A resurfaced Instagram message from October 2023 has highlighted how the “genocide” blood libel against the Jewish state has spread online in the days after Hamas’s October 7 massacre in Israel. The message, written by Rama Duwaji, wife of New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, reveals how an aggressive campaign to shape social media narratives against Israe took place as the IDF began operations in Gaza.
According to screenshots shared on X (formerly Twitter), Duwaji privately messaged influencer Gabi Abrão just three weeks after Hamas’s attack, which left 1,200 Israelis dead and over 240 kidnapped, urging Abrão to “talk about Palestine” and “shift your energy to speaking out about genocide!!!”
The message, initially sent in late October 2023, resurfaced online on November 11, 2025, after Abrão posted it publicly, drawing more than 30 million views and sparking a storm of reactions. Supporters hailed Duwaji’s “courage” in speaking out for Gaza, while critics accused her of participating in an orchestrated smear campaign against Israel.
The timing of the message, sent just as the Israel Defense Forces entered Gaza, has confirmed claims that accusations of “genocide” were not spontaneous but rather part of a coordinated activist push. The watchdog group Canary Mission wrote on X:
“If you ever wondered how ‘genocide’ became so ubiquitous immediately after the Hamas massacre of October 7, it’s because of anti-Israel influencers like Zohran Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji. She was encouraging her followers and others to shift their content to focus on the war in Gaza and smear Israel with ‘genocide’ accusations.”
The resurfaced message has reignited scrutiny of the information war surrounding the Gaza conflict, as analysts point to the speed with which pro-Palestinian activists adopted and spread the “genocide” narrative across platforms like Instagram and TikTok — often before major humanitarian reports were published.
Speaking to the New York Magazine, an acquaintance of Mamdani shared that in a conversation with Mamdani following October 7th, Mamdani said that he was concerned the horrors of October 7th would make way for Islamophobia in New York, saying nothing about the death, suffering, and hostages taken from Israel.
