An interfaith lineup of imams, rabbis, ministers and local elected officials filled the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall on Thursday, publicly rebuking City Councilmember Inna Vernikov for a social media post they described as anti-Muslim. Organizers said Vernikov had boosted a viral clip that showed men praying along a sidewalk beside a girls’ yeshiva in Sheepshead Bay and cast the scene as a threat to students. Speakers warned that language like Vernikov’s stirs fear across religious communities and urged City Council leaders to respond with concrete action.
As reported by Brooklyn Eagle, Vernikov’s May 15 post featured video of men praying outside the school and the line, “This is an ALL GIRLS Jewish school in my district.” The outlet noted that the post racked up roughly 2.9 million views and drew dozens of sharply divided comments. Vernikov later followed up with another post acknowledging that there is a mosque next to the yeshiva.
Emergency press conference called by CAIR-NY
According to a media advisory from CAIR-NY, Muslim, Jewish and allied faith leaders moved quickly to organize an emergency press conference at Brooklyn Borough Hall on May 21. The advisory said the gathering was meant to demand accountability for Vernikov’s post and to reaffirm interfaith solidarity. CAIR-NY noted that the action came on the heels of a deadly attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego and that organizers intended to press City Council leadership to follow through on earlier promises to address inflammatory conduct by officials. The advisory identified the coalition as the New York Coalition for Safety, Peace, Equity & Accountability and listed the event’s time and location.
Voices at Borough Hall
At the mic, speakers included imams, ministers and elected officials, with names ranging from Afaf Nasher to Imam Abdul Aziz to Councilmember Julie Won, according to Brooklyn Eagle. Nasher told the crowd that the mosque and the yeshiva “have co-existed peacefully for 10 years” and said the sidewalk prayer happened after students had already been dismissed on Fridays. Other speakers labeled Vernikov’s post “dangerous” and called on Speaker Julie Menin and the City Council’s Jewish Caucus to respond.
Vernikov’s record and the political stakes
The flare-up arrived on top of earlier controversies in Vernikov’s record. Reporting from City & State notes that she was tapped in January as a co-chair of the City Council’s Bipartisan Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, a choice that drew criticism from some quarters over her history of incendiary online posts. CBS New York has detailed how Vernikov was arrested after openly carrying a firearm at a 2023 protest, a criminal charge that was later dropped. Against that backdrop, faith leaders at Borough Hall argued that an official who amplifies fear cannot credibly be trusted to lead efforts meant to safeguard religious communities.
Council leadership’s options are constrained by internal rules. JTA and other outlets report that Speaker Julie Menin has said the Jewish Caucus itself voted to select the task force’s co-chairs and that caucus rules, not a unilateral decision by the speaker, govern membership and leadership posts. In practical terms, any change to Vernikov’s role would likely require another caucus vote. Organizers at the Borough Hall event said that for now, public pressure and sustained scrutiny are their main tools for seeking accountability. The Council has said it will monitor the situation as complaints and calls for action continue…