NYC Councilwoman Inna Vernikov quits Women's Caucus over woke, anti-Israel agenda: ‘I'm out!'

Yahoo

09-02-2025

A Brooklyn lawmaker is quitting the City Council's Women's Caucus to protest its 'anti-Israel' agenda and 'woke' ways.
GOP Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, 40, slammed the 30-member caucus in a nearly 90-second video, first obtained by The Post, for its refusal to condemn Hamas terrorists after the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre in Israel and for catering to far-left gender idealogues.
'How can I condemn and call out all these women organizations who've stayed completely silent [after the massacre] but continue sitting in a body that's supposed to stand up for women's rights, that's supposed to stand against the abuse and rape and captivity of women, but cannot do that when it comes to Jewish women?' Vernikov says in the clip.
The video includes footage of young, terrified Jewish women as they're released from Hamas captivity by masked men with weapons. In the clip, Vernikov calls the Hamas captors 'Jihadis.'
She also pointed to the caucus' bylaws allowing council members to join who 'identify as women' — leaving the door open to transgender biological men joining the group.
The bylaws also say the caucus 'seeks to advance' both 'women and women-identifying people's rights.'
'This is a Women's Caucus that obviously cannot agree on what a woman is,' she says in the video.
'I will not remain on a body that refuses to acknowledge objective truths and that will only stand up for women when it is politically expedient for them. I'm out!' she concludes.
Vernikov formally notified the caucus' leadership on Friday she's leaving the group.
The caucus' co-chair, Julie Menin (D-Manhattan), and another member, Lynn Schulman (D-Queens), all but accused Vernikov of political grandstanding on Saturday.
'As was explained to Councilmember Vernikov, members decided to put out their own personal statements, given that some of us had actually visited with hostage families in Israel, which we felt was more personal and powerful,' both Jewish pols said in a joint statement.
'It is unfortunate that the council member is seeking to politicize the lives of the hostages.'
Menin, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, and Schulman visited with families of hostages during a trip to Israel in 2024 and have issued numerous statements in support of the hostages.
The Council's Jewish Caucus has also left it up to individual members to release statements on the Israeli hostages rather than issue a joint statement, said its chairperson Eric Dinowitz (D-Bronx).
This is not the first time Vernikov has left the Women's Caucus.
Vernikov and fellow Republicans Joann Ariola and Vickie Paladino of Queens stepped down in 2022 over a variety of issues, including that they believed their opinions were being ignored, but they later returned, officials said.
Vernikov's resignation leaves the caucus with 26 Democrats and just three Republicans.
It's membership topped out at 31 following an historic 2021 election when women — for the first time — won majority control of the City Council's 51 seats.
The councilwoman – a longtime fervent defender of Israel — made headlines in October 2023 when she was caught on camera toting a firearm while observing an anti-Israel rally at Brooklyn College following Hamas' attack.
Vernikov was later arrested on felony gun charges but prosecutors dropped the case when they couldn't prove the weapon was capable of firing bullets.
The incident sparked her re-election a month later, some pundits claim, by galvanizing die-hard Israel supporters in her heavily Jewish district, which includes Sheepshead Bay and other parts of southern Brooklyn.