Rama Duwaji, wife of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, created artwork for a company selling oil that commemorates a man credited with downing a British aircraft.
The artistic contributions of New York City’s First Lady. Rama Duwaji. have pulled the Mayor’s office into a growing controversy involving a Wyoming-based olive oil company. Duwaji has produced at least two illustrations for Olive Odyssey. a firm that characterizes itself as a gateway for Palestinian farmers but has come under scrutiny for its promotion of imagery celebrating violence.
The friction centers on a $62 bottle of extra virgin olive oil sold by the company. which features a portrait of Khalil Abu Osba. While the company identifies Abu Osba as a “Palestinian resistance fighter. ” the designation omits the violent history associated with his name. According to a video posted to the social media account of Lubna Abu-Osba. who identifies as the subject’s granddaughter. the company reached out to her to commemorate him. In a 2019 Instagram post. Lubna Abu-Osba boasted that her grandfather “shot a British plane out of the sky with his rifle” during the British Mandate. subsequently facing a death sentence and imprisonment in Acre before escaping.
Duwaji’s professional connection to the brand began in October 2025. just one month before her husband. Zohran Mamdani. was elected mayor. The connection has surfaced at a sensitive time for the administration. Mamdani recently faced a wave of criticism from across the political spectrum following his commentary on the anniversary of the October 7 terror attack. In that instance. the Mayor drew intense backlash for pivoting from the murder of 1. 200 people to focus on what he termed Israel’s “devastating. ongoing genocide” in Gaza.
The aesthetic choices at Olive Odyssey extend beyond the portrait of Abu Osba. The company’s digital footprint includes cartoons depicting Israel as a skull filled with the bodies of Palestinians. alongside rhetoric denouncing the “Zionist state” and utilizing the phrase “From the river to the sea” in Arabic. Their website also rails against “Israeli salad. ” arguing that the term cynically “repackaged” the dish while stripping away its Palestinian “roots.”.
When asked about the collaboration, the company directed inquiries to the video where Lubna Abu-Osba celebrated the tribute. “She did a drawing of my grandfather. and she put it on a bottle of olive oil. ” she said in the recording. “I could not be more honored that she did that, and that his legacy after 75 years is still in Palestine.”.
The alignment between the First Lady’s portfolio and the firm’s public-facing ideology is stark. Whether through the direct illustration of a man who famously engaged in lethal resistance or the broader anti-Israel content hosted on the company’s platforms. the partnership presents a clear ideological collision for the current New York City administration. As of now, the Mayor’s office has not provided further comment on the nature of the artistic arrangement.
Zohran Mamdani Rama Duwaji Olive Odyssey NYC Palestinian resistance Khalil Abu Osba