NYC's First Lady

NYC first lady Rama Duwaji says she's sorry for 'harmful' posts — but won't name what she actually said

New York City's first lady, Rama Duwaji, broke her silence on a string of resurfaced social media posts that praised Palestinian terrorists, used racial slurs, and celebrated violence against Israel, but her carefully worded apology never once named the content she was apologizing for.

In a sit-down with the arts outlet Hyperallergic, the 28-year-old wife of Mayor Zohran Mamdani expressed regret for "language" she used as a teenager and said she understood the "hurt" she caused. She did not mention the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Palestinian plane hijacker Leila Khaled, Hamas, the October 7 attack, the N-word, or any of the specific posts that triggered the uproar.

That gap, between what Duwaji said and what she conspicuously left unsaid, tells its own story. An apology that refuses to name the offense is not an apology. It is reputation management.

And the timeline did not end in her teenage years. Duwaji also liked Instagram posts celebrating Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, posts that shared images of the assault and included claims that rapes carried out by Hamas against Israeli hostages and victims were a "mass hoax." She was in her mid-twenties at that point, not a high schooler.

The posts at issue were made roughly a year and a half before she married Mamdani who says his wife is the "love of his life" and a private person. How sweet.

The "private person" defense by Mandani is a familiar Washington play: claim the spouse is off-limits while benefiting from the public profile that comes with the title.

Duwaji may hold no official government position, but she is the first lady of the largest city in the United States. That comes with public interest, whether the mayor's office likes it or not.

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