaders and members of civil liberty minded teams exhibiting up.
Vernikov has been underneath hearth for posting on social media a video of Muslim males praying in public in Brooklyn close to a Jewish women’ faculty, and asking whether or not they have been there deliberately to intimidate the scholars.
“Why do a bunch of GROWN MEN want to do that proper exterior of a faculty filled with little Jewish women??? Isn’t this what MOSQUES are for? Is that this intentional?” the firebrand councilwoman wrote on X.
Audio system like Queens neighborhood activist and former political candidate Japneet Singh described each Vernikov and Queens Republican Councilwoman Vickie Paladino as “cancerous” whereas others known as on Metropolis Council Speaker Julie Menin to take motion towards the members.
“We can not choose and select who we wish to signify. In case you determine to guide this physique, you signify each constituent, each constituent — whether or not they’re Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu– in the event that they don’t consider in something,” mentioned Singh.
“On the finish of the day, once you come into this constructing and also you get elected by the individuals your job is to signify the individuals.”
However Vernikov — who infamously introduced a gun to an anti-Israel rally just a few years in the past — famous that democratic socialist Brooklyn Councilwoman Shahana Hanif not too long ago lashed out towards a pair of Muslim organizers of an enormous pro-Israel protest at Gracie Mansion.
Hanif, greatest recognized for her frequent anti-Israel remarks, raged in a publish on X that she hoped the organizers have been condemned “to Jahannam” — the Islamic equal of hell.
“The individuals rallying towards me are the identical individuals who remained silent on the vile rhetoric of Councilmember Shahana Hanif when she condemned a fellow Muslim to ‘Jahannam,” identical individuals who needed me eliminated earlier than I even co-chaired the duty power to fight antisemitism and the identical individuals and entities who related themselves with atrocious antiseptic ideologies and terrorist organizations,” she mentioned.
CAIR-NY — the Massive Apple offshoot of the controversial Muslim charity accused of Hamas hyperlinks — was additionally a part of the coalition rallying towards Vernikov.
Afar Nasher, the chief director of CAIR-NY wouldn’t instantly touch upon Hanif’s posts, saying, “So, this occasion particularly is about what we’re standing her for, and that’s solidarity and unity towards Islamophobic statements that occurred on that specific date with Vernikov.”
“Usually, Muslims are on the backside of the barrel by which and the way issues are handled inside phrases of accountability, proper? In order that’s what we’re attempting to give attention to,” she mentioned.
Speaker Menin and Hanif didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The Council not too long ago needed to drop a deliberate disciplinary motion towards Paladino after she sued when her colleagues hit her with ethics complaints calling for the “expulsion of Muslims.”
