New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji will travel to Syria and Lebanon next month accompanied by members of her taxpayer-funded NYPD security detail, despite both countries remaining on the US State Department’s “Do Not Travel” list, according to a report by the New York Post.
Sources told the Post that Duwaji is scheduled to depart for the Middle East on Sept. 20, visiting Syria and Lebanon, both of which the State Department warns Americans to avoid because of ongoing security risks.
According to a source familiar with the arrangements, Duwaji—whom Mayor Zohran Mamdani has frequently described as a “private person”—requested police protection for the trip after traveling overseas last month without an NYPD security detail.
Duwaji, a 29-year-old Syrian-American artist, has longstanding family ties to the region. On her personal website, she describes herself as a “Syrian Illustrator,” and her parents are Syrian Muslims originally from Damascus.
The mayor’s office confirmed both the trip and the decision to assign NYPD officers to accompany her.
“Upon the strong recommendation of the NYPD, the First Lady’s security detail will be joining her when she travels to visit family in Syria and Lebanon,” said mayoral spokesperson Dora Pekec.
City Hall declined to provide additional details about the itinerary or say whether the trip has any purpose beyond visiting relatives.
A source familiar with the plans insisted the journey is entirely personal.
“It’s not official business. It’s not doing anything for the city.”
Former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Antisemitism, criticized the decision to send NYPD officers into what he described as dangerous conflict zones, arguing that the officers—not Duwaji—would face the greatest risks.
“We’re putting the police officers in danger. They will be viewed as the bad guys. These are war zones,” said Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Antisemitism and a former Brooklyn Assemblyman.
Hikind also argued that Duwaji herself would not face threats because of her political positions.
“Duwaji doesn’t need security. She will get a hero’s welcome and be protected by Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis,” Hikind said, referring to Islamic terrorists and militants.
“Duwaji will be fine.”
Duwaji previously participated in a 2019 artist residency at Haven for Artists in Beirut, a feminist cultural organization that describes its mission as operating at “the intersection of art and activism.”
Earlier this summer, she co-hosted an all-female pro-Palestinian spiritual retreat on the French island of Corsica. The event was organized by Women Sanctuary, a travel organization focused on Muslim women and led by Paris-based designer Rym Nur.
She also skipped America’s 250th anniversary celebrations to attend an earlier Women Sanctuary retreat in Mallorca, Spain, where she served as the event’s “artist-in-residence” and led a sold-out workshop titled “Plants Of The Quran.”
At the time, the mayor’s office said no NYPD officers accompanied Duwaji during that overseas trip.
Like her husband, Duwaji has drawn attention for her outspoken pro-Palestinian activism and criticism of Israel.
Following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, reports surfaced that Duwaji had curated Spotify playlists featuring songs with explicit anti-Israel lyrics.
She also came under scrutiny after reportedly liking Instagram posts celebrating Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, as well as a separate post claiming that reports of rapes committed by Hamas terrorists against Israeli victims and hostages were a “mass hoax.”
Weeks before Mamdani assumed office, a profile in New York magazine highlighted a number of Duwaji’s past social media posts. Among them was a 2015 message asserting that Tel Aviv “shouldn’t exist in the first place” and referring to its residents as “occupiers.” Another post from her teenage years included the use of a racial slur.
In April, Duwaji issued an apology for the “hurt” caused by her past online posts, although she stopped short of specifically apologizing for her anti-Israel statements.
Mayor Mamdani has defended his wife throughout the controversy, arguing that she is a “private person” who should not be subjected to intense public scrutiny over old social media activity.
Duwaji has also been active in Democratic Socialist political causes. She produced artwork for the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America during the group’s “PalestineOnTheBallot.com” campaign, which promoted Democratic primary candidates who refused funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and pledged support for the Not on Our Dime Act, legislation aimed at penalizing or dissolving registered charities found to support what the bill defines as “Israeli settler violence.”
{Matzav.com}
