NYC Mayor Mamdani's Wife Apologizes for Past Social Media Posts

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's wife and a top aide in his administration have come under renewed scrutiny for past social media activity that included praise for figures linked to designated terrorist groups and the use of derogatory language.

Rama Duwaji, an artist and illustrator of Syrian heritage, issued a public apology on Wednesday for posts she made as a teenager on platforms including X, formerly Twitter, and Tumblr. The messages, which resurfaced in a March report, contained racial slurs, homophobic terms, and reposts celebrating Shadia Abu Ghazaleh, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group designated as terrorist by the United States. One post from 2015, when Duwaji was 17, shared an image of Abu Ghazaleh with a caption describing her as a resistance fighter. Abu Ghazaleh died in 1968 when a bomb she was preparing exploded prematurely. Another repost questioned the existence of Tel Aviv. The associated X account was deleted shortly after the posts were revealed.

In her first public interview since Mamdani took office in January as the city's first Muslim and democratic socialist mayor, Duwaji told Hyperallergic that she felt deep...