Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is facing criticism after photos surfaced showing her wearing a pink hijab during a visit to a Bronx mosque, where she posed alongside an imam with a history of praising Hamas and honoring a designated terrorist, according to reporting by The Washington Free Beacon.
The September 21 visit to the Bronx Muslim Center, located in an area of the borough known as “Little Yemen,” was kept low-profile, the Free Beacon reported. Gillibrand publicized other stops from that same afternoon on social media but did not mention the mosque visit. The photos were posted online by the center’s director of outreach, showing the senator seated next to Imam Hamud Alsilwi, who has led the mosque since 1998.
Imam’s Record of Antisemitic and Terror-Praising Posts
Alsilwi’s social media history includes a 2016 post in which he celebrated the Muslim Brotherhood for having “harmed no one except the Jews and Israel,” while cheering Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin for “causing so much trouble for the Jews in Palestine.” He also publicly mourned Sheikh Abdul Majeed al-Zindani following his death in 2024. The United States designated al-Zindani an international terrorist in 2004, citing his role as a spiritual adviser to Osama bin Laden, his funding of al-Qaeda, and his recruitment of jihadists.
Chuck Ross of the Free Beacon highlighted the images on social media, noting that Gillibrand — who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — was seated next to an imam who praised Hamas and idolized bin Laden’s spiritual adviser. The photos gained traction online as critics questioned why Gillibrand kept the visit quiet compared to her other public appearances that day.
A Pattern Among New York Democrats
The episode is the latest in what critics describe as a pattern of prominent New York Democrats donning Islamic headscarves during mosque visits. Just weeks earlier, Governor Kathy Hochul wore a black hijab at a Manhattan mosque shortly before the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, drawing swift condemnation. President Donald Trump mocked her for pandering, and Iranian dissidents sharply criticized the move as “cosplay,” pointing out that women in Iran are routinely beaten, imprisoned, and executed by the country’s morality police for refusing to wear the same headscarf.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also sparked backlash earlier this year when she wore a hijab while addressing an outdoor crowd in the Bronx alongside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist.
The timing of Gillibrand’s visit has drawn particular scrutiny, as it came shortly after Hochul’s hijab appearance and amid ongoing national debates over the Democratic Party’s approach to engaging with religious and community groups. Supporters of such outreach argue that politicians routinely visit houses of worship of many faiths to connect with constituents. Critics counter that wearing religious attire as a political gesture amounts to pandering — and that in this case, it meant standing alongside a cleric with a documented record of praising terrorist figures.
Broader Debate Over Political Symbolism
The controversy also echoes a global conversation about women’s rights in countries where religious dress is enforced by law. Iranian women protesting mandatory hijab laws under the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” have faced violent crackdowns, with many arrested, injured, or killed. For critics of the New York Democrats’ mosque visits, the contrast is stark: American politicians adopting a garment that women in other countries risk their lives to remove.
Neither Gillibrand’s office nor the Bronx Muslim Center has issued a public response to the photos as of this report. The Free Beacon’s reporting noted that the senator’s team publicized images from her other September 21 stops — which she made without the headscarf — but stayed silent about the mosque visit until the photos emerged from the center’s outreach director.
As the images circulate, the episode is likely to fuel ongoing criticism of how leading New York Democrats navigate faith outreach, particularly when it brings them into proximity with figures whose public statements have been condemned as antisemitic or sympathetic to terrorism.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/another-dem-wears-hijab-with-hamas-praising-imam