NYC Mayor’s wife gets media pass after liking Oct. 7 which is controversial

The wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has received a lot of media attention after reports that she liked social media sites celebrating the October 7 massacre of Israelis by Hamas.

Rama Duwaji, a Houston-born artist who identifies as Syrian and married Mamdani in early 2025, liked several posts shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023 that was critical of Israel, Jewish Insider first reported. Duwaji also liked a February 2024 Instagram post that said the New York Times’ investigation into sexual violence during the October 7 attack was “fabricated,” according to the Free Press.

These reports caused a quick and intense backlash from the Socialist Mayor on conservatives and pro-Israel accounts on social media, but most of the media played down the situation.

MEETING MEETINGS CONTINUE IN MADANI NOT REPORTED BY HIS WIFE LOVED PRO-OCTOBER 7TH WRITINGS: ‘THERE ARE THERE’

A report from New York’s NBC 4 emphasized that it happened “about a year and a half before he married Mamdani” and that “about 35,000 other accounts also liked the post.” Vanity Fair made sure that he was “not” a Hamas sympathizer in a quick bracket after noting that many said Duwaji sympathized with the terrorist group.

MS NOW did not mention Rama Duwaji by name from when the Jewish Insider report came out on Friday until Monday afternoon, according to a document investigation by Grabien Media. CNN mentions his name only once at the same time in an unrelated story.

The New York Times covered the issue with a headline, “After Social Media Scrutiny, Mamdani Says Wife Is ‘Independent,'” which was widely criticized by the right.

“The mayor said his wife’s views should not be subject to broad public scrutiny. They were single when she ran for office; the couple married in early 2025, and she did not run in the Democratic primary for mayor until October 2024,” the Times reported after briefly stating that “Duwaji liked an Instagram post that supported the attack on Palestine 7 shortly after Oct.

DEM LAW COMPARES COP AGENTS TO NAZIS AND GESTAPO DURING HOUSE ON BURNING SLEEPING

Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York, and his wife Rama Duwaji during a press conference at Gracie Mansion in New York, US, on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (John Lamparski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Times then compared the actions of Duwaji and the wife of Rep. Dan Goldman, DN.Y.

“Public officials have faced questions about the political or other actions of a spouse or partner, as recently as earlier this week. The Times reported that Corinne Levy Goldman, the wife of Representative Daniel Goldman of New York, liked or retweeted social media posts from right-wing accounts that some saw as hateful or indifferent to Palestinians and Black people,” the Times noted.

The Times enlisted Sophie Ellman-Golan, director of communications at Jews For Racial & Economic Justice, which the Times calls a “progressive organizing group of Jewish leftists,” to further disparage Duwaji’s actions.

“Ellman-Golan said it is unfair to compare Ms. Duwaji’s social media to Ms. Goldman’s, because Mr. Goldman’s wife serves as his campaign treasurer and Ms. Duwaji had no official role in Mr. Mamdani’s mayoral campaign,” the Times reported.

Many of the posts Duwaji liked were not social media messages criticizing Israel, but rather messages “blatantly celebrating the terrorist attack, which killed nearly 1,200 Israelis and foreign workers, injured thousands, kidnapped 251 civilians and soldiers and numerous episodes of sexual abuse,” according to Jewish Insider. Some of the posts featured live images of terrorist attacks and the words “tear down apartheid walls and military occupation,” according to the publication, while others included the slogan “from the river to the sea,” which is often used as a call for the total elimination of Israel.

The Situation, a media newsletter run by former CNN employees, used the fact that CBS News covered the story to put a hard line on its pro-Israel editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.

“A report focusing on the social media use of the mayor’s wife—who holds no public office—more than two years ago, struck a chord with many people in an unusual way, something that may have come from the Free Press, Bari Weiss’s anti-resurrection and pro-Israel blog,” Status reported.

MAMDANI’S RESPONSE TO TRUMP’S SLIDE ATTACKS CONSERVATIVE BACKLASH: ‘ROOTING FOR THE AYATOLLAH’

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani stands on stage with his wife Rama Duwaji after being sworn in as New York City’s 112th mayor at City Hall. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

“Some CBS employees who spoke to The Situation on the condition of anonymity expressed growing concern that Weiss—an outspoken supporter of Israel—was making editorial decisions based on the type of content published by the Free Press, blurring the lines of opinion between the two and fundamentally changing the DNA of CBS News in the process,” the newsletter continued.

Obama staffer turned author and podcast host Ben Rhodes took a similar approach and cited a CBS News report on Duwaji’s actions for his comments about Weiss.

“There’s war, high prices, job losses, AI unleashed, and so on. But CBS’s Bari Weiss is dealing with the popularity of the NY Mayor’s wife from years ago. WTF is going on,” said Rhodes.

When asked about these reports, Mamdani did not deny that his wife likes these positions, but argued that she is “an independent person.”

“My wife is the love of my life, and she is an independent person who has not officially held a position in my campaign or in my City Hall,” said Mamdani. “However, I was elected to represent all 8.5 million people in the city, and I believe it is my responsibility, because of that role, to answer all questions about my thoughts and my policies and my decisions.”

“Mayor Mamdani has been clear and consistent: Hamas is a terrorist organization, October 7 was a heinous war crime, and she has condemned the violence unequivocally,” a City Hall spokesperson told Jewish Insider.

CNN, MS NOW, The New York Times, NBC4 New York, Vanity Fair, Status and Crooked Media did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.