A New York City councilmember known for her fervent criticism of Israel faced harsh questioning at a recent gathering of the Democratic Socialists of America — because she had also spoken out against Hamas, as well as supporters of the terrorist organization who demonstrated outside New York synagogues.

The comments came during Councilmember Shahana Hanif’s interview earlier this month with the NYC-DSA Socialists in Office committee. Hanif, a DSA member who long lambasted Israel prior to facing a centrist challenger last year, appeared before the group in order to receive formal endorsement and volunteer support from the organization in the future.

But during the interview process, held both in-person and over Zoom, Hanif faced questioning for her condemnation of Hamas for its Oct. 7, 2023, attacks — which came belatedly in April 2024 — and her denouncement of protesters who chanted, “We support Hamas” outside a Queens synagogue in January, according to a recording obtained by Jewish Insider.

“Something that concerned me is the comparison of protesters who chanted support of Hamas to neo-Nazi protests, equating them both as antisemitism. Many of us, with 60% of Gen Z supporting Hamas against Israel, many of us are realizing now that we’ve been lied to all our lives,” one participant in the interview said to Hanif. “We do so under fear knowing that the politicians that represent us are supporting a genocide, as well as supporting political repression against us.
So will you fight back against that effort to repress us, or will you take part in it yourself?”

Hanif asked the questioner to clarify her query.

“When we are accused of antisemitism for supporting the Palestinian resistance, many leftist politicians equate that to the antisemitism of neo-Nazis and I feel that is extremely dangerous,” the young woman said.

In response, Shanif did not directly engage with the speaker’s comments on Hamas but appeared to agree that too many protesters had been identified as antisemitic.

“The propaganda on antisemitism and what is antisemitism has certainly hurt our city in many, many ways,” the Brooklyn Democrat said. “I’m only looking forward to making sure to call out the bullshit where there is. And listen, I’m not perfect on messaging. This takes not only practice, but it also takes learning.”

Hanif further indicated that if admitted to the Socialists in Office group, which currently includes only two of the Council’s 51 members, they could collectively coordinate to push back on allegations of antisemitism.

“I think it’s a very important question, and I think having this cohort of city SIOs to work with will provide a healthy scholarship on issues pertaining to what is antisemitism, or calling out what is not antisemitism that is being called antisemitic,” Hanif continued.

Hanif’s office did not answer questions seeking clarity on her post-election stance toward Hamas. In a statement to JI, NYC-DSA stressed that all dues-paying members had access to the forum and that the group did not vet questions in advance. It also maintained it has criticized the conduct of both Israel and Hamas, even though it promoted protests against the Jewish state just one day after the Oct. 7 attacks.

“Individual participants and members do not reflect the positions of the organization,” said NYC-DSA Vice Chair Grace Mausser. “We have long been on the record in condemning all war crimes and massacres.”