Organizers of Islamic wellness retreat attended by NYC first lady Rama Duwaji called for destruction of Israel in hateful social media posts

The group behind the posh, Islamic-centered women’s retreat where New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife Rama Duwaji served as an “artist-in-residence” called for the destruction of Israel and for “Palestine” to be cleansed of its “oppressors” in a series of hateful social media posts. 

“The apartheid colonial state of Israel has committed a genocide against the Palestinian people,” read an October 2025 Instagram post from the Women Sanctuary, the organization hosting the “Journey through Islamic Calligraphy” retreat being attended by Duwaji in Porto, Portugal.

“Abolish the colonial apartheid state of Israel. Free Palestine,” the post, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, continued. 

In a lengthy May 2024 post...