Habibi City

New York magazine called New York City “Habibi City” for its cover story in August 2026. In 2026, New York City had its first Muslim mayor in Zohran Mamdani. “Hababi” is Arabic, and “Habibi City” means “beloved city.”
 
Other cities have also been called “Habibi City.” “We enjoyed ..& loved. Mumbai so so much.  My habibi city” was posted on X/Twitter by Rasha fouad 🌹ABEF💙 on December 1, 2017. “Big Mood In Habibi City With My Tourists. #Dubai” was posted on X/Twitter by Gem on November 11, 2023.
     
“These days, it feels very different to be Arab, or Iranian, or Muslim in New York. Over the past decade, a new generation of artists, chefs, comedians, designers, and others have built unprecedented cultural and political capital. Together, they’re what you might call a *scene.* Where the diasporas once seemed siloed, the new Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) scene is increasingly united across identities — Iraqi, Yemeni, Egyptian, Sudanese, Mauritanian, Afghan — and bound together by shared values” was posted on X/Twitter by New York Magazine on August 10, 2026. “Zaina Arafat charts how a blooming cultural ecosystem, led by young SWANA New Yorkers, was born out of the resistance and protests in the months following October 7, and how the term SWANA has transformed into a cultural and political force. [Habibi City—A cultural shift is underway, led by a generation of New Yorkers coming into its own]” was posted on Bluesky by New York Magazine on August 10, 2026.
 
“New York Is Not ‘Habibi City.’ New York City is where people from all over the world come to become Americans. A recent viral ‘New York’ magazine essay about Middle Eastern immigrants gets that exactly backward” by Liel Leibovitz was printed in The Free Press on August 11, 2026. “New York Magazine blasted for ‘antisemitic,’ ‘dangerous’ cover story that smeared Jewish people while supposedly celebrating Arab culture” by Doree Lewak was printed in the New York (NY) Post on August 12, 2026.
 
 
Dictionary.com
habibi
or habibti
March 1, 2018
What does habibi mean?
Habibi is an Arabic word that literally means “my love” (sometimes also translated as “my dear,” “my darling,” or “beloved.”)
 
X/Twitter
Rasha fouad 🌹ABEF💙
@Ashabachchan
@SrBachchan
bahut bohut shukriya. ..  We enjoyed ..& loved. Mumbai so so much.  My habibi city .. ...  Amityji 😘 love love & love.❤️🇪🇬🇪🇬🇪🇬🇪🇬🇪🇬❤️🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳
5:11 PM · Dec 1, 2017
 
X/Twitter   
Gem
@Gem_Djanie
Big Mood In Habibi City With My Tourists. #Dubai
8:58 AM · Nov 11, 2023
 
Bluesky
Intelligencer
@intelligencer.com
New York’s diasporas of Palestinians, Iranians, Yemenis, and their neighbors are flexing their cultural clout. (And not just because of the mayor.)
Habibi City
New York’s diasporas of Palestinians, Iranians, Yemenis, and their neighbors are flexing their cultural clout. (And not just because of the mayor.)
nymag.com
5:09 AM · Aug 10, 2026
 
Bluesky
New York Magazine
@nymag.com
New York’s diasporas of Palestinians, Iranians, Yemenis, and their neighbors are flexing their cultural clout. (And not just because of the mayor.)
Habibi City
New York’s diasporas of Palestinians, Iranians, Yemenis, and their neighbors are flexing their cultural clout. (And not just because of the mayor.)
nymag.com
5:15 AM · Aug 10, 2026
 
X/Twitter
New York Magazine
@NYMag
These days, it feels very different to be Arab, or Iranian, or Muslim in New York. Over the past decade, a new generation of artists, chefs, comedians, designers, and others have built unprecedented cultural and political capital. Together, they’re what you might call a *scene.*
 
Where the diasporas once seemed siloed, the new Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) scene is increasingly united across identities — Iraqi, Yemeni, Egyptian, Sudanese, Mauritanian, Afghan — and bound together by shared values. It was born out of the pain of the genocide in Gaza, which has led many young people to search for community in the city and build it where it didn’t exist. They found it at protests and in bars and cafés, at comedy shows and clothing pop-ups and fundraisers that turned into all-day hangs. And they found it in the election of the city’s first Muslim mayor and in the Syrian American First Lady.
 
Our latest issue is an attempt to capture the people and places who are defining this era. Explore this special SWANA edition, including a dispatch from its thriving party circuit, a report on how the Middle Eastern restaurant scene has evolved, and more: https://nymag.visitlink.me/PlEQhP
8:06 AM · Aug 10, 2026
·   
Bluesky
New York Magazine
@nymag.com
Zaina Arafat charts how a blooming cultural ecosystem, led by young SWANA New Yorkers, was born out of the resistance and protests in the months following October 7, and how the term SWANA has transformed into a cultural and political force.
Habibi City
A cultural shift is underway, led by a generation of New Yorkers coming into its own.
nymag.com
8:24 AM · Aug 10, 2026
 
Bluesky
Robert Flax
@rflax.bsky.social
It might be counterintuitive but I think if you’re going to write about New York turning into Habibi city it would behoove you to have someone with the most Protestant sounding name write the article so it doesn’t feel like it’s a person talking about their bubble. Which it does
3:35 PM · Aug 10, 2026
 
The Free Press
New York Is Not ‘Habibi City’
New York City is where people from all over the world come to become Americans. A recent viral ‘New York’ magazine essay about Middle Eastern immigrants gets that exactly backward.
By Liel Leibovitz
08.11.26 —
I immigrated to the United States from the Middle East for the one and only reason anyone should ever come to America: Because I believe it, firmly and passionately, to be the greatest nation ever endowed by God with the mission of spreading liberty and light to a benighted world, and because I consider it the honor of a lifetime to partake in the solemn work of making America ever greater.
 
Apparently, my fellow Middle Eastern immigrants have very different feelings. In her now-viral cover story for New York magazine, journalist Zaina Arafat—who was born and raised in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., but identifies as SWANA, an acronym that previously stood for the Solid Waste Association of North America but now apparently means Southwest Asian and North African, and represents anyone who is vaguely Middle Eastern and dislikes capitalism, America, and the Jews—kicks things into high gear by celebrating the fact that New York is now “Habibi City,” a full-on SWANA enclave.
 
Facebook
Creative Community for Peace - CCFP
August 12, 2026 at 11:52 AM ·
New York Magazine’s new Habibi City issue might seem like it is simply celebrating MENA/SWANA culture, but it’s part of a larger pattern that treats Zionism as a form of hate, labels Jewish connections to the Middle East as “complicated,” and presents the Jewish state through the language of colonialism, apartheid, and genocide.
This is a pattern of subtle demonization that has been building since October 7.
 
New York (NY) Post
New York Magazine blasted for ‘antisemitic,’ ‘dangerous’ cover story that smeared Jewish people while supposedly celebrating Arab culture
By Doree Lewak
Published Aug. 12, 2026, 1:07 p.m. ET
A tone-deaf New York Magazine “hit piece” that purportedly celebrated Arab and Muslim culture in the Big Apple – but actually fixated on a so-called Israeli “genocide” of Palestinians and referred to the Jewish state as a mere “land mass currently called Israel” – has sparked fierce backlash, prompting outraged subscribers to cancel while insiders reveal the publication’s dubious practices.
 
Monday’s New York mag cover story titled “Habibi City” has been widely panned for its “erasure of Jews” with ties to Arab countries, with sources fuming over the outlet’s marginalization of Jewish people and its vilification of Israel. The timing was seen as particularly objectionable, with hate crimes soaring under Mayor Zohran Mamdani — and more than half of reported incidents targeting Jewish New Yorkers.
 
The mag breathlessly ballyhooed “a blooming cultural ecosystem, led by young SWANA New Yorkers … born out of the resistance and protests in the months following October 7.”
 
Instapundit.com
August 13, 2026
JOHN PODHORETZ: New York Magazine’s evil ‘Habibi City’ cover sends a message: Jews aren’t welcome in Mamdani’s NYC.
 
New York Magazine this week dubbed our town “Habibi City” to mark the rising prominence of Middle Easterners and Muslim immigrants united by fun, frolic — and a consuming hatred of Israel and Jews.
 
It’s a familiar formulation, harking back to 1966, when newly elected Mayor John Lindsay declared New York to be “Fun City.”
 
Yes, such fun! Lindsay’s two terms drove NYC into civil and budgetary collapse.
   
X/Twitter
Ynet Global
@ynetnews
‘Habibi City’ and ‘Mamdanistan’: NY Magazine celebrates Palestinian takeover of New York
The magazine known for its ability to spot trends in the Big Apple devoted an article to the Arab culture that has taken over th…
https://ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/skre00fsugx
9:29 AM · Aug 13, 2026
 
X/Twitter
John
@jjainschigg
New York actually is Habibi City. I can buy home made Dubai chocolate with pistachios and kataifi until 1 am in Astoria.
Quote
The Free Press
@TheFP
Aug 13
New York City is where people from all over the world come to become Americans. A recent viral ‘New York’ magazine essay about Middle Eastern immigrants gets that exactly backward.
7:54 PM · Aug 13, 2026
   
The Jerusalem Post
New York Magazine’s ‘Habibi City’ celebrates ‘jihad chic,’ while pushing Jews out of the picture
MEDIA AFFAIRS: Critique of New York Magazine’s “Habibi City” package argues it ignores Jewish communities while presenting a one-sided Middle East narrative.
By HANNAH BROWN
AUGUST 21, 2026 23:51
Updated: AUGUST 22, 2026 11:42
It isn’t any cooler outside, but I have proof that hell has frozen over: New York Magazine, a publication with a rich history of spotlighting brilliant, insightful, and often skeptical journalism that captured the essence of the Big Apple, by great writers such as Tom Wolfe, just featured a cover story proclaiming New York is “Habibi City,” an anti-Jewish package of puff pieces that lauds “SWANA” culture in New York.
 
SWANA, for the uninitiated, is the new politically correct acronym meaning people of Southwest Asian and North African origin, replacing the acronym MENA, which stood for Middle East/North Africa and is now considered Eurocentric.