Shahana Hanif

Shahana Hanif’s Participation in the Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia University (Columbia) in 2024 & Arrest at an Anti-Israel Protest in 2023

Shahana Hanif is a New York City Council member who was arrested at an anti-Israel protest during its war against Hamas in October 2023. Hanif also blamed Israel for Hamas terrorist atrocities against Israeli civilians that month. In April 2024, she participated in the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia.

As of October 2023, Hanif was affiliated with Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). She was also endorsed by the group when she ran for city council.

Hanif’s activism and social media posts took place during Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists. Israel launched the war, called called “Swords of Iron,” after a series of Hamas terror attacks and war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings. The atrocities were executed on October 7, 2023, and left approximately 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded.

As of January 25, 2024, Hanif was listed on the New York City Council website as a city council member representing District 39, which includes Downtown Brooklyn, as well as the central Brooklyn neighborhoods of Borough Park, Flatbush, Prospect Park, Windsor Terrace and Park Slope, among others. She was elected to office from the Democratic Party in July 2021.

Also as of January 25, 2024, Hanif was listed on the New York City Council website as chair of the Committee on Immigration and co-chair of the Progressive Caucus.

As of January 20, 2024, Hanif was reportedly appointed as co-chair of the newly formed Taskforce to Combat Hate at the New York City Council.

In April 2023, Hanif reportedly opposed a city council resolution to create an “End Jew Hatred Day,” which passed with a large majority. Seven council members voted in the affirmative, one was absent and Hanif abstained.

As of October 2024, Hanif’s LinkedIn profile said she graduated from Brooklyn College (BC) with a bachelor’s degree in women’s and gender studies and TV/radio in 2014. , BC is part of the City University of New York (CUNY), which is located in New York, New York.

As of the same date, Hanif’s LinkedIn profile said she was located in Brooklyn, New York.

Arrested at an Anti-Israel Protest during a Hamas War

On October 20, 2023, Hanif and two of her staffers were reportedly arrested at an anti-Israel protest titled: “Ceasefire Now Rally for Gaza.” The rally took place in New York City and was organized by the DSA.

Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters amassed at the city’s Bryant Park, blocking traffic at the site. Rallygoers held anti-Israel signs, including one that referred to Hamas as “the resistance movement” and read: “NO I DO NOT CONDEMN HAMAS.” Protesters also chanted: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Anti-Israel activists use the term “resistance” to refer to violence and terror perpetrated against Israeli civilians and their allies. It is used to glorify and encourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence. Anti-Israel activists chant slogans such as: “Resistance by any means necessary!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” in response to terror attacks.

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.

At the rally, Hanif called for U.S. senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York to support a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

NYPD arrested a total of 139 anti-Israel activists at the protest, including Hanif and her two staffers.

On October 23, 2023, Hanif tweeted: “On October 20th, I was arrested alongside a multiracial coalition of New Yorkers, among them two members of my team, many Muslims and Jews, many whose first-time it was risking an arrest, demanding @SenGillibrand and @SenSchumer support a ceasefire in Gaza.”

Also on October 23, 2023, Hanif tweeted: “...we demand an end to the apartheid and genocide. What are you willing to put your body on the line for?”

Blaming Israel for Hamas Terrorism

On October 13, 2023, Hanif tweeted: “The root cause of this war is the illegal, immoral, and unjust occupation of the Palestinian people. The Occupation has brought violence toward Israelis and Palestinians for over 75 years…”

The modern State of Israel was founded 76 years earlier, in 1948.

On Saturday, October 7, 2023, approximately 2,900 heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border with Gaza. They executed numerous war crimes on civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape of men and women, torture, kidnappings and mutilation. 

Hanif’s Participation in the Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia

On April 20, 2024, Hanif posted on Instagram a photo of herself alongside other anti-Israel activists, participating in the Columbia encampment. She can be seen in the photo wearing a red-and-white keffiyeh.

In the post, Hanif wrote: “LIVE from the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at @columbia. I’m proud to witness disciplined leadership from students mobilize for peace and against genocide. Over 120+ students groups on campus endorsed and joined the protest. This moment necessitates risk, and these students have taken more than many of the top ‘leaders’ of this City. Keep going! And President Shafik, do better. / Thank you @cuapartheiddivest, @nycydsa, @sjpcolumbia, @jvp.columbia.”

On April 17, 2024, Columbia students and anti-Israel activists set up a pro-Hamas encampment on campus to protest Israel’s war against Hamas and promote BDS. The encampment was forcibly dismantled and approximately 80 Columbia students were arrested.
The encampment was also in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Columbia is located in New York, New York.

BDS

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by Omar Barghouti in 2005 to challenge “international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.” BDS is an allegedly “Palestinian-led movement,” although leading BDS activists have admitted [00:01:01] this is not true. 

One of the demands of BDS includes [point 3] what is generally known as the “right of return,” a demand discredited as a way to eliminate Israel. Barghouti said the “right of return” is a means to “end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”  

Barghouti has said that BDS “aims to turn Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.”

In his activism, Barghouti has also said [00:05:55] regarding Israel: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No…rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”

The movement has been linked to numerous terrorist organizations and received a public endorsement from Hamas in 2017.

BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.

The movement’s most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments and student groups, backed by their own anti-Israel members and affiliates, have proposed resolutions on some form of boycott of, or divestment from, Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities.

Boycott resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.

BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents on campus. On one campus, when the student government debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threats against those opposing it.

Social Media and Weblinks

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/shahanabklyn

Facebook 2:https://www.facebook.com/shahanafrombk

X:https://x.com/ShahanaFromBK

X 2:https://x.com/CMShahanaHanif

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/shahanafrombk

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahanahanif/

Official Website:https://council.nyc.gov/shahana-hanif/

Personal Website:https://www.shahanafrombk.com/

Linktr.ee:https://linktr.ee/shahanafrombk/