‘Holocaust whiners’ — Mamdani, wife silent after friend’s antisemitic tirade

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife declined to condemn inflammatory antisemitic posts made by a close family friend.

By World Israel News Staff

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife, artist Rama Duwaji, have declined to comment after one of Duwaji’s close friends posted a series of social media messages widely condemned as antisemitic, including remarks dismissing Holocaust remembrance as “whining” and accusing Jews collectively of supporting genocide.

According to a report by the New York Post, the lengthy screed was written by Palestinian-American author and activist Susan Abulhawa, a longtime anti-Israel campaigner who has a close personal relationship with Duwaji.

The friendship has been publicly visible in recent months. Duwaji recently created the artwork for one of Abulhawa’s newly published essays, highlighting the close ties between the two women.

Abulhawa’s comments were prompted by criticism directed at Mamdani over the composition of a judicial screening panel established by his administration. Critics questioned why the 18-member panel did not include a single Jewish representative, despite New York City’s large Jewish population.

Responding to that criticism in a lengthy post on X last week, Abulhawa launched into a broader attack on Jews and Holocaust remembrance.

“Europe’s holocaust has lost its meaning to the point that the whole world is sick of hearing about it,” Abulhawa wrote.

“These clowns invoke that genocide with every perceived slight (even as they are committing or supporting a contemporary genocide),” the post continued.

“There is an extreme overrepresentation of Jews in every branch of government, media, and culture, but we have to listen to more holocaust whining because ONE damn judicial panel didn’t contain enough Jews,” she added.

“Seriously, there’s something terribly wrong with them, and if moderate Jews don’t effectively reign [sic] in these extremists, it’s not going to end well for anyone,” she concluded.

Abulhawa’s post appeared to conflate Jewish organizations and advocates raising concerns about representation with “extremists.” The warning that “it’s not going to end well for anyone” also prompted questions from critics over whether the statement could be interpreted as a threat directed at Jews speaking out against antisemitism.

Both Mamdani and Duwaji declined requests for comment and did not issue any public condemnation of Abulhawa’s remarks.