Mamdani Wife Likes From Oct. 7 and Oct. 8 Posts Draw Scrutiny as Mayor Reiterates Condemnation
An examination of public social media activity shows that mamdani wife Rama Duwaji liked Instagram posts that celebrated the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas, prompting renewed scrutiny of Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his office. The timing matters because those likes date to Oct. 7 and Oct. 8, 2023—days tied to one of the deadliest episodes in the conflict—and have collided with the mayor’s efforts to distance himself from more radical elements during his recent campaign.
Mamdani Wife Likes on The Slow Factory Post
One of the posts Duwaji liked was shared on Oct. 7 by an organization called The Slow Factory and featured stills taken from livestreamed footage of the attack: an image of a bulldozer used to breach a barrier and an image of attackers in a captured military vehicle. The images were overlaid with slogans such as "Breaking the walls of apartheid and military occupation, " "Resisting apartheid since 1948, " and "Systemic change for collective liberation. " The post’s caption warned that Gazans would be "punished for wanting freedom from apartheid" if occupation forces retaliated.
Duwaji used a personal Instagram account in her own name to like that post; that same account has been used to share her illustrations and to criticize Israeli policy. She met Zohran Mamdani on a dating app in 2021 and the two married in early 2025.
People’s Forum Posts and Times Square Protest Likes
On Oct. 8, 2023, Duwaji liked posts tied to demonstrations that followed the attack. Those posts originated from the People’s Forum, which is identified as part of a wider network connected to Neville "Roy" Singham, and showed material from a Times Square protest led alongside the Democratic Socialists of America and allied groups. Duwaji’s account liked two posts from that protest one day after the violence unfolded.
The Oct. 7 attacks themselves left a stark toll: nearly 1, 200 Israelis and foreign workers killed, thousands wounded, and 251 civilians and military personnel kidnapped, along with numerous episodes of sexual assault. The graphic nature and scale of that violence have been central to why the posts and the likes have generated immediate attention.
City Hall Response and Campaign Context
The mayor’s office did not answer questions about whether Mamdani had discussed the Oct. 7 attacks with his wife or how he feels about her online activity, and Duwaji did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Instead, City Hall reiterated the mayor’s longstanding public line on the incident: "Mayor Mamdani has been clear and consistent: Hamas is a terrorist organization, October 7th was a horrific war crime, and he has condemned that violence unequivocally. "
During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani repeatedly sought to distance himself from the most radical anti-Israel elements of his leftist movement. He characterized Hamas’ actions as "war crimes" while also sharply criticizing the Israeli military response, a balance that has now been tested by revelations about his wife’s social media activity. He had also publicly criticized the Times Square rally at the time for "making light" of the massacre.
What makes this notable is the proximity of the likes to the immediate aftermath of the attacks, and the way personal social-media interactions can become politically consequential for public officials who have tried to draw boundaries between their positions and those of allied organizations. The circulation of the posts and the mayor’s repeated public condemnation created a direct cause-and-effect chain: the discovery of the likes has generated scrutiny, and that scrutiny has elicited a formal restatement of the mayor’s position on Oct. 7.
The revelations have focused attention on where private expressions by relatives intersect with public political stances at a moment when the violence of Oct. 7 remains a central and raw reference point in public debate.
