Overview
- Multiple outlets reported Monday that Rama Duwaji created animations and graphics for the Democratic Socialists of America’s “PalestineOnTheBallot.com” effort, which promoted candidates critical of Israel and backed the Not on Our Dime Act that targets charities alleged to support settler violence.
- A Brooklyn public school, MS 447, featured Duwaji’s illustrations in a seventh‑grade “Art for Social Change” unit, even as parents said the school had initially blocked Holocaust survivor Sami Steigmann from speaking before later reversing course.
- Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said his wife is a private person with no role in his administration, and he condemned rhetoric by author Susan Abulhawa whose essay Duwaji illustrated, while City Hall sources said that commission came through a third party.
- The fresh reports build on earlier coverage of Duwaji’s social‑media history, including likes tied to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack and posts praising figures linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, after which she deactivated an old X account.
- Right‑leaning outlets framed the DSA work and school lesson as anti‑Israel or antisemitic, while other coverage emphasized vetting and community relations, a split that could shape pressure on the mayor over outreach to Jewish groups and how schools choose teaching materials.