Latest news with #ShahanaHanif
New York Times
25-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Hanif Wins Re-election in Council Contest Defined by Israel and Gaza
Shahana Hanif, the first Muslim woman elected to the City Council in New York City, has held onto her seat in Tuesday's Democratic primary contest, which had turned into a tense race where the politics of the Middle East became a focal point. Ms. Hanif, who represents Brooklyn neighborhoods including Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Kensington, defeated her challenger, Maya Kornberg, a senior research fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, according to The Associated Press. Ms. Kornberg, 33, said she decided to challenge Ms. Hanif, 34, who was elected in 2021, because of the councilwoman's focus on the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, and she regularly characterized her as being insufficiently concerned with the needs of the district. 'The Council member's disproportionate focus on that issue and taking public divisive stances on that issue, instead of focusing on the local issues facing our district — on fixing potholes and planting trees — is precisely the progressive attitude we need to change,' Ms. Kornberg said in a recent television interview. The race was animated this winter by the vandalism of an Israeli restaurant in Park Slope. Ms. Hanif condemned it, but some constituents felt she had not been vocal enough in calling out the vandalism as antisemitic. In an interview before the primary, Ms. Hanif said her opponents had tried and failed to belittle her efforts to bring more housing to Brooklyn, among other priorities. She cited as an example her efforts to rezone the site of the Arrow Linen & Uniform Supply Company in Windsor Terrace for housing. Many community members opposed the redevelopment, which passed the City Council earlier this year. Before it did, Ms. Hanif worked to scale it down and to ensure that more affordable units were included. 'My campaign has been a multiracial and intergenerational coalition of people who want to build bridges,' said Ms. Hanif, who was supported by and campaigned aggressively with the progressive mayoral candidates Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani and Comptroller Brad Lander. 'If you look at the other side, you're not going to see anything close to that sort of coalition.' In the end, Ms. Hanif, who grew up in the district in Kensington, prevailed in part because of her grass-roots outreach in immigrant communities. The efforts helped her withstand about $400,000 in super PAC spending from, among others, Uber and companies associated with Madison Square Garden, deployed to boost Ms. Kornberg's campaign and attack Ms. Hanif.
New York Times
24-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Here Are 5 Key City Council Races to Watch in the N.Y.C. Primary
The mayoral race is getting most of the attention, but on Primary Day, there are battles in many of New York City's 51 City Council districts. Most — but not all — are Democratic candidates squaring off against one another. Some of these contests feature crowded fields. A number of them have attracted outside moneyed interests. And there are some recognizable figures hoping to make comebacks or chart a new path forward. With just hours to go before the polls close, here is a look at some of the most noteworthy among the 32 primary contests for Council seats. Since becoming the first Muslim woman elected to the Council in 2021, Shahana Hanif, 34, has focused intently on issues including housing. She has also been an unsparing critic of the Israeli government, attending pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University and getting arrested at a Bryant Park protest weeks after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. Her focus on the war frustrated some constituents and was part of the reason Maya Kornberg, 33, a senior research fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, challenged her. In a television interview, Ms. Kornberg, who supports a cease-fire in Gaza, blasted Ms. Hanif's 'disproportionate focus on that issue and taking public divisive stances on that issue, instead of focusing on the local issues.' Ms. Hanif, who grew up in Kensington, has pushed back, saying she is laser-focused on issues affecting the district, citing as an example her work to rezone the site of the Arrow Linen & Uniform Supply Company in Windsor Terrace for housing. She has bashed Ms. Kornberg for donations she has received from super PACs backed by Uber and companies associated with Madison Square Garden, which have contributed $400,000 to attack Ms. Hanif and back Ms. Kornberg. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Spectator
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Will the L.A. immigration riots reach Europe?
The pro-immigration protests that erupted last week in Los Angeles have now spread across the United States. On Tuesday there were confrontations between police and demonstrators in Atlanta, Chicago and Denver, where tear gas was used to disperse a crowd. Police in New York City arrested 45 people as they came under attack from a variety of projectiles thrown by a mob that numbered several hundred. Demonstrators shouted 'shame, shame'; one local councillor, Shahana Hanif, accused the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of 'attacking our communities'. The protests began in L.A. last Friday when ICE officers began rounding up suspected illegal immigrants in the Hispanic districts of Westlake and Paramount. In one raid ICE arrested 44 unauthorised immigrants at a job site. Donald Trump promptly despatched 700 Marines to L.A., and doubled the National Guard's presence to 4,000 in an attempt to restore order to a city where so far 23 businesses have been looted by demonstrators.
The Guardian
11-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Protests across US as anger grows over Trump's immigration crackdown
Protests against the Trump administration's newly intensified immigration raids, centered on Los Angeles, spread across the country on Tuesday, with demonstrations in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Omaha and Seattle. Thousands attended a protest against the federal government's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in New York City's Foley Square. Some protesters held signs reading 'Ice out of New York' and others chanted 'Why are you in riot gear? I don't see no riot here.' Shirley, a 29-year-old protester, condemned the Trump administration for targeting workers, which she called antithetical to the country's essence. 'I come from immigrant parents,' she said, with a large Mexican flag draped across her back. 'It's infuriating to see that this particular government is going into labor fields, taking people from construction sites, into industry, plants, into farms, and taking away what is the backbone of this country. 'So I'm here today to remind everybody that the United States started as an immigrant country, and it's a nation of immigrants, and I just want to make sure that I'm here for those who can't be here today.' Councilmember Shahana Hanif of Brooklyn spoke before the large crowd in Foley Square. She criticized the Trump administration and New York's mayor, Eric Adams, for the crackdown on immigrants. 'Mayor Adams has made it clear that he doesn't care about working class people,' she said. 'He does not care about any one of us. He is collaborating with Trump to use tactics. He's complicit.' She also expressed her desire to keep New York a sanctuary city, and called for more protections for international students. 'Stop the attacks and assaults on our students!' she yelled, and was met with cheers from the crowd. Thousands also gathered outside an immigration court in Chicago, and then marched through downtown streets, drumming and chanting, 'No more deportations!' At one point, a car drove through the marchers, narrowly missing the anti-Ice protesters, according to WGN TV News, which broadcast video of the incident. In metro Atlanta, hundreds of people marched along Buford Highway in solidarity with Los Angeles, local 11 Alive News reported. Protesters marched in Omaha on Tuesday, chanting 'Chinga la migra' (a Spanish phrase that roughly translates to the slogan 'Fuck Ice' on placards waved by the marchers) after about 80 people were reportedly arrested in an immigration raid on a meat-packing plant. In Seattle, a small crowd of about 50 protesters gathered outside the Henry M Jackson federal building in downtown Seattle to show solidarity with protesters in Los Angeles, the Seattle Times reported. After a rally, the protesters barricaded driveways with e-bikes and e-scooters to block homeland security vehicles thought to be transporting detained immigrants. Large rallies also took place in Dallas and Austin on Monday, and up to 1,800 protests are planned nationwide on Saturday, to coincide with the military parade Donald Trump is throwing on his birthday in the nation's capital.
New York Post
11-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
At least 15 arrested in NYC anti-ICE protest as thousands take to the street
At least 15 people were arrested at a massive anti-ICE protest in lower Manhattan Tuesday where shrieking, sign-holding demonstrators flooded the streets. Thousands of angry New Yorkers took to the streets outside Foley Square in the shadow of City Hall to protest the Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations ongoing in the city and throughout the country. Thousands of angry New Yorkers took to the streets outside Foley Square to protest ICE deportations, leading to at least 15 arrests. AFP via Getty Images Picketers carried placards reading 'Abolish ICE' and 'ICE out of New York!' and chanted phrases such as, 'Brick by brick, wall by wall, this racist system has got to fall!' At least 15 demonstrators were taken into custody by the NYPD near Broadway and Duane Street for obstructing traffic and not complying with orders to disperse, according to police sources. Notable speakers at the protest included Brooklyn Councilwoman Shahana Hanif and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
