Despite New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s repeated attempts to shield his wife from public scrutiny by labeling her a “private person,” a series of bombshell revelations has exposed first lady Rama Duwaji as being involved in a radical Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) campaign.
Duwaji, a professional illustrator, is under fire for providing the creative backdrop for the DSA’s “Palestine on the Ballot” initiative — a project that used Duwaji’s animations to mobilize voters against candidates backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and promote legislation targeting Jewish charities.
The campaign also highlighted the “Not on Our Dime Act,” a controversial bill originally sponsored by Mamdani during his time in the New York State Assembly, which would target certain nonprofits accused of supporting Israeli settlements.
Critics argue Duwaji’s “behind-the-scenes” role is a facade.
“Does anybody believe she’s a private citizen?” asked Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Antisemitism. Hikind characterized the first lady as even more radical than the mayor, calling the couple “two peas in a pod” united by “vile hatred” for Israel.
The DSA collaboration is only the latest in a mounting pile of evidence regarding Duwaji’s radical leanings. Reports have surfaced showing that she used her social media accounts to endorse extreme, anti-Semitic rhetoric, including content that framed terrorist violence in supportive terms.
Duwaji reportedly “liked” Instagram posts on the day of the Hamas massacre that featured live-streamed footage of terrorists breaching the Gaza border and commandeering Israel Defense Forces vehicles. One post she approved of hailed the attack as “breaking the walls of apartheid.”
More recently, Duwaji liked a post that dismissed the documented mass rapes of Israeli women during the October 7 attacks as a “mass hoax” fabricated by the media.
Duwaji has also been credited with providing lead graphics for an essay by Susan Abulhawa, an activist who has described Jewish people as “vampires,” “demons,” and “rootless ghouls.”
The revelation of Duwaji’s involvement with the DSA belies Mayor Mamdani’s efforts to present a more moderate front. While Mamdani’s office issued a standard statement condemning Hamas as a terrorist organization, his wife’s digital trail suggests a much darker affinity for the “resistance” that her husband publicly critiques.
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