The reigning Miss Israel said she randomly bumped into New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife in a Brooklyn cafe over the weekend — and that the first lady “brushed me off’’ when she learned she was Israeli.
Melanie Shiraz, 27, told The California Post she was in town for an event at the Israeli Consulate and ran into Rama Duwaji, 28, sitting at a coffee shop in Williamsburg on Sunday.
“She sat right next to me. What are the odds?” said Shiraz, who studied at UC Berkeley and worked in Silicon Valley’s tech industry before returning to Tel Aviv.
Shiraz said the pair’s brief encounter started off warm, with her starting to take a selfie video with Duwaji.
The three-second clip Shiraz shared with The Post, which did not have sound, begins by showing her face before panning to Duwaji.
The mayor’s controversial wife — who has taken heat for reportedly once liking posts celebrating the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist massacre in Israel — smiles into the camera, then quickly appears to try to get out of the frame as she says something to Shiraz.
It’s not clear whether Shiraz said something to her off-camera to have her react that way, nor what the pageant winner then said to her, as the camera shows.
But Shiraz said that as soon as she unveiled who she was, Duwaji’s “tone changed” 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,’’ Shiraz said.
“She was polite but clearly changed her tone.
“Right before I took that [footage], I asked her if we could take a photo and introduced myself. As soon as I did, she said, ‘Sorry’ and asked if it was a video and said she didn’t want to anymore,’’ Shiraz said.
“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.”
Shiraz said she could not understand why Duwaji would address her past comments critical of Israel publicly but would not talk to her 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,’’ the pageant strutter said.
Duwaji did not respond to a California Post request for comment. Mamdani’s office declined to comment.
Duwaji was forced into a humiliating apology last month after a flurry of her past inflammatory social media posts came to light, including one that said Tel Aviv “shouldn’t exist in the first place.”
She also posted a photo of Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled to her Tumblr account in 2017 with a subtitle: “If it does good for my cause, I’ll be happy to accept death.”
The city’s first lady, addressing the controversy of her reported liking of the Oct. 7 post, apologized last month, saying she has “read and seen a lot of what others have had to say in response, and I understand the hurt I caused, and am truly sorry.”
For her part, Shiraz is ardently pro-Israel and tours the US speaking to college students and others about her nation after garnering a huge following for winning Miss Israel.
At a Stanford event in California last month, she tussled with “hateful” agitators when a protester snagged one of her signs. The police got involved, though it is still unclear if any charges will be filed.
Stanford said it was “committed to ensuring that it is a space where all individuals can safely and openly express their views.”
Mamdani has said his wife is a “private person who has held no formal position on my campaign or in my City Hall.”
She became the youngest first lady of New York City when her husband was inaugurated earlier this year.
