Rama Duwaji, the wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, is expected to travel to Syria next month with a taxpayer-funded New York Police Department security detail, according to a report.
Duwaji, 29, is set to visit Syria and Lebanon toward the end of next month, The New York Post reported, even as the US State Department continues to advise Americans against traveling to either country.
A source familiar with the plans told the outlet that New York City’s first lady, whom Mamdani has previously described and defended as a “private person,” asked for security protection during the trip.
Duwaji, a Texas-born Syrian-American artist who identifies herself on her website as a Syrian illustrator, is making the journey to visit relatives, the Mayor’s Office confirmed.
In a statement, the office said: “Upon the strong recommendation of the NYPD, the First Lady’s security detail will be joining her when she travels to visit family in Syria and Lebanon.”
One source with knowledge of the planned travel questioned the use of city resources, telling the outlet: “It’s not official business. It’s not doing anything for the city.”
The move to send taxpayer-funded NYPD officers overseas also drew criticism from Dov Hikind, the founder of Americans Against Antisemitism and a former politician.
Hikind told the outlet: “We’re putting the police officers in danger. They will be viewed as the bad guys. These are war zones.”
Rama Duwaji, 29, will jet off to Syria and Lebanon towards the end of next month
The Texas-born Syrian-American artist, who describes herself as a Syrian illustrator on her website, is traveling to visit family, the Mayor’s office confirmed
It comes after she left the country over the Fourth of July weekend while the rest of the US celebrated America’s 250th birthday.
Duwwaji was spotted leaving the country from Newark, New Jersey, with the Post reporting that she spent July 4 at a Islamic ‘spiritual wellness’ retreat in Spain.
The six-day event, dubbed the ‘Plants of the Quran,’ cost attendees $3,400 to take part.
She also co-hosted a sold-out spiritual retreat on the French island of Corsica after her trip to Spain.
The event, named ‘Mary in the Quran,’ examined the life and legacy of Mary, the most honored woman in the Quran.
Earlier this year it emerged that Duwaji had liked a celebratory Instagram post the day after the events of October 7.
Jewish Insider first reported the images, which showed she liked an image which appeared to celebrate the attack by Hamas.
The post, made by leftist group The Slow Factory, included images of groups of people after having taken over an Israel Defense Forces vehicle, with ‘Free Palestine’ scrawled over it.
It comes after she left the country over the Fourth of July weekend while the rest of the US celebrated America’s 250th birthday
Another image said: ‘Breaking the walls of apartheid and military occupation,’ followed by the date.
The image showed a bulldozer used by the group to break through into Israel on that day in which nearly 1,200 people died.
When quizzed by a reporter over the posts, Mayor Mamdani said: ‘My wife is the love of my life, and she is also a private person who has held no formal position on my campaign or in my City Hall.’
Despite Mamdani’s insistence that his wife is a regular, private civilian, she happily posed for a cover feature for the prestigious The Cut magazine, which is an offshoot of New York magazine.
