(March 28, 2026) NEW YORK — Leading New York City Council members have said the city’s current response to anti-Muslim hate has failed and called for a shift from symbolic "solidarity" to a rigorous framework of legislation, education, and institutional accountability.
They were speaking at a briefing at City Hall on Thursday, titled ISLAMOPHOBIA IN NEW
YORK CITY: A POLICY PERSPECTIVE, that proceeded amid heightened security due to
online threats of and despite intense coordinated pressure to cancel it.
The urgency of the briefing was ironically underscored when panelist Mahmoud Khalil, a
well-known First Amendment activist of Palestinian origin facing illegal deportation, was
ambushed and heckled by Ross Glick, a former leader of the extremist group Betar.
Betar is the same group that was, following a settlement with New York State, barred
from instigating violence and physically assaulting protesters.
Glick reportedly came close to physically harming Khalil as he exited the hearing.
Civil rights groups also condemned a statement by the New York City Council Minority
Conference that labeled this briefing’s panelists as "bigots" and "hatemongers." Such
inflammatory rhetoric from elected officials was precisely the "corrosive" behavior that
fuels real-world violence against Muslim New Yorkers, activists said in a statement.
The briefing was sponsored by Council Members Shahana Hanif and Shekar
Krishnan, and organized by Emgage, Equitas Forum USA, Hindus for Human Rights,
Muslim Community Network NY, and the Muslims for Progressive Values.
Speaking at the briefing, several New York City Council members said anti-Muslim hate had outpaced the city’s response and now required coordinated policy action. “Many of us in government still do not fully understand what it means to be on the receiving end of Islamophobia, to be labeled a terrorist... to have Islamophobia treated as peripheral rather than urgent,” Hanif said. “We cannot respond to this moment with symbolism. We need real policy responses that actually protect people.”
Hanif noted that “vile, violent Islamophobic rhetoric” had “seeped into just all of our
spaces, including our schools,” and that “we can’t just keep beefing up the police” given
that the history of policing for many communities “is one of extreme violence.”
Council Member Lincoln Restler highlighted the disparity in treatment between
Muslim and non-Muslim officials. “The vile, Islamophobic sentiments that we’ve seen
across this city” are a “manifestation of the Islamophobia that [Hanif] experiences every
day that I don’t,” Restler said. New York City sees “too many incidents” like the recent
harassment of an Arabic teacher, that are “incredibly divisive and harmful.”
Council Member Harvey Epstein emphasized that hostility toward Muslim institutions is driven by "fear and intimidation" rather than fact. “We can’t talk about policing as the answer... hate is learned,” he said.
Council Member Rita Joseph called for including Muslim communities in school curricula, stating, “We don’t learn to hate as adults. We learn it as children.”
Council Members Pierina Sanchez, Crystal Hudson, and Gale Brewer also attended
and expressed solidarity.
Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian rights advocate detained by immigration authorities last
year before being released by a judge, said enforcement and not law alone was the
problem. “It’s not about the law itself... it’s the implementation... selective enforcement,”
he said, calling for oversight of institutions receiving public funds.
Badar Khan Suri, a scholar at Georgetown University who was also previously
detained and cleared, noted that “lawmakers and media figures help reproduce these
narratives and talk about Muslims as only radicals and inherently suspect.”
Baher Azmy, Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said Islamophobia
helped shape post-9/11 governance. “Islamophobia... helped produce the national
security state” which in turn caused Islamophobia to “replicate and expand.”
Asad Dandia, a CUNY lecturer and lead plaintiff in a landmark case that ended NYPD
surveillance of Muslims, warned “these are not internet trolls. These are... lawmakers.”
Rana Abdelhamid, founder of Malikah, shared her personal experience of physical
assault, stating, “I feel terrified as a Muslim woman taking the subway.” She called for accessible reporting systems and alternatives to increased policing.
Heba Khalil of EmgageUSA, who moderated the briefing, noted that a single hostile
tweet had "catapulted" a security threat against the event, reinforcing the false idea “that
there’s something inherently violent about what we’re doing.”
Husain Yahterbury, executive director of Muslim Community Network, added that
silence “hasn’t worked at all” and has only “emboldened... figures that perpetuate hate.”
Vrinda Jagota of Hindus for Human Rights and a representative for Equitas Forum USA identified Hindu nationalism in the U.S. as a key driver of Islamophobia, with Jagota concluding, “There’s no liberation for anyone without an end to Islamophobia.”
