Miss Israel says 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.
Tel Aviv beauty queen Melanie Shiraz, 27, claimed to The California Post she was in town for an event at the Israeli Consulate and ran into Big Apple first lady Rama Duwaji, 28, sitting at a coffee shop in hipster Williamsburg on Sunday.
“She sat right next to me. What are the odds?” Shiraz said.
Shiraz said the pair’s brief encounter started off warm, with her starting to take a selfie video with Duwaji.
The 3-second footage Shiraz shared with The Post did not have sound, but it begins by showing her face, then pans 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.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
