NYC First Lady offers vague apology for pro-terror posts

Rama Duwaji expressed regret for the language she used, but did not say her views had changed.

By World Israel News Staff

The wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued a vague apology after her past social media activity, including praising Palestinian terrorism and endorsing posts celebrating the October 7th massacres — but did not disavow the content or say that her views had changed.

Rama Duwaji came under scrutiny after the Washington Free Beacon published old posts from her Tumblr account, many of which were written when she was a teenager.

In them, she expressed admiration for Palestinian hijacker Leila Khaled, referred to Jewish residents of Israel as “occupiers,” and used a racial slur against black people.

Duwaji’s posts also included a conspiracy theory assigning blame to white people for the formation of the Islamic terror group Al-Qaeda.

“You can’t blame Muslims for terrorism because they didn’t construct, fund nor train Al-Qaeda,” one post penned by Duwaji read. “White people did that too.”

In an interview with the art publication Hyperallergic, Duwaji addressed the controversy, apologizing for the language used but stopping short of saying that she no longer held those views.

“When a tabloid recently published old tweets I wrote as a teenager, I felt a lot of shame being confronted with language I used that is so harmful to others; being 15 doesn’t excuse it,” she said.

“I’ve read and seen a lot of what others have had to say in response, and I understand the hurt I caused and am truly sorry.”

Notably, the apology did not explicitly acknowledge or condemn specific statements, including praise for Khaled or rhetoric targeting Jews.

In her late 20s, Duwaji liked content on Instagram celebrating the October 7 massacres, including posts that referred to widespread sexual violence against civilians and hostages as a “mass hoax.”

The posts contained graphic imagery of Hamas terrorists infiltrating communities in southern Israel during the attacks.