NYPD denies sending officers to accompany Mamdani's wife to Lebanon, Syria

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, is expected to fly to Syria and Lebanon next month and believes she will have personal security in the form of a taxpayer-funded NYPD detail. The NYPD, however, says it will not be sending its officers to high-risk nations. 

New York City’s first lady’s trip is planned for Sept. 20 as part of a tour she will be taking to the two countries where the State Department has posted “Do Not Travel” advisories, a source tells the New York Post.

Duwaji had previously traveled to Spain and France last month without a detail and has decided she desires one as she travels to the high-risk countries. Dora Pekec, who serves as a spokeswoman for the mayor, claimed that not only is Duwaji taking NYPD security, but the department strongly advised her to do so.

“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,” she said.

The NYPD responded to the statement by Pekec and said conditions were too dangerous for the NYPD to send officers and that they would not send staff on non-official business.

“The NYPD does not send officers to countries with level four travel advisories for discretionary reasons not linked to investigative work,” an NYPD spokesperson told the New York Post. "This is not an investigative trip, and therefore, NYPD personnel will not be traveling there for it."

The 29-year-old Syrian-American has a controversial footprint on the internet, dating back to her teenage years when she used the N-word in a social media post. Duwaji has also claimed Tel Aviv should not exist and referred to the Oct. 7 rapes by Hamas as a “mass hoax," the Free Press reports.

The controversy comes as Duwaji’s past public statements and social media activity continue to draw scrutiny, raising questions about whether the city should commit NYPD resources to protect her during personal travel to countries under the State Department’s highest-level travel warnings. Critics have argued the proposed detail would unnecessarily put officers in danger while using taxpayer-funded resources for a private trip.

Jewish activist Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Antisemitism, told the Post he was against sending officers to the Middle Eastern countries.

“We’re putting the police officers in danger. They will be viewed as the bad guys. These are war zones,” Hikind said. “Duwaji doesn’t need security. She will get a hero’s welcome and be protected by Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis,” Hikind said, referring to Islamic terrorists and militants in the region. “Duwaji will be fine.”