politics
Rama Duwaji Apologizes for Offensive Teenage Social Media Posts
Rama Duwaji, wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, issued a public apology for old social media posts containing racial slurs and praise for Palestinian militants. The apology came in her first interview since Mamdani took office in January 2026, following a March investigation linking the posts to her accounts.
Apr 16, 9:21 AM·2m read2 sources
Substrate placeholder — needs reviewAudio version
Tap play to generate a narrated version.
Rama Duwaji, wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, apologized on Wednesday for old social media posts that included racial slurs and celebrations of Palestinian terrorists. The apology was made in an interview with the online publication Hyperallergic, her first public interview since her husband became mayor in January 2026.
The Washington Free Beacon published an investigation in March 2026 revealing a number of Duwaji's old posts on X, formerly Twitter, and Tumblr.
The posts included celebrations of U.S.-designated terrorist groups and individuals who had committed acts of terror. In March 2015, when Duwaji was 17, an X account the Washington Free Beacon connected to Duwaji reposted a photo of Shadia Abu Ghazaleh with a caption that extolled her as a resistance fighter.
Ghazaleh was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a U.S. and globally-designated terrorist group. Revered as a martyr in Palestine, many pro-Palestinians laud her for participating in a bombing of an Israeli bus. Ghazaleh died in 1968 when a bomb she had planned to use on a building in Tel Aviv exploded in her home.
The posts also included the use of a racial slur and a derogatory term for gay people.
The account was deleted shortly after the Free Beacon's report. Duwaji is a Texas-born Syrian-American artist and illustrator whose work often explores Arab identity and social justice themes.
In February, just one month after Mamdani's inauguration, Duwaji came under fire for contributing an illustration to an essay about a Gaza refugee camp written by an author who celebrated the October 7 attacks by Hamas. " She has also referred to Israelis as "rootless, soulless ghouls" and "Jewish supremacist demons" in social media posts that are still active.
Mamdani condemned the comments as "patently unacceptable" and "reprehensible" in March 2026. He stated that Duwaji contributed the illustration through a third party service and has held no formal position on his campaign or in City Hall.
