Coffee Break
We’ve all heard jokes that start with two or three people or animals walking into a bar where something funny happens. In this case, two people walked into a coffee shop, but nothing funny happened.
Actually, the odds of these two people ending up in the same coffee shop are astronomical. This is the human equivalent of a mongoose running into a cobra. Two people on opposite ends of the spectrum in every way.
Earlier this week, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, a known supporter of anti-Israel terrorists, found herself sitting next to a beautiful Jewish woman. Of course, Duwaji didn’t know that the girl next to her was Jewish, or who she was.
According to the New York Post, the girl sitting next to Mamdani’s wife was 27-year-old Melanie Shiraz, the reigning Miss Israel. Duwaji, who frequently comments on pro-Palestinian issues, remains silent about the brief encounter, while Shiraz shares her perspective.
According to Newsweek, Shiraz posted her side of the story on Instagram.
“So, guess who sat next to me at a cafe in New York?”
“None other than Zohran Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji — the same Rama Duwaji who posted horribly antisemitic, anti-Israel and terror sympathizing things not that long ago and also apologized for it,”
“I told her that, as an Israeli, I was disappointed in seeing the kind of rhetoric she was promoting online, but I told her part of my ideology as an Israeli is to have productive dialogue in which one side is not constantly dehumanized.”
“But the shift in demeanor was evident, and the lack of willingness to engage even more so. I approached the interaction with openness to a genuine, respectful conversation. That openness was not reciprocated. And that, perhaps, is the more telling point: how often this disconnect appears, and how normalized it has become.”
Shiraz told the New York Post:
“She sat right next to me. What are the odds?” Shiraz explained that Duwaji’s “tone changed” once she knew she was sitting next to one of Israel’s strongest advocates, and she “couldn’t allow herself to engage with me.”
“I had told her I’m Miss Israel, and then she didn’t want to engage with me anymore. Shocker! She was polite but clearly changed her tone.”
Shiraz recorded a selfie video featuring Duwaji, who started with a smile but then squirmed as if trying to hide.
“As soon as I did, she said, ‘Sorry,’ and asked if it was a video and said she didn’t want to anymore.”
This was the perfect opportunity to confront Duwaji, and Miss Israel was not about to miss her chance to tell the racist bigot what she thought of her social media rants.
“I told her what I think about the stuff she has said online, and that I believe that it’s important to engage in dialogue in which you don’t dehumanize the other side. And she politely brushed me off and then refused to engage anymore.”
While Duwaji had no trouble advocating for Hamas online, it was a different story in person.
“She has publicly addressed comments she made that were sympathetic to October 7 and dehumanizing of Israelis, yet she couldn’t allow herself to engage with me.”
New York has a huge problem, and this confrontation encapsulates it perfectly. Mamdani and his other half are pure hypocrites. Racist bigots who hate Israel and Western Culture and only live for the advancement of radical Islamic practices disguised as being progressive.
Duwaji couldn’t even have a civil conversation in a coffee shop.
Good Luck, New York; you got your wish.
