9/11 Families Petition to Keep Mayor Mamdani Away From Ground Zero Ceremony — He Says He's Going Anyway
A petition signed by tens of thousands, including relatives of Sept. 11 victims, calls New York's first Muslim mayor an 'unwelcome guest' at Friday's 25th-anniversary memorial. Other victims' families call the effort Islamophobic.
A petition demanding New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stay away from Friday's 25th-anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero has swelled past 98,000 signatures, reopening a bitter argument over who belongs at the country's most solemn day of mourning.
The campaign was started by Giovanni Galante, whose wife, Grace Catherine Galante, was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It brands Mamdani — the city's first Muslim mayor — an "unwelcome guest," pointing to his past public statements and political associations as reasons he should not stand alongside grieving families at the memorial.
According to reporting from the Washington Times, roughly 300 relatives of victims are among the signers, though the petition's ranks have swelled well beyond the family members who launched it as it circulated online through the week.
"I will proudly honor the families"
Mamdani has made clear he isn't backing down. Responding directly to the campaign, the mayor said he intends to attend the ceremony and "proudly honor the families" by standing with them at Ground Zero, according to coverage from the Jerusalem Post.
"AN UNWELCOME GUEST" — HOW THE PETITION DESCRIBES NYC'S FIRST MUSLIM MAYOR
The dispute has split the very community it claims to speak for. A number of 9/11 families and advocacy groups have publicly rejected the petition as Islamophobic, arguing that singling out a democratically elected mayor over his faith and past political rhetoric has no place in a ceremony meant to unite the city in grief. Organizers counter that their objection is to specific comments and associations they say Mamdani has not sufficiently disavowed, not to his religion.
The fight has also fed a resurfacing of old social media posts attributed to Mamdani from years before he entered elected office, which Fox News reported have added fuel to the backlash in the days leading up to the anniversary.
City Hall has not signaled any change of plans. Friday's ceremony, marking 25 years since the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, is expected to include the traditional reading of victims' names and a moment of silence timed to when the first plane struck the North Tower — with appearances from multiple current and former elected officials, now including, organizers' objections notwithstanding, the sitting mayor of New York City.