New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji is planning a trip to Syria and Lebanon, both countries the U.S. State Department tells Americans not to visit, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani's office says taxpayer-funded NYPD officers should accompany her.
Duwaji, the 29-year-old Syrian-American wife of Mayor Mamdani, intends to leave for the two countries on September 20 to "visit family," according to a statement from mayoral spokesperson Dora Pekec. The spokesperson said the first lady's security detail would join her "upon the strong recommendation of the NYPD." But the NYPD itself quickly contradicted that claim, telling the New York Post early Tuesday that no officers would be making the trip.
Both Syria and Lebanon sit on the State Department's Level 4 "Do Not Travel" list, the highest warning the department issues, reserved for countries where conditions pose direct danger to American citizens. The NYPD's own policy bars sending officers to Level 4 countries for non-investigative, discretionary reasons. And a source familiar with the security detail said the trip has nothing to do with city business.
The contradiction between the mayor's office and the police department is stark and, so far, unresolved. Pekec's statement framed the security detail as the NYPD's own idea:
"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."
Hours later, an NYPD spokesperson issued a flat denial:
"The NYPD does not send officers to countries with level four travel advisories for discretionary reasons not linked to investigative work."
The spokesperson added a second statement to remove any ambiguity:
"This is not an investigative trip, and therefore, NYPD personnel will not be traveling there for it."
No one in the mayor's office has explained which NYPD official or unit allegedly made the "strong recommendation" that Pekec cited. The mayor's office offered no further comment on the trip's details or whether the purpose extended beyond visiting family. Whether the trip will proceed without NYPD protection, or whether the administration will press the department to reverse course, remains an open question.
A source with knowledge of the trip put it bluntly: "It's not official business. It's not doing anything for the city."
Dov Hikind, the former Brooklyn Assemblyman who founded Americans Against Antisemitism, opposed the idea of sending New York police officers into countries he described as active conflict zones. Hikind did not mince words about the risk to officers or about Duwaji's own reception in the region:
"We're putting the police officers in danger. They will be viewed as the bad guys. These are war zones."
Hikind went further, arguing that Duwaji herself would face no threat:
"Duwaji doesn't need security. She will get a hero's welcome and be protected by Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis."
Hamas and the Houthis are designated foreign terrorist organizations under U.S. law, and Hezbollah carries the same designation. Hikind's claim about Duwaji's reception reflects a broader pattern of criticism directed at the first lady over her public statements and social media activity regarding Israel and Palestinian causes. The mayor has faced his own scrutiny over controversies touching on antisemitism and foreign media relationships.
Duwaji, who describes herself as a "Syrian Illustrator" on her website, is the daughter of Syrian Muslim parents originally from Damascus. Her public record includes a series of social media posts that have drawn sustained criticism since Mamdani entered office.
In 2015, Duwaji posted on social media that Tel Aviv "shouldn't exist in the first place" and called its residents "occupiers." Two years before that, as a teenager, she used a racial slur in a separate social media post.
After the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks against Israel, Duwaji reportedly curated Spotify playlists featuring anti-Israel lyrics. She was also caught liking celebratory Instagram posts following the assault, including one that claimed rapes committed by Hamas were a "mass hoax." The Mamdani administration has drawn repeated criticism over its posture toward Israel, including the mayor's reported effort to find a legal basis to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu during a United Nations visit.
In April, Duwaji issued an apology for the "hurt" caused by what were described as alarming social media posts, but she did not directly express regret for her Israel-related content. Mayor Mamdani has described his wife as a "private person" who should not face a spotlight over her social media activity.
That characterization sits uneasily alongside Duwaji's public activist work. She created artwork for the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America for a campaign called "PalestineOnTheBallot.com," which pushed political candidates to reject funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and to support a bill known as the "Not on Our Dime Act", legislation that would punish or dissolve registered charities found to support Israeli settler violence. The campaign was part of a broader Democratic socialist effort to elevate candidates critical of Israel.
The planned Syria-Lebanon trip is not Duwaji's first recent international travel. Last month, she traveled overseas without NYPD protection, a detail that raises its own question about why the mayor's office now insists the department "strongly recommended" officers accompany her to two far more dangerous destinations.
That earlier trip included co-hosting a pro-Palestinian all-female spiritual retreat on the French island of Corsica, organized by Parisian designer Rym Nur through a Muslim-and-women-focused travel group called Women Sanctuary. Duwaji also attended a Women Sanctuary retreat on the Spanish island of Mallorca as an "artist-in-residence" at a sold-out "Plants Of The Quran" workshop. She reportedly missed America's 250th anniversary celebrations to attend.
Mamdani himself has drawn scrutiny for his conduct around sensitive national commemorations. He skipped the 1993 World Trade Center bombing memorial before seeking a role in 9/11 observances.
Duwaji's 2019 residency at the Haven for Artists in Beirut, Lebanon, an organization that describes itself as a cultural feminist group "at the intersection of art and activism", shows her ties to the region predate her husband's political career. Her parents' roots in Damascus provide a personal connection to Syria.
The mayor's office has not disclosed how many NYPD officers would be assigned to the detail, what the cost to New York City taxpayers would be, or which specific cities in Syria and Lebanon Duwaji plans to visit. The administration's broader governance approach, including purging business leaders from the Mayor's Fund advisory board, has already raised questions about transparency and accountability.
The direct conflict between the mayor's office and the NYPD remains the central unanswered question. Either the NYPD recommended the security detail and then publicly denied it, or the mayor's office invoked the department's name to justify a decision the NYPD never endorsed. Neither explanation reflects well on the Mamdani administration.
Separately, the administration has faced scrutiny over a taxpayer-funded video targeting a Jewish landlord, adding to a pattern of controversies that touch on how public resources are deployed and who benefits.
New Yorkers foot the bill for their mayor's security apparatus. They deserve a straight answer about whether their police officers are being volunteered for a personal trip to two countries the U.S. government says Americans should not visit, and who, exactly, made that call.
