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Asked about the revelations, Mamdani declined to condemn the posts, instead distancing himself by noting that his wife holds no role in his administration.
By United with Israel Staff
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing renewed scrutiny over his administration’s posture toward Israel following revelations involving his wife’s social media activity in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 Hamas massacre.
According to a report published by Jewish Insider, Rama Duwaji, Mamdani’s wife, “liked” a series of Instagram posts that appeared to frame the Hamas attack in supportive terms.
The activity reportedly occurred in the hours and days following the assault, in which Hamas terrorists murdered roughly 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 others in the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
Among the posts Duwaji liked was one shared on October 7 by the activist group The Slow Factory. The post featured images taken from Hamas’ assault, including a bulldozer used by terrorists to breach the Gaza border barrier and militants riding in a captured Israeli military vehicle.
Text printed over the images described the attack as “breaking the walls of apartheid and military occupation” and “resisting apartheid since 1948.” The caption accompanying the post warned that if Israel retaliated against the attack, Gazans would be “punished for wanting freedom from apartheid.”
According to Jewish Insider, Duwaji also liked posts containing the phrase “from the river to the sea,” a slogan widely used in anti-Israel activism that critics, including many Jewish organizations, say calls for the elimination of the Jewish state.
Duwaji, an illustrator who married Mamdani in early 2025 after meeting him on a dating app in 2021, uses a personal Instagram account under her own name where she frequently shares political artwork and commentary, including criticism of Israeli policies.
Asked about the revelations during a news conference, Mamdani did not condemn the posts or the rhetoric surrounding the October 7 attack. Instead, he attempted to distance himself from the controversy by emphasizing that his wife is not involved in his administration.
“My wife is the love of my life and she’s also a private person who has held no formal position on my campaign or in my City Hall,” Mamdani said.
Critics noted that the mayor’s response avoided addressing the substance of the posts themselves, including content that appeared to frame the October 7 massacre as an act of resistance.
Mamdani himself has a long record of harsh criticism of Israel. The far-left democratic socialist has repeatedly accused the Jewish state of “apartheid” and “genocide,” supported boycotts targeting Israeli-linked entities, and has refused to clearly condemn inflammatory slogans such as “globalize the intifada.”
Shortly after taking office, Mamdani also moved to roll back several pro-Israel policies enacted under former Mayor Eric Adams, including the city’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism and executive orders barring the city from engaging in business or pension investment decisions that discriminate against Israel.
For many observers, the report and the mayor’s response have raised new questions about the tone coming from City Hall toward Israel and the Jewish community at a time when Jewish communities worldwide are still grappling with the aftermath of the October 7 massacre.
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