NYC Council speaker forces pols to take down political signs — including Israeli hostage posters

Big Apple lawmakers are being forced to strip their desks clean of any political signs — including pro-Israel posters and flyers — in a controversial move by City Council speaker Adrienne Adams that has sparked outrage, The Post has learned.

The speaker, who is not related to Mayor Eric Adams, first floated the plan during a conference with other council Democrats Monday as she tries to tamp down rhetoric between lawmakers over the Israel-Hamas war, sources said.

“This is a shameful, disgusting excuse of a power flex, used to curtail my freedom of expression,” Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (R-Brooklyn) railed.

“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.”

The council’s general counsel sent out a memo on the directive on Wednesday informing members that they could no longer “affix on furniture or otherwise display signs or flags” in the chamber or during any meetings without prior approval from the speaker.

Councilmembers in the past have used signs or other displays on their desks to express a view or make a political point.

But the practice has become more charged in the midst of the war between Israel and Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip — with displays expressing support for both sides of the conflict.

Council leaders say the practice was always forbidden under the chamber’s guidelines and Robert’s Rules of Order, which is the widely accepted standard of parliamentary procedures.

“This is a common type of regulation observed by many legislative bodies at the state and federal level,” the spokesperson said.

Officials also said the pols’ desks are “historic” and “irreplaceable,” and maintained that affixing signs could damage them.

But some lawmakers, including Councilman Kalman Yeger, a Brooklyn Democrat, criticized the policy, saying it was an encroachment on free speech.

“There is no member of the council to determine unilaterally what members put on their desk,” Yeger fumed.

Both told The Post they would put their signs back up.

“Political positions among politicians are normal,” one council source said. “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,” the source said.

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

However, council sources said they expected all signs to be taken down as soon as Thursday.

“This is a common type of regulation observed by many legislative bodies at the state and federal level,” the council spokesperson said.