Rama Duwaji, NYC’s first lady, faces new scrutiny over her art and social media

By Gloria Pazmino, CNN

New York (CNN) — The illustration took City Hall by surprise.

Rama Duwaji’s artwork depicted the face of a woman drawn in black and white, her eyebrows full and scrunched above a sharp nose, and her almond-shaped eyes sitting above a pair of hands reaching outward.

The image was published in February by the online magazine Slow Factory alongside an essay written by Diana Islayih about a Gaza camp for people internally displaced in the Israel-Hamas war. The essay is part of a compilation of essays edited by Palestinian-American author Susan Abulhawa.

As New York City’s new first lady, Duwaji’s art created days of headlines and tough questions at press conferences for Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Key City Hall staffers did not know Duwaji had been commissioned to do the artwork or about Abulhawa’s posts, which were first reported by the conservative Washington Free Beacon earlier this month, according to two people briefed on the matter.

Abulhawa has referred to Israeli forces as “Jewish supremacist demons” and described Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack shortly after it happened as “a spectacular moment that shocked the world” after what she described as “Israel’s criminally merciless siege of Gaza.”

While Duwaji has not publicly commented, Mamdani spoke out against Abulhawa’s language. He also explained Duwaji’s freelance work was secured through a third party, that Duwaji had not been in direct communication with the author and that she was not aware of Abulhawa’s posts.

“I think that that rhetoric is patently unacceptable. I think it’s reprehensible,” Mamdani said on March 13 in reference to Abulhawa.

A spokesperson for Mamdani declined to comment on what his administration knew beforehand about the artwork. The people briefed on the episode, who declined to be named so as to not antagonize the mayor, argued the backlash raises questions about whether her work should be more closely vetted.

“The mayor condemned the author’s language, to his credit,” said Scott Richman, New York regional director for the Anti-Defamation League. “However, we have not heard from her. Does she have a problem with the author and her statements? We just don’t know.”

Abulhawa, meanwhile, denied that she was anti-Jewish and said she was disappointed in what Mamdani had said.

“You succumbed to forces that seek to pick away at you, at your talented, beautiful wife, and at your work, clawing harder with each apology or concession you make,” she said. “If you are not careful, they will siphon your soul before you even realize it.”

There have been subsequent revelations of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel posts Duwaji had shared and liked, as well as a post including a racial slur that the Free Beacon reported she posted when she was 15. CNN has not independently verified the posts and has reached out to City Hall for comment.

They went unnoticed during Mamdani’s mayoral campaign but are now creating new scrutiny for both of them, particularly as Mamdani faces skepticism from many in the city’s Jewish community, the largest of any city outside Israel.

A private person in the public eye

Mamdani said in a press conference earlier this month that Duwaji, a Texas-born professional artist of Syrian descent, is a “private person who has held no formal position on my campaign or in my City Hall.”

His aides and allies contend there is a double standard applied to the city’s first Muslim mayor and one of the most prominent Muslims in politics, arguing much of the criticism against them is manufactured and driven by Islamophobia. But both the mayor and first lady have long centered pro-Palestinian advocacy in their public lives.

In 2023, Mamdani told a Democratic Socialists of America convention that “the struggle for Palestinian liberation was at the core of my politics and continues to be.” Mamdani has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and supported calls to boycott and divest from the country. Israel denies charges of a genocide and rejects the boycott and divestment movement.

Duwaji, who moved to New York City in 2021 and met Mamdani on a dating app, is an artist whose work has previously appeared in The Cut, the BBC, Vogue and The New Yorker. During Mamdani’s campaign, CNN previously reported, she helped finalize the campaign’s brand identity and worked on the final version of the campaign’s iconography and font.

While she has declined most interviews, she agreed to photos and an interview with New York Magazine in February, where she spoke out about the importance of “speaking out about Palestine, Syria, Sudan,” and suggested she might use her role as first lady to help elevate the city’s art scene.

“At the end of the day, I’m not a politician. I’m here to be a support system for Z and to use the role in the best way that I can as an artist,” Duwaji told New York.

During the campaign, Mamdani initially declined to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” and was asked to explain a 2023 comment in which he ripped both New York police and the Israel Defense Forces by saying: “We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF.”

Mamdani has attended and posted from iftar dinners to mark the end of the daily fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. One photo on the mayor’s official account, of an iftar hosted at his official residence, showed Duwaji, amid headlines about her past social media postings, standing next to Mahmoud Khalil, a 31-year-old Columbia University graduate student and pro-Palestinian student protester arrested by federal immigration authorities.

Katherine Jellison — a professor of American history at Ohio University who has studied US history, women and gender, and the nation’s first ladies — said Duwaji and Mamdani’s balancing act is complicated by the 24-hour news cycle and the constant churn of social media in the 21st century.

“In this case there also may be different expectations because he is a very high-profile figure, particularly for his views but also because of their cultural and ethnic backgrounds they are under greater scrutiny, whether it’s fair or not that is the case,” Jellison said. “I think it’s very difficult in this day and age for anyone married to a public figure to try and create a so-called zone of privacy.”

Jewish allies and critics weigh in

Mamdani has tried to balance his support for Palestinian rights with his desire to reach out to Jewish communities who remain wary of him. Just one-third of Jewish New Yorkers voted for him in November, according to exit polls, a remarkably low figure given how important Jewish voters have historically been in the Democratic coalition.

Mamdani’s relationship with parts of the Jewish community in New York remains fragile, even as he managed to secure a coalition of liberal Jewish New Yorkers, far-left activists and some moderate Jewish New Yorkers who consider themselves pro-Israel.

Allies of Mamdani, including some in the Jewish community, were closely watching the mayor’s response as the latest controversy over Duwaji’s art unfolded.

“Part of governing is recognizing that inevitably, doing the right thing is going to upset part of your coalition and that part of advocating is also recognizing that when the mayor does something right, it should be welcomed rather than dismissed,” said Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

Spitalnick said Mamdani has an opportunity to model and illustrate how someone who has a deep commitment to Palestinian rights can also be committed to Jewish safety.

Ben Lorber, a researcher and author who has written about antisemitism, Israeli-Palestinian affairs, and white nationalism, said Mamdani is “walking a fine line” between staying true to his core principles and navigating disagreements within his broader coalition. He referred to Abulhawa as “someone who has been radicalized,” adding that Mamdani’s forceful condemnation of her language sent an important signal to the city’s Jewish community, making clear that he draws a moral line against such rhetoric.

“This seems designed to change the narrative to paint him as an extremist when his views are in fact in line with a majority of Americans,” Lorber said. “A lot of the recent attacks on the first lady and mayor are often done by interested parties who want to sow division and amplify Jewish fear and often want to mobilize Islamophobia in the process.”

Shortly after Mamdani’s election, the Anti-Defamation League launched its “Mamdani Monitor,” which the organization describes as a public tracker of Mamdani’s policies, public statements, hires and actions by the administration that “impact Jewish community safety and security.”

The ADL’s monitor has been criticized by other groups, including the liberal pro-Israel group J Street.

The ADL is now in the process of adding Duwaji’s artwork along with her past social media statements, said Richman, the group’s New York regional director.

Initially, the group decided to disregard reports about Duwaji’s social media “likes,” Richman said, acknowledging they were from a long time ago, before she was married to Mamdani and before his election.

“The issue here is who he surrounds himself with. The illustration issue came out and there are multiple problems there,” Richman said. “Where was the vetting and, two, where is her condemnation now, because if you don’t speak up, then there is a vacuum and people will fill it with what’s already been said.”

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This story has been corrected to reflect that Amy Spitalnick referred to “your coalition,” not “our coalition.”