In one social media post, she called Mayor Zohran Mamdani a “terrorist lover” who wants to see Jews “burn in an oven.” She has said “Jihad is coming” to New York under his leadership. And she has predicted that the mayor will “rehire and reinstate every antisemite who got fired for being an antisemite.”
The inflammatory and baseless remarks were directed toward Mr. Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, from Inna Vernikov, a city councilwoman from Brooklyn.
On Thursday, Ms. Vernikov, a Republican, was elected by the Council’s Jewish Caucus to be a co-chair of the council’s new Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, potentially giving her a raised platform to attack the mayor, a frequent critic of Israel’s actions toward Palestinians.
The decision drew immediate outrage from several corners, including from progressive members of the City Council, and sparked a contentious battle early in the tenure of the new Council speaker, Julie Menin.
When Ms. Vernikov’s appointment was announced on Thursday, she thanked Ms. Menin, a Democrat, for her “steadfast support of this vital initiative” in a post on social media.
“This crisis requires more than just RHETORIC & tweets of condemnation; it requires ACTION,” Ms. Vernikov wrote. “We will focus on holding to account any entities who embolden antisemitism or allow it to fester.”
In an interview, Ms. Vernikov praised the mayor for condemning antisemitic incidents in recent weeks, but declined to say whether she stood by her past statements.
“I have definitely said some things that could be triggering to some people or provocative, but I speak for a community that is very fearful of this mayor,” she said. “Not because he is a Muslim, but because of his rhetoric.”
After Ms. Vernikov was interviewed by The New York Times, however, she sent a follow-up written statement after speaking with Ms. Menin. “After discussing my past social media posts with Speaker Menin, I realize that some of my comments were inflammatory,” she wrote.
“That was not my intent, but I apologize and take full responsibility for the impact of the language I used,” she continued. “I understand that in my role as co-chair of this task force, I have an obligation to be more careful with my words.”
When asked about Ms. Vernikov’s record on Thursday, Ms. Menin’s aides played down the speaker’s role in establishing the task force and naming the Republican firebrand to a leadership position. They noted that Ms. Menin, who is a member of the Jewish Caucus, did not cast a vote on the task force leadership.
Ms. Menin, in a subsequent news conference, said she did not agree with many of Ms. Vernikov’s posts.
She went further in a statement Friday, saying: “I am appalled by Council Member Vernikov’s past comments and conduct, and I have been very clear to her that if she repeats such disgusting rhetoric and behavior again, I will urge the Jewish Caucus to remove her from the task force entirely.”
She added, “That type of inflammatory rhetoric is unacceptable and completely antithetical to our goal of combating hatred in all its forms.”
Yet Ms. Vernikov said Ms. Menin agreed to create the task force and tap her for its leadership when she was seeking support for her race for speaker last year — an account backed up by another person familiar with those talks. Ms. Menin’s spokesman, Jack Lobel, did not answer questions about whether she had promised to create the task force, which will exist in addition to the City Council’s Committee to Combat Hate.
On Friday, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, a progressive group, launched a letter-writing campaign to ask Ms. Menin to remove Ms. Vernikov from the task force, saying she “lacks the judgment and credibility necessary for this leadership role.”
The group cited a social media post written by Ms. Vernikov in October that “falsely accusing Mayor Mamdani of wanting Jews to ‘burn in an oven’” and “used the term ‘kapo’ to refer to Jews with whom she disagrees — this is itself, antisemitism.”
Ms. Vernikov also drew attention when she was arrested and charged with bringing a handgun to a pro-Israel counterprotest organized alongside a pro-Palestinian rally at Brooklyn College in 2023. The charges were later dismissed after it was found that the weapon was unloaded and inoperable.
Members of the Council’s Progressive Caucus were talking and texting on Thursday, sharing their frustrations about Ms. Vernikov’s elevated role, several people familiar with those talks said.
One Progressive Caucus member, Sandy Nurse, said she was “deeply concerned to see a member who has publicly and repeatedly made Islamophobic statements, including false claims about our mayor, appointed to lead this task force.” She went on to call for a “multicultural, multiracial and multi-faith approach” to combating antisemitism and Islamophobia.
Only one member of the Jewish Caucus, Lincoln Restler, voted against creating the antisemitism task force. Mr. Restler, a Democrat, is also a member of the Progressive Caucus.
In the interview with The Times, Ms. Vernikov said she wanted to investigate allegations of antisemitism in educational institutions, and also “definitely want to look at” the city’s Office to Combat Antisemitism. Mr. Mamdani is expected to announce its new leader soon.
Ms. Vernikov said she was concerned about the legitimacy of that office because the mayor revoked two pro-Israel executive orders earlier this month, including one that had endorsed an expansive definition of antisemitism.
“I definitely have questions,” she said, adding, “I think it’s important that we have a clear picture of what that task force and what the mayor’s office defines as antisemitism.”
Dora Pekec, a spokeswoman for Mr. Mamdani, declined to address Ms. Vernikov’s proposed inquiry into the Office to Combat Antisemitism. She referred reporters to the mayor’s comments in an interview on Thursday.
“I know that New Yorkers want to see, what I want to see, is a humanity embodied in our politics, not the language of darkness that has taken hold,” he said then. “And what that humanity requires is to look at each and every New Yorker and say that they are equally deserving of safety, of joy, of belonging in a city that is theirs.”
It is unclear how much power the new task force will wield, but Ms. Vernikov said it had been assigned a lawyer and a policy analyst, and that Ms. Menin had agreed to approve subpoenas for its work at her discretion.
Ms. Vernikov is a conservative Republican who was born in Ukraine, came to the United States at the age of 12, and represents parts of southern Brooklyn with significant Orthodox Jewish and Slavic communities.
She has defended Israel’s far-right government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Mr. Mamdani has said he would like the New York Police Department to execute that warrant if Mr. Netanyahu sets foot in the city. After Mr. Mamdani’s election in November, Ms. Vernikov invited the prime minister to New York.
Mr. Netanyahu thanked her for the invitation, in a letter she posted to social media, and said he hoped to travel to New York and to meet with her soon.
Liam Stack is a Times reporter who covers the culture and politics of the New York City region.
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