As America remembers 25 years since the September 11th terror attacks, there’s an effort to keep New York City’s first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, away from Friday’s ceremony at Ground Zero.
Their petition has approximately 109,000 signatures. It asks organizers to not include Mamdani and questions the mayor’s respect for the victims due to his reluctance to condemn phrases such as “globalize the intifada,” adding that he’s “insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies.”
Tuesday at New York City Hall, relatives of 9/11 victims held pictures of family members lost at the World Trade Center that day. They said the mayor is not welcome Friday at the Ground Zero ceremony honoring their loved ones.
“My message to Mayor Mamdani is, dude, we don’t want you to come,” said Jeanette Pucci-Pick, who lost her father on 9/11.
Critics point to last week’s 9/11 ceremony when Mamdani handed a symbolic pen to city attorney Ramzi Kassem, who previously represented a convicted Al-Qaeda member whose brother-in-law was a 9/11 hijacker.
***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you receive the latest news from a Christian perspective.***
“We are asking respectfully that he not show up even though there will be other politicians there,” said Charles Wolf, whose wife died on 9/11.
At another Manhattan event Tuesday, victims’ families and others gathered for the Unite Against Terror rally organized by the End Jew Hatred movement.
“I came here to support the movement against Mamdani going to the World Trade Center,” said one participant. “He’s not welcome there.”
Rudy Giuliani, New York City’s mayor on 9/11, told Newsmax on Sunday he agrees with the effort.
“Having lost friends there and being close to many of the families, it offends me that he’s coming,” he said.
Despite the controversy, Mamdani vowed to attend.
“I’m proud to be the mayor of this city. I love this city. I love this country,” he said. “And what I want this week to be a focus on is on the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror of September 11th, and a focus also on the first responders who gave everything they could to this city and to the people who came together to try and help their fellow New Yorkers.”
Friday’s Ground Zero ceremony will also be attended by all four former living presidents, Biden, Obama, Bush, and Clinton. The Trump administration will be represented by Vice President JD Vance while the president attends an event at the Pentagon.
