NEW YORK — In the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack on Israel, Mayor Eric Adams privately compared pro-Palestine protests to Ku Klux Klan rallies, claims a new lawsuit accusing him and other members of his administration of discriminating against Muslim employees.

The suit was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court late Tuesday night by Hassan Naveed, Adams’ ex-director of hate crimes prevention who was fired from his City Hall post in April 2024. The suit asks for damages of at least $1 million.

Naveed, who is Muslim, alleges Adams drew the comparison between pro-Palestine actions and KKK rallies during a private meeting with him and other city employees in late October 2023.

In the suit, Naveed alleges that incident was part of “a long pattern” of Adams and his senior advisers engaging in “discriminatory conduct against Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians and those perceived to be affiliated with these identities.”

Adams spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak disputed Naveed’s characterization of his firing, but didn’t comment on the alleged KKK remark.

“This individual was an at-will employee who was let go for poor job performance — plain and simple — and not terminated because of his identity, religion, or views. Any suggestion otherwise is absurd,” said Mamelak, whose boss is leaving office on Jan. 1, having abandoned his bid for reelection.

“We will respond in court, where we are confident these claims will be disproven.”

Naveed’s suit alleges anti-Muslim sentiment in the upper ranks of the Adams administration became “particularly pronounced” after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which killed roughly 1,200 people and prompted Israel to launch its war in Gaza, which has left more than 65,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Naveed, who was in charge of helping oversee the city’s hate crimes prevention programs, alleges, for example, that his team in late 2023 presented Adams’ office with a draft press release mentioning the need to ramp up mental health resources for New Yorkers impacted by the conflict in the Middle East, whether they be Israeli or Palestinian.

An unidentified “communications director” to Adams responded via email that the Palestinian reference should be taken out from the document because “Palestine is not a real country,” the suit says. While there’s no universally-recognized sovereign nation of Palestine, a number of countries, including Canada, have recognized it as a state.

Naveed — whose firing was first reported by the Daily News last year — alleges he and other Muslim city employees met privately with Adams on Oct. 23, 2023 to raise concerns about “anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian” rhetoric that administration officials had used in the wake of the Hamas attack.

Naveed’s suit says he had at the time been especially troubled by Deputy Chief of Staff Menashe Shapiro, Community Affairs Commissioner Fred Kriezman and senior adviser Joel Eisdorfer amplifying “anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian” public statements and posts on social media, including a call for the need to “clear out Gaza.” Mamelak vehemently denied Shapiro, Kreizman or Eisdorfer ever engaged in Islamophobic rhetoric.

At the top of the meeting between Adams and Muslim employees, the suit says an unidentified city worker of Palestinian descent told the mayor she had never felt “more dehumanized, devalued and without a voice” due to the “anti-Palestinian rhetoric coming from City Hall.”

In response, Adams told attendees he believed Muslims had been facing “hate because Muslims, as a community, had failed to adequately condemn Hamas,” according to Naveed’s suit.

After lamenting there had been no “solid” Muslim community voice condemning Hamas, Adams told participants he believed Muslims “were too busy organizing protests for Palestine,” the court papers say.

“He compared these protests to ‘Klu Klux Klan’ protests,” the suit continued, using a mispelling of the racist group’s name. At one point in the meeting, the suit claims Adams stated: “I don’t know the difference between a Palestinian, Pakestinian [sic], Arab, Muslim, I have no idea.”

Naveed told The News on Tuesday there’s a recording of Adams’ remarks in that meeting, but said he couldn’t immediately provide a copy of it.

After the Oct. 7 attack, Naveed was also sidelined from attending City Hall meetings where hate crime prevention efforts were being discussed, according to the suit. He claimed the administration tried on multiple occasions to cancel city funding for local nonprofits advocating for Palestinian rights as well.

In addition to Adams, Naveed’s suit names Candice Julien, his former direct supervisor, and her chief of staff, Nora Daniel, as defendants, alleging they participated in the discrimination against him, in part by informing him on April 16, 2024 he had been fired.

They told him he was being let go for failing to file an annual report, but Naveed alleges he had submitted that document on time and that they came up with the false pretense to mask the actual, discriminatory reason for his termination.

In addition to alleging his firing was the result of discrimination, Naveed says Adams defamed him by claiming in spring 2024 that he was fired for not performing his job well.

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