NYC First Lady Rama Duwaji Reportedly Bringing Taxpayer-Funded NYPD Bodyguards to Syria and Lebanon

New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji is scheduled to travel to Syria and Lebanon on 20 September with a taxpayer-funded entourage of NYPD bodyguards. The overseas trip will see Mayor Zohran Mamdani's wife venture into regions the US State Department explicitly warns Americans not to visit due to dangerous conditions.

In case you missed it, this high-security travel arrangement comes shortly after the 29-year-old Syrian-American artist travelled overseas last month without any police escort. A source familiar with the security detail confirmed the first lady personally requested NYPD protection for this upcoming journey. She describes herself as a Syrian illustrator and her parents are originally from Damascus.

NYC First Lady Rama Duwaji Travel Backlash

According to a source familiar with the administration, the upcoming trip is strictly personal and does absolutely nothing for the city of New York. Yet mayoral spokesperson Dora Pekec confirmed an NYPD detail will indeed join the mayor's wife when she visits family in the Middle East. Pekec stated this decision was made upon the strong recommendation of the police department.

The decision to send officers into regions marked as 'Do Not Travel' zones by federal authorities has naturally sparked severe backlash. Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Antisemitism and a former Brooklyn Assemblyman, voiced heavy opposition to the deployment. He argued that sending New York police into these territories recklessly endangers their lives, stating they will be viewed as the bad guys in these unstable war zones.

Taxpayer Funded Bodyguards for Syria and Lebanon

Hikind did not hold back in his assessment of the situation, claiming the first lady does not even need the protection. He stated she would receive a hero's welcome and be protected by groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis. Sending local law enforcement to active conflict zones for a personal family holiday is pretty wild stuff.

The mayor's wife has a history of international travel linked to her artistic endeavours, having previously attended a 2019 residency at the Haven for Artists in Beirut. Last month, she co-hosted a pro-Palestinian spiritual retreat on the French island of Corsica. She also skipped America's 250th anniversary celebrations to attend a 'Plants Of The Quran' workshop in Mallorca. The mayor's office confirmed she was not accompanied by police on that Spanish trip.

First Lady Rama Duwaji Social Media Controversy

Beyond the immediate security concerns, Duwaji, who was profiled in a New York magazine piece weeks before Mamdani took office, has long been a lightning rod for political controversy. She reportedly curated Spotify playlists featuring foulmouthed anti-Israel lyrics following the 7 October Hamas attacks against the Jewish state.

Her online activity during that period has drawn intense scrutiny. She was seen liking celebratory Instagram posts in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas assault. Separately, she liked a post claiming the rapes committed against Israeli hostages and victims were a 'mass hoax'. Her history of inflammatory remarks stretches back years.

A 2015 social media post saw her claiming Tel Aviv should not exist in the first place while calling its residents 'occupiers'. A post from her teenage years also contained a highly offensive racial slur. She issued an apology in April for the hurt caused by her past online activity, though she stopped short of walking back her comments regarding Israel.

NYC Mayor Defends Wife Amid Growing Criticism

Mayor Mamdani has consistently defended his wife, portraying her simply as a 'private person' who does not deserve such intense public scrutiny over her social media footprint. However, her deep involvement in Democratic Socialists of America campaigns paints a very different picture of her public role.

Duwaji created artwork for the New York City chapter of the DSA as the progressive group unleashed a public campaign called 'PalestineOnTheBallot.com'. The effort specifically promoted candidates running in Democratic Party primaries who snubbed funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Furthermore, the campaign vowed to support the 'Not on Our Dime Act', a bill that would punish or dissolve registered charities found to support 'Israeli settler violence'. With such a highly visible activist footprint, you really have to wonder how long the administration can successfully shield her behind the guise of a private citizen wanting a quiet family holiday.