Family members of 9/11 victims seek to bar Mamdani from 25th anniversary commemoration

Rescue workers, first responders, survivors and family members of those who perished on 9/11 are among more than 21,000 signatories to a petition calling for New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani to be banned from the 25th anniversary memorial at Ground Zero in Manhattan.

The rapidly growing campaign was launched by Brooklyn-born, Florida estate agent Giovanni Galante, whose 29-year-old wife, Grace Catherine Galante, was among the 2,977 people murdered by al Qaeda terrorists 25 years ago. The petition itself, “honouring the memory of those lost on September 11th with dignity” on social media platform change.org, states that family members of those murdered on 9/11 are writing “to express our concern regarding the potential inclusion of Zohran Mamdani in the 25th-year commemorative events” adding that those concerns include “Mr. Mamdani’s public positions, associations, and responses to rhetoric that many perceive as hostile to these shared values”.

These include: “a perceived reluctance to clearly and unequivocally condemn phrases such as “globalize the intifada,” which many interpret as endorsing or normalizing violence”; “support for, or associations with, individuals whose public statements or records are viewed by concerned family members as dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies”; “Mr. Mamdani’s own father, whom he has acknowledged as having shaped his views, penned a book shortly after 9/11 in which he argued that suicide bombers should be “understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism.” He also argued that there was a moral equivalence between the United States and al-Qaeda.”

Writing on Twitter/X on 26 July before he signed the petition later that day, Judea Pearl, father of 38-year old Daniel Pearl, the Jewish American Wall Street Journal writer kidnapped and beheaded in February 2002 by al-Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan, posted: “My late son, Daniel, is not a direct victim of 9/11, yet he was murdered by Khalid Sheik Mohammad (KSM), the 9/11 architect.” Pearl alleged that Mayor Mamdani’s  “anti-American ideology differs little from that of KSM’s.”

The petition also refers to Mamdani’s praise for Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, “who has been linked to radical Islam, was named as an alleged co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, and served as a character witness for the ‘Blind Sheikh,’ who was convicted in 1995 of plotting terror attacks against the United States” and historic posts by Mamdani blaming the US for radicalizing Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaeda propagandist linked to the 9/11 hijackers.

Signatories also criticise Mamdani’s appointing of Ramzi Kassem, who previously represented Ahmed al-Darbi (convicted in an al-Qaeda tanker bombing plot), as New York City’s chief counsel, and endorsement of candidates such as Aber Kawas, who described 9/11 as an attack “a couple of people did in the context of U.S. capitalism, racism, white supremacy, and Islamophobia” and who also expressed sympathy for Ahmed Ferhani, who pleaded guilty to plotting to blow up a Manhattan synagogue.

Speaking to the Washington Times, Giovanni Galante said: “After 25 years, it’s kind of a slap in the face, that this guy being someone [who] supports terrorists and follows people that think we deserve 9/11 is really an insult. That’s all it comes down to. And as far as speaking with some of the family members, we all feel that after 25 years, we really have to fight something that should be common sense.”

The petition calls on organisers of the memorial to “carefully consider whether Mr. Mamdani’s participation would align with the intention of the ceremony and the expectations of the families most directly affected by the tragedy”.

Speaking to journalists on Monday 27 July, a defiant Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he still plans to attend the 9/11 remembrance ceremony, telling a news conference he “will proudly honour the families, the survivors, the first responders forever impacted by that horrific terror attack by standing alongside them at this year’s 9/11 commemoration.”

“We will never forget the solemn day felt by all of us who call this city home, and frankly by all of us who call this country home.”

Of the 2,977 murdered, 2,606 died at New York City’s World Trade Centre including 343 firefighters, 23 NYPD officers, and 37 Port Authority police; 125 people were killed at the military headquarters of The Pentagon in Virginia and all 246 passengers and crew aboard the four hijacked planes died, including 44 people on Flight 93 in Pennsylvania.