The wife of New York City mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani has stirred controversy after publicly mourning a Palestinian influencer known for openly celebrating the horrific Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel.
Rama Duwaji, an animator who married the socialist politician in February, took to Instagram to express grief over the death of Palestinian social media personality Saleh al-Jafarawi, who was killed Monday in reported infighting between Hamas and rival factions.
“Beloved Jafarawi,” Duwaji wrote on her Instagram story, adding four broken-heart emojis.
READ: Two Years Of Captivity Ends: All 20 Surviving Hostages Freed In Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Deal
Jafarawi, 27, was a highly visible figure documenting the war in Gaza, but became infamously known in Israeli media as “Mr. FAFO” (a reference to “F**k Around and Find Out”) after he posted a video gleefully celebrating the Hamas terror attack.
He later posted a video of himself sobbing once Israel launched counter-strikes on Gaza.
The influencer’s death was mourned by pro-Palestinian activists but cheered by many Israelis who viewed him as a key Hamas propagandist.
Former Israeli spokesperson Eylon Levy released a statement late Sunday, saying:
For the last two years, I have followed Hamas content creator Saleh Al-Jafrawi (“Mr FAFO”) with a mix of horror and admiration. I was engrossed.
Mr FAFO had phenomenal energy, charisma, and creativity. Always popping up in a different costume, once a patient then a radiologist, a jihadist then a foreign correspondent, a ham actor but always with panache and chutzpah, constantly finding inventive ways to grab new audiences and tell his story. Early in the war, I thought: in another life, we could have been great friends.
He seemed like an absolute riot and barrel of laughs. We could have been mates, in another life, in which he did not dedicate his talents for evil, using his voice to fight for the genocidal terrorist army that perpetrated the October 7 Massacre and chose to fight a bloody urban war from under the feet of the civilians it kept trapped as human sacrifices.
Rest in hell, Mr FAFO. I pray for peace, and the day Hamas is disarmed, Gaza is demilitarized, and your people deradicalized. You played your best cards in the world you were born into, and you did it with aplomb. I pray for a future of peace in which Gazan children born with your talents use them to build a better future, and not keep sacrificing that future on the futile altar of jihad.
Duwaji, like her husband Mamdani, has been outspoken on the Israel-Hamas war and critical of Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 massacre. Her public mourning of a figure who glorified the initial terror attack is certain to ignite further debate as Mamdani moves forward with his mayoral ambitions.
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