New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “private citizen” wife recently demanded a police escort for a personal trip to the Middle East.
Mamdani’s wife is Rama Duwaji, a woman he’s repeatedly defended as a “private person” in response to criticism about her bad behavior, like cheering for Hamas, arguing Israel has no right to exist, and even having her book illustrated by an antisemitic loon who described Israelis as “rootless, soulless ghouls.”
“My wife is the love of my life, and she’s also a private person who has held no formal position on my campaign or in my City Hall,” the mayor said in defense of his wife when pressed about her behavior back in March.
🚨 Zohran Mamdani responds after posts surface showing his wife liked content celebrating the October 7 attacks, saying:
“My wife is the love of my life… she’s a private person who has held no formal position on my campaign or in my city hall.”pic.twitter.com/bxyfJa02xL
— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) March 6, 2026
There’s just one problem: Despite her being portrayed as just a “private” citizen, Duwaji has a history of acting like she’s all that and a bag of chips. For example, she recently demanded a taxpayer-funded NYPD security detail for a planned personal trip to Syria and Lebanon in September.
“Upon the strong recommendation of the NYPD, the First Lady’s security detail will be joining her when she travels to visit family in Syria and Lebanon,” a Mamdani spokesperson announced on Aug. 10.
According to an internal source who spoke with the New York Post, Duwaji, aka Miss “Private Citizen,” had personally requested the escort.
When the NYPD heard about the spokesperson’s remarks, they cried foul, saying they don’t deploy personnel to countries under Level 4 (“Do Not Travel”) State Department advisories “for discretionary reasons not linked to investigative work.”
“This is not an investigative trip, and therefore, NYPD personnel will not be traveling there for it,” the NYPD added.
Womp, womp.
But shes a “private citizen”… that is what Mamdani said when he was questioned about her liking posts about October 7 and other Pro Hamas posts https://t.co/c9A9fyBUFX
— Roberto Gil (@RbtGil) August 11, 2026
Mamdani has since blamed this contradiction between what his spokesperson said and what the NYPD said on a “miscommunication.” An unnamed source added that the “miscommunication” involved never checking in with the city police commissioner before announcing Duwaji’s trip.
Speaking with the Post, former NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said the whole idea of sending a police escort with Duwaji to the Middle East was “ill-advised,” expensive, and logistically complex, requiring federal cooperation.
“There would be lots of hoops you’d have to go through for that kind of assignment,” he added.
Other critics argued that this whole incident highlighted poor communication protocols between City Hall and the police on security matters.
Meanwhile, Tablet Magazine editor-at-large and podcaster Liel Leibovitz slammed Duwaji for acting like a diva while purporting to be a “private citizen.”
“[L]ike the cat in Schrödinger’s famous thought experiment who was somehow both alive and dead at the same time, Duwaji has managed to be both private and very, very public — sitting for a glamorous photo shoot with New York Magazine one moment and clamming up the next,” he wrote for the Post.
“This most recent controversy, then, is a good reminder that City Hall can’t have it both ways. If Duwaji is a public enough figure to demand a measure of protection that isn’t guaranteed to her by law, she’s also public enough to sit down with the press and do some ’splaining,” he added.
If Ms. Duwaji is a “private citizen” then let her get private security.
New York taxpayers should insist she can’t have it both ways: https://t.co/ElvuVlJq1b— Dr. Sara Yael Hirschhorn 👩🎓 (@SaraHirschhorn1) August 11, 2026
Leibovitz also questioned why Duwaji was “ignoring the US State Department’s warning not to travel to Syria and Lebanon ‘for any reason.'” He personally blamed corruption.
“From wasting $5.2 million of our dollars to pay the salaries of hand-picked propagandists to demanding that cops risk their lives and waste their time and our money to accompany his wife as she pals around with her kin in some of the world’s most feverishly anti-American nations, Mamdani is giving us a master class in misconduct,” he wrote.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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