New York (CNN) \u2014 The illustration took City Hall by surprise.<\/p>\n
Rama Duwaji\u2019s artwork depicted the face of a woman drawn in black and white, her eyebrows full and scrunched above a sharp nose, and her almond-shaped eyes sitting above a pair of hands reaching outward.<\/p>\n
The image was published in February by the online magazine Slow Factory<\/a> alongside an essay written by Diana Islayih about a Gaza camp for people internally displaced in the Israel-Hamas war. The essay is part of a compilation of essays edited by Palestinian-American author Susan Abulhawa.<\/p>\n As New York City\u2019s new first lady, Duwaji\u2019s art created days of headlines and tough questions at press conferences for Mayor Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n Key City Hall staffers did not know Duwaji had been commissioned to do the artwork or about Abulhawa\u2019s posts, which were first reported<\/a> by the conservative Washington Free Beacon earlier this month, according to two people briefed on the matter.<\/p>\n Abulhawa has referred to Israeli forces<\/a> as \u201cJewish supremacist demons\u201d and described<\/a> Hamas\u2019 October 7, 2023, attack shortly after it happened as \u201ca spectacular moment that shocked the world\u201d after what she described as \u201cIsrael\u2019s criminally merciless siege of Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n While Duwaji has not publicly commented, Mamdani spoke out against Abulhawa\u2019s language. He also explained Duwaji\u2019s freelance work was secured through a third party, that Duwaji had not been in direct communication with the author and that she was not aware of Abulhawa\u2019s posts.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that that rhetoric is patently unacceptable. I think it\u2019s reprehensible,\u201d Mamdani said on March 13<\/a> in reference to Abulhawa.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Mamdani declined to comment on what his administration knew beforehand about the artwork. The people briefed on the episode, who declined to be named so as to not antagonize the mayor, argued the backlash raises questions about whether her work should be more closely vetted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe mayor condemned the author\u2019s language, to his credit,\u201d said Scott Richman, New York regional director for the Anti-Defamation League. \u201cHowever, we have not heard from her. Does she have a problem with the author and her statements? We just don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n Abulhawa, meanwhile, denied that she was anti-Jewish and said she was disappointed in what Mamdani had said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou succumbed to forces that seek to pick away at you, at your talented, beautiful wife, and at your work, clawing harder with each apology or concession you make,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you are not careful, they will siphon your soul before you even realize it.\u201d<\/p>\n There have been subsequent revelations of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel posts Duwaji had shared and liked, as well as a post including a racial slur that the Free Beacon<\/a> reported she posted when she was 15. CNN has not independently verified the posts and has reached out to City Hall for comment.<\/p>\n They went unnoticed during Mamdani\u2019s mayoral campaign but are now creating new scrutiny for both of them, particularly as Mamdani faces skepticism from many in the city\u2019s Jewish community, the largest of any city outside Israel.<\/p>\n A private person in the public eye<\/p>\n Mamdani said in a press conference earlier this month<\/a> that Duwaji, a Texas-born professional artist of Syrian descent, is a \u201cprivate person who has held no formal position on my campaign or in my City Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n His aides and allies contend there is a double standard applied to the city\u2019s first Muslim mayor and one of the most prominent Muslims in politics, arguing much of the criticism against them is manufactured and driven by Islamophobia. But both the mayor and first lady have long centered pro-Palestinian advocacy in their public lives.<\/p>\n In 2023, Mamdani told a Democratic Socialists of America convention that \u201cthe struggle for Palestinian liberation was at the core of my politics and continues to be.\u201d Mamdani has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and supported calls to boycott and divest<\/a> from the country. Israel denies charges of a genocide and rejects the boycott and divestment movement.<\/p>\n Duwaji, who moved to New York City in 2021 and met Mamdani on a dating app<\/a>, is an artist whose work has previously appeared in The Cut, the BBC, Vogue and The New Yorker. During Mamdani\u2019s campaign, CNN previously reported, she helped finalize the campaign\u2019s brand identity and worked on the final version of the campaign\u2019s iconography and font.<\/p>\n While she has declined most interviews, she agreed to photos and an interview with New York Magazine in February, where she spoke out about the importance of \u201cspeaking out about Palestine, Syria, Sudan,\u201d and suggested she might use her role as first lady to help elevate the city\u2019s art scene.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, I\u2019m not a politician. I\u2019m here to be a support system for Z and to use the role in the best way that I can as an artist,\u201d Duwaji told New York.<\/p>\n During the campaign, Mamdani initially declined to condemn the phrase \u201cglobalize the intifada\u201d and was asked to explain a 2023 comment<\/a> in which he ripped both New York police and the Israel Defense Forces by saying: \u201cWe have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it\u2019s been laced by the IDF.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani has attended and posted from iftar dinners to mark the end of the daily fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. One photo on the mayor\u2019s official account<\/a>, of an iftar hosted at his official residence, showed Duwaji, amid headlines about her past social media postings, standing next to Mahmoud Khalil<\/a>, a 31-year-old Columbia University graduate student and pro-Palestinian student protester arrested by federal immigration authorities.<\/p>\n Katherine Jellison \u2014 a professor of American history at Ohio University who has studied US history, women and gender, and the nation\u2019s first ladies \u2014 said Duwaji and Mamdani\u2019s balancing act is complicated by the 24-hour news cycle and the constant churn of social media in the 21st century.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this case there also may be different expectations because he is a very high-profile figure, particularly for his views but also because of their cultural and ethnic backgrounds they are under greater scrutiny, whether it\u2019s fair or not that is the case,\u201d Jellison said. \u201cI think it\u2019s very difficult in this day and age for anyone married to a public figure to try and create a so-called zone of privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n Jewish allies and critics weigh in<\/p>\n