In a move that has sparked outrage, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams has ordered the removal of all political signs from legislators’ desks, including pro-Israel posters and flyers depicting hostages being held by Hamas. Adams claims the move is aimed at reducing tensions between lawmakers over the Israel-Hamas war, but many are calling it an attack on free speech.

The council’s general counsel sent a memo on Wednesday informing members that they could no longer display signs or flags in the chamber or during meetings without prior approval from the speaker. Council leaders claim that the practice was always forbidden under the chamber’s guidelines and Robert’s Rules of Order, but many lawmakers disagree.

Councilman Kalman Yeger argued that the policy is an encroachment on free speech. “There is no member of the council to determine unilaterally what members put on their desk,” Yeger told the New York Post.

“This is a shameful, disgusting excuse of a power flex, used to curtail my freedom of expression,” Councilwoman Inna Vernikov said in response to the directive. “My colleagues have a constitutional right to hang a ‘Cease-fire now’ poster, no matter how much I disagree with them. I have a right to display a poster of a hostage, no matter how much my colleagues disagree with my message.”

Both Vernikov and Yeger have vowed to put their signs back up.

“Political positions among politicians are normal,” a council source told The Post. “And curbing free speech sets a dangerous precedent. The progressives have militarized their causes and made them overly political, forcing the rest of the members to suffer the consequences.”

“While I understand the need to lower the temperature, this approach threatens fundamental democratic principles.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)