Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old mayor of New York City, has a long record of anti-Zionist activism that continues to draw scrutiny, particularly given his wife, Rama Duwaji’s, social media activity. Duwaji, a Syrian-American artist, has liked multiple Instagram posts celebrating the October 7 Hamas terrorist invasion of Israel. These posts included images of Palestinians breaching Israel’s borders and sitting on captured Israel Defense Forces vehicles with captions praising the attack as “breaking the walls of apartheid” and “resisting apartheid since 1948.” She also endorsed posts claiming reports of rapes committed by Hamas were fabricated, describing The New York Times’ reporting on these crimes as a “mass rape” hoax. Other posts condemned Israel for a “vile land grab,” applauded protesters occupying a Columbia University building in 2024, and accused former President Joe Biden of genocide.
Duwaji’s involvement with anti-Israel figures extends beyond social media. She illustrated a lead graphic for A Trail of Soap, an essay book by Susan Abulhawa, a Palestinian-American activist known for demonizing Jews in social media posts and celebrating the October 7 attacks. Abulhawa has called Jewish people “vampires,” “demons,” and “ghouls,” and described Israel as a “manufactured nation” obliterating Gaza City, which she says has 5,000 years of recorded history. While Mamdani’s spokesperson said Duwaji was only commissioned as a freelance illustrator and had no personal relationship with Abulhawa, the publication of her work in such a context underscores her alignment with anti-Israel narratives.
Mamdani himself has a decades-long record of opposition to the Jewish state. He was a founding member of Students for Justice in Palestine at Bowdoin College, a campus organization that routinely traffics in Jew-hatred. He has supported the BDS movement, which seeks to delegitimize Israel, and has promoted left-wing economic and cultural ideologies associated with anti-Israel activism. During his campaign for mayor, the inflammatory social media activity of his staff and inner circle, often targeting Israel, repeatedly drew controversy. His stance on Israel has remained consistent: he condemns Hamas as a terrorist organization and calls the October 7 attack a “horrific war crime,” yet he continues to question Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.
Duwaji’s social media activity and her collaboration with figures like Abulhawa illustrate a broader pattern of anti-Zionist advocacy that aligns with her husband’s past. Her public endorsements are not isolated; they are part of a sustained narrative that delegitimizes Israel and condones terror. For a city leader, the implications are significant. The ethical and political responsibilities of office are inseparable from the networks and ideas publicly embraced by those closest to the mayor.
The events of October 7, 2023, remain a stark reminder of the cost of inaction in the face of terror. Nearly 1,200 people were murdered, thousands wounded, and 251 civilians and soldiers kidnapped by Hamas. Sexual violence was widespread, yet some posts liked by Duwaji promoted the narrative that these crimes were fabricated. The city’s first couple also hosted known pro-Hamas activists at Gracie Mansion, raising further questions about the normalization of anti-Israel extremism within influential circles.
