Rama Duwaji, wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, is reportedly co-hosting a sold-out Islamic women's retreat on the French island of Corsica, a luxury gathering whose promotional materials describe the Virgin Mary as "a Palestinian woman giving birth under occupation." The retreat follows Duwaji's attendance at a similar event in Mallorca, Spain, over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, when America marked its 250th birthday without its first lady present.
The back-to-back Mediterranean getaways, organized by a Muslim travel group called The Women Sanctuary, carry price tags starting above $4,000 per attendee. They have drawn sharp criticism from New York City Council members and conservative commentators who say Duwaji's travel schedule, and the retreats' political messaging, reveal an administration more comfortable with anti-Israel activism than American civic life.
Fox News Digital reported that the Corsica retreat, titled "Mary In The Quran," runs through July 14 and is described on the group's website as a spiritual wellness experience rooted in Islamic tradition. The site states that Mary, known as Maryam in the Quran, "is the only woman mentioned by name in the Qur'an, mentioned 34 times, and the only one to have an entire chapter revealed in her name."
That devotional framing, however, sits alongside overtly political language. An attendee account published by Vogue Arabia and cited by the New York Post described the retreat's ethos this way:
"It is not lost on us that Mary, too, was a Palestinian woman giving birth under occupation."
The retreat also includes prayers for "sisters in Palestine," and past iterations have gifted participants keffiyehs linked to organizations accused of ties to Hamas, including the Palestine Red Crescent Society and the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, the Post reported.
The Corsica retreat is not Duwaji's first trip with The Women Sanctuary. Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, as cities across America celebrated the nation's semiquincentennial, Duwaji was spotted at Newark International Airport boarding a flight to Palma, Mallorca. Conservative commentator Arynne Wexler posted photos of the departure on X.
That sold-out Mallorca retreat, called "Plants of the Quran," cost $3,400 to attend. Duwaji served as the group's "artist in residence" and was described as one of the gathering's hosts.
Queens Councilwoman Joann Ariola did not mince words. She told the Post:
"Nothing says 'America 250' quite like skipping the celebration for a Mediterranean vacation, but I am not surprised because she has made her hatred for America very evident."
Staten Island Councilman Frank Morano offered a similar assessment. As Breitbart reported, Morano called it "disappointing that the First Lady chose to be overseas instead of taking part in one of the biggest civic events our city and country will mark this year."
The airfare alone for the Mallorca trip ran at least $900, and the Corsica retreat's price ranges from $3,100 to $5,260 per person, meaning Duwaji's two weeks of Mediterranean spiritual wellness could cost well north of $7,000 before incidentals. That is a striking sum for anyone, but especially notable for the wife of a mayor presiding over a city staring down a $54 billion budget deficit.
Duwaji's retreat attendance did not arrive in a vacuum. It landed atop a growing list of controversies surrounding the Mamdani administration's posture toward Israel, American traditions, and basic fiscal discipline. The mayor himself quietly padded the city schools budget by $680 million after pledging to cut Department of Education spending, the kind of promise-and-reverse that has become a pattern at City Hall.
Duwaji, 29, is a Syrian American artist who has faced scrutiny over her social media history before. The Washington Free Beacon previously reported that she shared anti-Israel posts on Tumblr, including a September 2017 post featuring a photo of Palestinian militant Leila Khaled. Other deleted posts reportedly included a 2015 repost calling American soldiers people "mercilessly slaughtering 3rd world civilians."
In April, Duwaji publicly said she was "truly sorry" for the hurt caused by her past posts, though she did not specify which posts she was addressing. The apology came months after her husband took office in January 2026 as the first Muslim mayor of New York City, sworn in on a Quran by Sen. Bernie Sanders at a City Hall ceremony.
The vague nature of that apology left open the question of whether Duwaji was distancing herself from the sentiments or merely from the political inconvenience. Her subsequent decision to spend two consecutive weeks at retreats steeped in pro-Palestinian political messaging suggests the latter.
The Women Sanctuary markets itself as an organization rooted in Islamic spiritual renewal. Its Corsica retreat promises daily organic meals made with locally sourced ingredients, communal prayers, devotional practices, lectures, and workshops. Participants receive free time to pray, meditate, journal, relax by the pool, or explore the island, blending "guided learning" with "personal reflection."
On its face, a faith-based women's retreat is unremarkable. But the framing of the Virgin Mary as a Palestinian under occupation is not a theological observation. It is a political claim, one that retrojects a modern nationalist identity onto a first-century Jewish woman born in Roman-occupied Judea. Rachel Fulton Brown, a history professor at the University of Chicago, told the Post that "trying to pretend that now is 2,000 years ago is not helpful to anyone. It's not going to help us deal with the situation in Gaza."
The retreat's website does not explicitly list Duwaji as a co-host of the Corsica event. The Post, however, reported her participation, and her documented role in the Mallorca retreat, along with the back-to-back scheduling, makes the connection difficult to dismiss. Fox News Digital reached out to both the mayor's office and The Women Sanctuary for comment but received no response.
That silence is itself telling. The Mamdani administration has repeatedly declined to engage when questions arise about the mayor's or his wife's ties to the friction between City Hall and New York's Jewish community. Jewish leaders have already refused to attend events at Gracie Mansion, a remarkable break in a city where interfaith civic life has long been a governing baseline.
New York City's first lady is not an elected official. She holds no formal power and is not bound by the same accountability standards as the mayor. But the role carries symbolic weight, particularly in a city of eight million people that includes the largest Jewish population outside Israel.
When the wife of the mayor spends America's 250th birthday at a Mediterranean Islamic retreat, then immediately decamps to a second luxury gathering whose materials cast the Virgin Mary as a Palestinian resistance figure, the symbolism is not subtle. It tells New Yorkers, Jewish New Yorkers especially, where the administration's sympathies lie.
The price tag only sharpens the contrast. Mayor Mamdani ran as a democratic socialist, a champion of the working class. His administration has clashed with bodega owners over a government grocery plan and issued contradictory guidance telling New Yorkers to cap their air conditioning at 78 degrees while urging seniors to stay cool. Meanwhile, the first lady attends retreats that start at $4,000 a head on the swank French island of Corsica.
The gap between the populist branding and the Mediterranean reality is wide enough to sail a yacht through.
Duwaji's April apology was supposed to close the chapter on her social media history. Instead, her summer schedule has reopened it. An apology means something only if conduct changes. Attending back-to-back retreats organized by a group that frames ancient Jewish and Christian figures as Palestinian resistance symbols, gifts attendees keffiyehs tied to organizations accused of Hamas connections, and leads prayers for "sisters in Palestine" is not a change of conduct. It is a continuation under a more polished brand.
Mayor Mamdani's office has said nothing. The Women Sanctuary has said nothing. And Duwaji herself has offered nothing beyond the generic April statement that she was "truly sorry", a phrase that grows thinner with each new headline.
New Yorkers deserve a City Hall that at least pretends to represent all eight million of them. What they have instead is an administration whose first lady spends the nation's birthday abroad and whose idea of spiritual renewal involves rewriting history to serve a political cause, all for the low, low price of $5,260 a seat.
If that is what "truly sorry" looks like, the city should brace for what comes next.
