Mamdani Will Attend 9/11 Ceremony Despite Petition
Mamdani Will Attend 9/11 Ceremony Despite Petition
The News
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he will attend Friday's ceremony at ground zero marking the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, rejecting calls from former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Gov. George Pataki and a petition signed by more than 100,000 people urging him to stay away.
Mamdani, the city's first Muslim mayor, was nine years old when the towers fell.
"I'm proud to be the mayor of this city. I love this city. I love this country," he said, adding that he wants the week's focus to be on the families "whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror of September 11th."
Why Critics Object
The petition, started in July by Giovanni Galante, whose wife was killed in the attacks, cites Mamdani's response to the phrase "globalize the intifada," his past comments on U.S. foreign policy, his appointments and endorsements, and writings by his father on political violence.
Critics also point to Mamdani's appointment of Ramzi Kassem as chief counsel to the mayor. Kassem, who worked in the Biden administration, served as legal counsel for Ahmed al-Darbi, who pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a 2002 al-Qaeda tanker bombing plot and is the brother-in-law of one of the hijackers who crashed a plane into the Pentagon.
Timeline
Mamdani allocates $34.2 million of the city's $126 billion fiscal 2027 budget to build a public portal for 9/11-related records.
Galante launches the change.org petition against Mamdani's attendance at the remembrance ceremony.
The FDNY releases a report finding more than 12,000 members have been diagnosed and certified with at least one 9/11-related physical or mental health condition, including cancers.
Mamdani signs executive orders designating Sept. 11 a citywide "Day of Remembrance and Service" and updating emergency preparedness procedures, then hands the ceremonial pen to Kassem — a gesture that drew fresh criticism from conservative commentators.
Pataki tells a local CBS affiliate that Mamdani should first reject streamer Hasan Piker, who said America "deserved" the attacks. Mamdani had already denounced Piker's comment.
Giuliani tells Newsmax that Mamdani should skip the ceremony: "Having lost friends there, and being very close to many of the families, it offends me that he's coming."
Mamdani reaffirms he will attend.
The petition passes 100,000 signatures. The same day, Mamdani is set to announce the release of the first batch of city documents on air quality in Lower Manhattan after the attacks.
The 25th anniversary ceremony at the World Trade Center site.
Reactions
Giuliani, mayor from 1994 to 2001 and the public face of the city's response to the attacks, told Newsmax that Mamdani "doesn't agree that Sept. 11 was an Islamic terrorist attack on the United States of America." He also attacked Mamdani's religion, calling the mayor a "clear supporter" of radical Muslim ideologies and saying of Muslims generally: "They have every desire to take us over."
Pressed by a local CBS reporter on Giuliani's charge that he is hiding a disregard for America, Mamdani said he would be at the memorial Friday "just as I was last year," then declined to engage further: "I don't have much more to add."
Mamdani has denied supporting terrorism or political violence and has repeatedly condemned the Sept. 11 attacks. Speaking to the New York Times last year, he said the attacks made anti-Muslim prejudice "a fact of life" for Muslim Americans.
Conservative outlets have amplified the campaign against his attendance; Raw Story reported that broadcaster Pete Santilli interrupted his live stream of Mamdani's Tuesday City Hall event with a racist on-air rant against the mayor.
What's Next
Mamdani is expected to appear at the ground zero ceremony Friday alongside victims' families, including some who signed the petition against him.
The city's 9/11 document portal is expected to host millions of pages, with records added on a rolling basis, according to a spokesman for the mayor.
More
The documents Mamdani is releasing concern the city's investigation into air quality in Lower Manhattan after the towers fell. The New York Times, which had early access, reported the trove includes air quality reports, contamination records and correspondence among city officials, and is believed to contain the 2001 "Harding memo," which reportedly showed city leaders preparing for potential liability over claims of toxic air.
Records reported by the Times include asbestos readings near the collapsed towers that at times exceeded acceptable limits about a year after the attack, and a November 2001 audit submitted to the EPA showing high concentrations of benzene, a cancer-causing substance, in the air near the site.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001. The CDC has said roughly 400,000 people were exposed to contaminants and other risk factors after the attacks.
Poll
Should Mayor Mamdani attend the 25th anniversary ceremony at ground zero?
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