A recent report has highlighted that Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s spouse, Rama Duwaji, once engaged with a social media post dismissing the claims of Hamas committing sexual assaults during the October 7, 2003 attacks as a “mass hoax.”
According to a screenshot shared by Olivia Reingold of The Free Press on X, Duwaji, New York City’s first lady, liked a controversial Instagram post from February 2024. The post, by an anonymous pro-Palestine influencer, cast doubt on a New York Times article detailing violent sexual attacks by Hamas on civilians.
The post criticized The New York Times, alleging they employed a recent college graduate with limited experience, primarily in food and cooking journalism, to report on the alleged “mass rape” story. The influencer suggested this undermined the report’s credibility, naming the journalist as Adam Sella.
The New York Times has defended its journalism, supported by various other media outlets, including The Post, which have conducted interviews with the victims of the assaults.
Reingold’s report for The Free Press identified approximately 70 instances where Duwaji appeared to express extreme anti-Israeli sentiments. These included endorsing a post accusing Israel of a “vile land grab” and supporting pro-Palestinian demonstrators who occupied a building at Columbia University in 2024, praising them as being “on the right side of progress.”
They include one where the first lady liked a post claiming Israel is waging a âvile land grabâ and another claiming pro-Palestine protesters who took over a Columbia University building in 2024 are âon the right side of progress.â
Duwaji also reportedly liked a post calling on the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu â whom her husband has said heâd have arrested if he came to NYC under his watch.
She supported another screed calling President Biden âButcher Bidenâ and stating the Israel-friendly pol’s âlegacy is genocide.â”
The new report comes after The Jewish Insider reported Friday that Duwaji liked a celebratory Instagram post on the day of Hamasâ Oct. 7, 2023, which killed more than 1,200 innocents.
The inflammatory social media posts included images allegedly taken from livestreamed footage of the attack, showing a gleeful group riding on what appeared to be a commandeered Israel Defense Forces vehicle with the words âresisting apartheid since 1948,â the Jewish Insider reported.
âBreaking the walls of apartheid and military occupation,” read another image on the same post, which the outlet reported showed a bulldozer used by terrorists to breach the barrier between Gaza and Israel that day.
The report said Duwaji, 28, also liked a post from the left-wing organization Peopleâs Forum NYC that called for support for âPalestinian resistance,â while advertising a protest against Israel the day after Hamasâ rampage which saw 251 hostages taken.
Mamdani on Friday claimed his wife isnât a public figure â despite receiving fawning media coverage in the past.
âMy wife is the love of my life, and sheâs also a private person who has held no formal position on my campaign or in my City Hall,â Mamdani told reporters.
âI, however, was elected to represent all 8.5 million people in the city. And I believe that itâs my responsibility because of that role to answer questions about my thoughts and my politics, and my stances.â
Mamdani’s reps also issued a statement, saying: “Mayor Mamdani has been clear and consistent: Hamas is a terrorist organization, October 7th was a horrific war crime, and he has condemned that violence unequivocally.”
