|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By: Justin Winograd
A new political controversy has erupted in New York City after it emerged that Rama Duwaji, the wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, contributed artwork to an essay by a polarizing anti-Israel activist who has repeatedly used inflammatory language about Jews and publicly praised the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks against Israel.
The revelation, reported on Friday by The New York Post, has ignited renewed scrutiny of the political environment surrounding City Hall and the public record of individuals connected to the mayor’s administration. Critics argue the discovery raises troubling questions about associations with figures accused of antisemitic rhetoric at a time when concerns about antisemitism remain heightened both nationally and globally.
The controversy centers on an illustration created by Duwaji, a Syrian-American artist who currently serves as New York City’s First Lady. According to the report cited by The New York Post, the artwork appeared in the magazine *Everything Is Political*, published by the activist collective Slow Factory, accompanying an essay titled *A Trail of Soap* by Palestinian-American writer Susan Abulhawa.
Duwaji’s drawing reportedly served as the lead graphic for Abulhawa’s essay, which appeared in the latest issue of the Slow Factory publication. The magazine has become known for its explicitly political editorial direction, often featuring essays on global justice, colonialism, and Middle East politics.
According to The New York Post report, the essay’s author, Abulhawa, has built a reputation as one of the most outspoken critics of Israel in international activist circles. However, her rhetoric has also attracted sustained criticism from Jewish advocacy organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, which has condemned several of her statements as inflammatory and antisemitic.
The discovery of Duwaji’s involvement in the publication has sparked a wave of debate in political and media circles, particularly given the First Lady’s public role in a city with one of the largest Jewish populations in the world.
New York City is home to roughly one million Jewish residents, making it the largest Jewish community outside Israel.
The scrutiny surrounding the illustration stems primarily from the public statements and social media posts made by Abulhawa in recent years.
According to documentation compiled by journalists and highlighted by The New York Post, Abulhawa has used highly provocative language when describing Israel and Jews in several online posts.
In one social media message from December 2025, she referred to Israelis as “rootless, soulless ghouls.” In other posts she used terms such as “demons,” “vampires,” and “parasites” when discussing Israel and Zionism. The writer has also previously described a pro-Israel commentator as a “Jewish supremacist cockroach” and criticized what she characterized as “dual loyalty Zionists.”
Such language has prompted repeated condemnation from Jewish advocacy organizations and commentators who argue that the rhetoric crosses the line from political criticism into dehumanizing stereotypes historically associated with antisemitism.
The controversy intensified further due to Abulhawa’s comments following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people and the kidnapping of hundreds.
