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New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji will travel to Syria and Lebanon next month accompanied by members of her taxpayer-funded NYPD security detail, despite both countries remaining on the US State Department’s “Do Not Travel” list, according to a report by the New York Post.

Sources told the Post that Duwaji is scheduled to depart for the Middle East on Sept. 20, visiting Syria and Lebanon, both of which the State Department warns Americans to avoid because of ongoing security risks.

According to a source familiar with the arrangements, Duwaji—whom Mayor Zohran Mamdani has frequently described as a “private person”—requested police protection for the trip after traveling overseas last month without an NYPD security detail.

Duwaji, a 29-year-old Syrian-American artist, has longstanding family ties to the region. On her personal website, she describes herself as a “Syrian Illustrator,” and her parents are Syrian Muslims originally from Damascus.

The mayor’s office confirmed both the trip and the decision to assign NYPD officers to accompany her.

“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,” said mayoral spokesperson Dora Pekec.

City Hall declined to provide additional details about the itinerary or say whether the trip has any purpose beyond visiting relatives.

A source familiar with the plans insisted the journey is entirely personal.

“It’s not official business. It’s not doing anything for the city.”

Former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Antisemitism, criticized the decision to send NYPD officers into what he described as dangerous conflict zones, arguing that the officers—not Duwaji—would face the greatest risks.

“We’re putting the police officers in danger. They will be viewed as the bad guys. These are war zones,” said Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Antisemitism and a former Brooklyn Assemblyman.

Hikind also argued that Duwaji herself would not face threats because of her political positions.

“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.

“Duwaji will be fine.”

Duwaji previously participated in a 2019 artist residency at Haven for Artists in Beirut, a feminist cultural organization that describes its mission as operating at “the intersection of art and activism.”

Earlier this summer, she co-hosted an all-female pro-Palestinian spiritual retreat on the French island of Corsica. The event was organized by Women Sanctuary, a travel organization focused on Muslim women and led by Paris-based designer Rym Nur.

She also skipped America’s 250th anniversary celebrations to attend an earlier Women Sanctuary retreat in Mallorca, Spain, where she served as the event’s “artist-in-residence” and led a sold-out workshop titled “Plants Of The Quran.”

At the time, the mayor’s office said no NYPD officers accompanied Duwaji during that overseas trip.

Like her husband, Duwaji has drawn attention for her outspoken pro-Palestinian activism and criticism of Israel.

Following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, reports surfaced that Duwaji had curated Spotify playlists featuring songs with explicit anti-Israel lyrics.

She also came under scrutiny after reportedly liking Instagram posts celebrating Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, as well as a separate post claiming that reports of rapes committed by Hamas terrorists against Israeli victims and hostages were a “mass hoax.”

Weeks before Mamdani assumed office, a profile in New York magazine highlighted a number of Duwaji’s past social media posts. Among them was a 2015 message asserting that Tel Aviv “shouldn’t exist in the first place” and referring to its residents as “occupiers.” Another post from her teenage years included the use of a racial slur.

In April, Duwaji issued an apology for the “hurt” caused by her past online posts, although she stopped short of specifically apologizing for her anti-Israel statements.

Mayor Mamdani has defended his wife throughout the controversy, arguing that she is a “private person” who should not be subjected to intense public scrutiny over old social media activity.

Duwaji has also been active in Democratic Socialist political causes. She produced artwork for the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America during the group’s “PalestineOnTheBallot.com” campaign, which promoted Democratic primary candidates who refused funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and pledged support for the Not on Our Dime Act, legislation aimed at penalizing or dissolving registered charities found to support what the bill defines as “Israeli settler violence.”

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump said Monday that he has not spoken with Attorney General Todd Blanche or US Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, about the possibility of prosecuting Dr. Anthony Fauci after the former top health official repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment during recent Senate testimony.

When asked by reporters whether he had discussed the matter with either Blanche or Pirro, Trump made clear he had not been involved in any conversations regarding potential legal action against Fauci.

“I have not spoken to him about that, no,” Trump told reporters when asked whether he had discussed the matter with either Blanche or Pirro, NBC News reports.

Last week, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 8-5 along party lines to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress after he declined to answer questions issued under subpoena concerning his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the July 29 hearing, Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination more than 100 times rather than respond to lawmakers’ questions.

Committee Chairman Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) announced Thursday that the committee had formally referred the contempt citation to both the Justice Department and Jeanine Pirro’s office for possible prosecution. The Justice Department has acknowledged receiving the referral and said it is currently reviewing the matter.

Fauci retired from government service in 2022 after leading the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for decades. Before leaving office in January 2025, President Joe Biden granted Fauci a preemptive presidential pardon.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said Monday that federal immigration authorities have set back-to-back monthly records for arrests of illegal immigrants and predicted those figures will continue rising as the administration hires more agents and broadens enforcement efforts nationwide.

Appearing on Greg Kelly Reports on Newsmax, Homan said Immigration and Customs Enforcement reached an all-time monthly high in June before surpassing that mark again in July.

“June was the highest month in the history of the agency,” Homan said on “Greg Kelly Reports” in reference to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “July, they broke another record, and I expect to break another record in August.”

According to ICE statistics, agents arrested 43,138 illegal immigrants in June, setting a new record for Trump’s second term. Homan said July’s total exceeded even that milestone.

“We’re removing more people — [a] record number of arrests and deportations,” Homan said.

Homan also dismissed criticism from some Trump supporters who argue the administration has not moved aggressively enough on deportations, saying the removal process involves far more than simply locating someone in the country illegally.

“We’ve got to find the alien who doesn’t want to be found,” Homan said. “We’ve got to take them into detention. Then there’s a process. Get travel documents, get orders of removal to remove them. It’s not just a daily thing. It doesn’t happen that easily.”

He said ICE has continued to post record enforcement numbers despite numerous legal and logistical obstacles, including court rulings, sanctuary jurisdictions, and foreign governments that are slow to cooperate by issuing travel documents.

“Despite all that, despite the injunctions, despite the radical judges, despite the sanctuary cities, despite the difficulty in moving aliens to countries that don’t want to give us travel documents, we’re making record historic number of arrests and deportations,” he said.

Even with the recent gains, Homan said he believes the administration can accomplish much more once additional personnel are deployed.

“Am I happy with the number right now? No, I want more, too,” he said. “And as we bring these thousands of more agents on, we expect those numbers to increase, and we’re going to keep fighting.”

Homan added that one of his priorities is expanding immigration enforcement at workplaces to identify and apprehend more illegal immigrants.

He also linked the administration’s immigration enforcement campaign to President Trump’s broader law-and-order initiative in Washington, D.C., saying federal authorities have removed “thousands of illegal aliens” from the nation’s capital, including individuals he described as threats to public safety.

Police data released through Monday showed overall crime in Washington down 20% compared to the same period last year. Homicides have fallen 31%, robberies are down 15%, and vehicle thefts have dropped 53%. However, overall violent crime has increased 3%, driven by a 41% rise in assaults involving dangerous weapons.

Reflecting on conditions in the capital, Homan said he has seen a dramatic improvement.

“I work in the city every day,” Homan said. “I’ve never seen it so clean and so safe again.”

{Matzav.com}

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