Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has fired back at Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas after an apparent diss and after he was called out by the Council of American-Islam Relations (CAIR) and others for questioning her decision to wear a headscarf while attending the funeral of slain NYPD Det. First Grade Didarul Islam, who was Muslim, on Thursday, July 31.

As reported, police said Islam was one of four people killed by gunman, Shane Tamura, 27, from Las Vegas who carried out a mass shooting using an assault rifle which he carried inside 345 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan on Monday, July 28. Police said Tamura reportedly had mental health issues.

They said he later turned the gun on himself and also died. For more on this, click here. Islam’s body had been transferred  from Midtown to The Bronx’s Parkchester neighborhood on Tuesday, July 29, as reported, as New Yorkers reacted to the shocking events, and Hochul and others called again for a nationwide ban on assault rifles.

As reported, on Thursday, members of the Bronx Bangladeshi American community from Parkchester, Norwood, and elsewhere joined thousands of other residents and police officers from across the New York metropolitan area and beyond and gathered at Parkchester’s Jame Masjid on Virginia Avenue to pay their respects and say goodbye to Islam, a Bangladeshi American immigrant, father of two, with another baby on the way, who was promoted to detective first grade by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch during his funeral service.

In attendance were Hochul, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Tisch, who also wore a headscarf, and several other male and female New York politicians. Seating inside the mosque was limited while thousands waited outside on the street as the event was livestreamed.

A representative from CAIR said on Saturday, Aug. 2 that the Texas, New York, and national headquarters of CAIR, “the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization,” called on Cruz to apologize to Islam’s family and to Hochul for “mocking her decision to respect Islamic custom by wearing an Islamic hair scarf, or hijab, at the religious funeral service for the murdered officer.”

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), a user published a photo of Hochul seated inside a mosque while wearing a head scarf that partially covered her head. The user wrote, “Why in TF is the Governor of New York wearing a fcking hijab?!” Cruz retweeted the post, writing “Um, wut?”

Numerous X users responded by pointing out that Cruz himself has worn a Jewish yarmulke (head attire) during prior Jewish religious events and that it is common for visitors to various houses of worship to wear clothing that respects the environment, such as women who wear veils while visiting popes at the Vatican. Women are also required to cover their shoulders when entering Il Duomo di Milano (Milan’s famous Cathedral in Italy).

Norwood News reached out to both the governor and the senator’s offices for comment. We were later referred by the governor’s office to her subsequent response to Cruz on X, where she wrote, “I wore a headscarf to honor a fallen Muslim NYPD officer at his funeral. Respecting a grieving family’s faith is “wut” leaders and anyone with basic decency would do.”

CAIR representatives say its mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims, though some dispute that it is the “largest” or even a legitimate Muslim civil rights organization.

In a statement, CAIR, CAIR-New York and CAIR-Texas said, “If Ted Cruz has any remaining sense of human decency, he will apologize to both the family of slain New York City Police Department Officer Didarul Islam and Governor Kathy Hochul for his despicable and disrespectful conduct. Senator Cruz should be ashamed of himself for daring to use a murdered Muslim NYPD officer’s funeral as an opportunity to amplify anti-Muslim hate.”

The statement continued, “The fact that Mr. Cruz has repeatedly shown respect for Jewish beliefs by wearing a yarmulke at Jewish sacred spaces makes his attack on Governor Hochul for similarly respecting a Muslim space all the more hateful and hypocritical. The next time Mr. Cruz visits a Catholic church, he should look up, notice the statues depicting Mary mother of Jesus, may God’s peace be upon them, wearing a scarf, and then ask himself why he hates the sight of the hijab so much.”

During a separate vigil held at the 47th Precinct on Friday, Aug. 1, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, Bronx State Sen. Nathalia Fernandez (S.D. 34), Bronx Assemblywoman Karines Reyes (A.D. 87), City Council Member Pierina Sanchez (C.D. 14), all wearing headscarves, and others joined Islam’s family and NYPD colleagues to remember him.

The topic of non-Muslim women wearing headscarves in Muslim circles has long been debated and not just in the context of female politicians.

Female journalists, for example, including those from both Muslim and non-Muslim countries, sometimes wear head coverings when interviewing Muslims or interviewees from the Middle East, citing a variety of reasons for doing so ranging from access, safety, respect for local tradition, creating a more convivial/relaxed atmosphere to attain a more successful interview, and more.

Renowned journalist Christiane Amanpour, who is British-Iranian, famously chose not to wear a headscarf on one occasion in 2022 when interviewing the Iranian president, though she had worn one while working on other occasions. The interview was subsequently canceled. She explained her reasons for doing so here. Another famous journalist Lesley Stahl talked about her decision to wear a headscarf for a high profile interview with Iranian activist Masih Alinejad in this video.

Both First Lady Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump, daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump, covered their heads with headscarves when visiting the late Pope Francis in Rome in 2017, as reported by The Guardian and others.

A number of other X posts, some in support and some in opposition to the governor, were also shared on X following the original post which included the photo of Hochul. Some included some hateful comments. It is not the first time the governor and other politicians have been the targets of written abuse, as reported.

In addition to Hochul, Tisch, and Adams, as reported, other elected officials in attendance at the funeral included Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, who has often been seen wearing traditional head attire at Muslim-related events in The Bronx, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Congressman Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), who represents parts of the West Bronx and northern Manhattan, and Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15), who represents a large section of The Bronx stretching from the northwest to the south.

Last year, Espaillat’s office was vandalized for displaying posters of the Jewish hostages following the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas on Southern Israel, while Torres has also been regularly targeted for his staunch support of Israel’s right to defend itself. He recently called out the media for not placing greater focus on videos shared in recent days by Hamas showing Israeli hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski looking emaciated.

“The world’s silence about the deliberate starvation of Israeli hostages at the hands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad is as deafening as its hypocrisy” he said. “Expect the images of emaciated Israeli bodies, starved in captivity, to appear nowhere in the pages of most major American newspapers. A humanitarianism that devalues Jewish life is no humanitarianism at all, for it has been hollowed out by antisemitism.”

Also seen at the funeral, among others, were Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and City Councilman Dr. Yousef Salaam (C.D 9) who represents parts of Harlem and is one of the Exonerated Five having spent between several years behind bars for a crime he did not commit.

Gothamist reported that Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani (A.D. 36), the Democratic mayoral nominee, was also at the funeral, seated on the floor inside the mosque, as is common practice, at the family’s invitation, while some chairs were brought in for some of the elected officials. Mamdani was reportedly also offered a chair but declined.

Addressing the congregation, Hochul said in part, “Today our hearts are broken. The dam is searing.” Referring to Islam’s relatives, she said, “They’re a family that expected to see their beloved son, husband, father for many more dinners, birthdays and life celebrations, but because of a madman who traveled a thousand miles with such evil in his heart to come and destroy all that is good about New York City.”

Meanwhile, according to a police source, though the numbers are subject to change, it appears that as of July 31, 24 discharged shell casings were discovered on the 33rd floor of 345 Park Avenue, 23 were discovered in the lobby, and 827 357 magnum rounds were located in Tamura’s car.

For more on this story click here, here, here and here.

Help is available for anyone dealing with mental health issues. Read our recent health check here. For immediate mental health support in New York City, anyone can contact NYC Well 24/7 by calling 888-NYC-WELL (692-9355), texting “WELL” to 65173, or visiting NYC.gov for online chat. For crisis situations, dialing 988 connects individuals to free, confidential crisis counseling and support. 

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crimestoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.

All calls are strictly confidential.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story referred to journalist Christiane Amanpour wearing a headscarf generally when conducting interviews with Muslim men. In fact, Amanpour famously chose not to wear a headscarf on one occasion when interviewing an Iranian president and the interview was later canceled, though she has worn a headscarf while working on other occasions. This has since been clarified in the latest version of this story.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.