New York Citys first lady, Rama Duwaji, is facing renewed scrutiny after the discovery of Spotify playlists on an account linked to her name that feature anti-Israel and anti-police themes.
According to The Post Millennial, the playlists were first reported by The Free Press, which noted that the account was tied to Duwaji and that its contents were made private shortly after City Hall was contacted for comment. One playlist was titled hungry but sexy for palestine and included the track Ana Bakrah Israel, translated as I hate Israel, while another, p2P Palestine 2 Pree-DC protest trip, was reportedly assembled ahead of the January 13, 2024 March on Washington for Gaza.
The outlet further reported that lyrics in one of the songs repeatedly state, Fk Israel, Israel a bitch, language that underscores the increasingly normalized hostility toward the Jewish state in some progressive circles. Another playlist on the same account was titled ACAB, an acronym for All Cops Are Bastards, and was created during the summer of 2020, when nationwide riots tied to the George Floyd protests caused billions of dollars in damage to communities and small businesses.
Duwaji, 28, is married to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist and outspoken critic of Israel whose rise to office has coincided with heightened attention to his households online footprint. Her social media activity after the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel drew particular concern, including alleged likes on Instagram posts celebrating the attack and a post asserting that reports of rapes committed by Hamas against Israeli women and hostages were a mass hoax.
The artist and political spouse has also been criticized over older posts, including a 2015 statement declaring that Tel Aviv shouldnt exist in the first place and describing its residents as occupiers. Separate reports resurfaced a post from her teenage years in which she used a racial slur, prompting her to issue an apology in April for the hurt caused by her prior online comments.
Mamdani has publicly defended his wife, insisting she is a private citizen who should not be subjected to ongoing public examination of her digital history. The controversy, however, raises broader questions about the radicalism tolerated within progressive political circles, the double standard applied to incendiary rhetoric when it targets Israel, and the judgment of elected officials who surround themselves with voices that demean both Americas allies and its law enforcement.
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