Israel’s Diaspora Minister Seeks to Bar New York City Mayor’s Wife Over Posts Praising Oct. 7

Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli announced today (Thursday) that he recommended to the Interior Ministry to bar Rama Duwaji, the wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, from entering Israel. This is due to "her support for the October 7 massacre and her consistent and public activity to promote delegitimization, accusations of ethnic cleansing, and incitement against the State of Israel".

The move received additional reinforcement when the director-general of the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and the Fight against Antisemitism, Avi Cohen Skali, approached the Population and Immigration Authority with an official recommendation to prevent Duwaji from entering the country.

The ministry noted that Duwaji, an American of Syrian origin, uses digital platforms to share artworks and politically themed content. According to the ministry, "Duwaji's activity goes beyond legitimate opinion and criticism of the State of Israel," and it "is characterized by inciting calls against Israel's actions, denial of the events of October 7, glorification of violence, justification for harming civilians, and the dissemination of content with antisemitic, anti-Zionist, and anti-Israel characteristics".

According to the Jewish-American site Jewish Insider, a review of her social media activity found that Duwaji liked several Instagram posts praising Hamas's October 7 attack, in which about 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered, thousands were wounded, and 251 people were abducted to the Gaza Strip. Some of the posts also included footage from the attack itself.

For example, one post published on the day of the attack by an organization called The Slow Factory included images from Hamas terrorists' documentation, alongside captions such as "breaking down the walls of apartheid and military occupation" and "resisting apartheid since 1948".

Chikli responded sharply: "The unrestrained statements by the wife of New York City's mayor, which deny the massacre that occurred on October 7, cannot be ignored. This is an unprecedented moral low, and we will not allow people like Mrs. Mamdani to enter the State of Israel".

The ministry's director-general, Avi Cohen Skali, also addressed the issue: "Antisemitism is a front in every sense. In the current war there is another arena, and that is the surge in antisemitism around the world, fueled by people like Rama Mamdani. This fueling creates dangers for Jewish communities and harms the State of Israel; we will fight them as well, and we will win here, too".