Late last week, we learned that Rama Duwaji, the wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, illustrated a book for Palestinian-American author and journalist Susan Abulhawa. Abulhawa has a troubling history of antisemitism, including calling Jews “cockroaches,” “rootless parasites,” and “rabid demons.”
This revelation came shortly after it was reported that Duwaji had liked numerous social media posts celebrating the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack in Israel. In response, Mamdani defended his wife by claiming that she got the freelance illustrating job through a third party and was unaware that it was for Abulhawa. He described Abulhawa’s remarks as “reprehensible,” which seems consistent with Mamdani’s pattern of distancing himself from friends and allies.
Speaking of “friends and allies,” it also turns out that Mamdani’s family has multiple connections to Abulhawa.
Anti-Israel activist who called Jews 'cockroaches' has multiple links to Mamdani family https://t.co/FfI8DNoF8j pic.twitter.com/e5tItlWcot
— New York Post (@nypost) March 16, 2026
Not surprisingly, the New York Post dropped the bombshell:
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s family has crossed paths with the anti-Israel activist who called Jews “cockroaches” and “vampires,” despite his attempts to distance himself from her.
Susan Abulhawa, 55, is a member of the Advisory Policy Council of the Gaza Tribunal along with Mamdani’s Columbia University professor father, Mahmood Mamdani.
The group, which features just 29 members, was established in London in 2024 and describes itself as an independent “people’s tribunal” that collects evidence against Israel in Gaza. British Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn is another prominent figure within it.
But Abulhawa was a featured speaker at Columbia University’s Center for Palestine Studies which Mamdani Sr. — a professor in the school’s Department of Anthropology — has long been associated with, appearing in a bio on their website.
Abulhawa was also among the prominent signatories to a 2018 open letter to members of the Saudi royal family to urge them to release professor and women’s rights activist Hatoon al-Fassi. Mamdani’s filmmaker mother, Mira Nair, as well as his father were also among the signatories.
This follows a pattern of Mamdani being associated with controversial individuals while denying those connections. Last fall, we discovered that Mamdani’s family had ties to a Ugandan politician who sought to impose life sentences on gay individuals, despite Mamdani’s claims of not knowing her.
When entering a marriage, it’s important to ensure compatibility on major issues. Supporting Islamic terrorism appears to be one of those significant issues in the Mamdani marriage, it seems.
We warned you about him so many times. https://t.co/gvJs7FhQvq
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) March 16, 2026
Wait you mean he was lying? https://t.co/vkVMpbjTWh
— Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (@VickieforNYC) March 16, 2026
Huh weird. https://t.co/dwtyVztH10
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) March 16, 2026
Crazy how that keeps happening https://t.co/CDPMRNMhKs
— Sunny (@sunnyright) March 17, 2026
Probably just a coincidence, though.
