Brad Lander, the Jewish city comptroller and mayoral candidate, has endorsed Brooklyn City Councilmember Shahana Hanif, who has faced criticism for her rhetoric on Israel and approach to antisemitism.
Hanif represents the city’s 39th district, which includes Park Slope and was previously represented by Lander. This year, Hanif is facing a primary challenge from a Jewish candidate, Maya Kornberg, and Lander’s endorsement in the race has been highly anticipated. Hanif, the first Muslim woman to enter City Council, is a former Lander staffer, but some of her criticism of Israel since Oct. 7, 2023, has separated her from her former boss, who identifies as a Zionist.
For weeks, Lander held off on picking a candidate. But he made his decision this week, saying in a statement that he is “proud to endorse Shahana Hanif for re-election” and praising her opposition to Mayor Eric Adams as well as her advocacy for immigrants.
“It has been a joy to watch her grow from a staffer and organizer in my office to a passionate elected official,” he added in the statement, which Hanif tweeted on Tuesday evening. She endorsed both Lander and Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist candidate and vocal Israel critic, in the ranked-choice mayoral primary.
Hanif has drawn opposition from some Jewish constituents for what they say is her lack of action when it comes to fighting antisemitism. In 2021, the year she was elected, Hanif retweeted a tweet that included the phrase “Globalize the Intifada,” a reference to two Palestinian uprisings against Israel, the latter of which saw a wave of suicide bombings. (In October 2024, Hanif told News 12 that she’d removed the tweet, saying she recognized that the phrase is “antagonistic, discriminatory and hurtful to many Jewish people.”)
In 2023, less than two weeks after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and before the full-scale Israeli invasion of Gaza, Hanif was arrested at a Democratic Socialists of America ceasefire rally, and leveled a charge of “genocide.” The following spring, she posted a photo from the Columbia University pro-Palestine encampment, where she wrote she saw “students mobilize for peace and against genocide.”
Last fall, in response to Hanif’s activism and rhetoric, a group of local Jews founded Brooklyn BridgeBuilders, whose aim is to hold “elected officials accountable — Council Members and others — who enable, embrace, or refuse to speak out against hate.”
In a statement Tuesday, the group called Lander’s endorsement “deeply disappointing.” The group had written a letter urging Lander not to endorse her in February, saying that Hanif “has repeatedly excused antisemitism and failed to stand up for all her constituents.”
Tuesday’s statement said, “Lander throwing his full weight behind her makes it clear he is cynically prioritizing his political alliances over the safety and unity of our community.”
Lander considers himself a liberal Zionist and is a regular at Israeli-led Sunday rallies in Union Square for a ceasefire and hostage release. In an interview with the New York Times last year, Lander said he was “deeply disappointed” by people like Hanif who did not immediately condemn Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, but that it was “important to keep political relationships across lines of difference as part of efforts to combat hate.” He added that he’d encouraged Hanif and other elected officials to meet with the families of Israeli hostages.
His campaign stood by the endorsement on Wednesday.
“Brad is proud of the work he’s done with the City Council to make New York safer and more affordable, and is supporting a long list of incumbent members to continue this important progress,” Lander’s campaign spokesperson, Dora Pekec, wrote to the New York Jewish Week on Tuesday, when asked for comment on his endorsement of Hanif.
“Brad’s record is clear — he’s a proud Jew and Zionist, and the Jewish community knows that he will always stand up for his community as he has for years, first as a City Council Member and now as Comptroller and the highest-ranking Jewish official in New York City,” Pekec added.
Hanif and Lander were both endorsed by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, a progressive group that also endorsed Mamdani for mayor. “Kvelling over these 2 JFREJ champs… cross-endorsing each other!” JFREJ posted on X Tuesday night.
Kornberg, Hanif’s challenger, is a 33-year-old political scientist and senior research fellow at the NYU Brennan Center for Justice. Kornberg is running as a “pragmatic progressive” alternative to the incumbent candidate, studied abroad in Israel and once worked for an Israeli think tank. She did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.
Lander has appeared with both candidates. In March, he collected signatures in Brooklyn to get on the ballot beside Kornberg and the Independent Neighborhood Democrats. The very same day, he also petitioned alongside Hanif with JFREJ, Politico reported. According to Lander’s spokesperson, that decision was “very intentional.”
Lander continued making public appearances alongside Hanif while withholding his endorsement, including at the Seder in the Streets in April, a JFREJ event that billed itself as “a condemnation of Eric Adams, Andrew Cuomo [and] Donald Trump.”
Hanif has received other endorsements, including from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a vocal critic of Israel in Congress, Mamdani, and Ruth Messinger, the former Manhattan borough president and American Jewish World Service CEO.
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