Zohran Mamdani took over as mayor of New York City and spent his first weeks in office proving every warning about him right.
This September, he plans to stand at Ground Zero for the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
Then he did something so offensive that the families of September 11 victims say he has no right to stand there.
Zohran Mamdani Named an al-Qaeda Defense Lawyer as New York City Chief Counsel
Zohran Mamdani – the first socialist Democrat ever elected mayor of New York City – got straight to work.
Before he addressed police contracts or garbage collection, he stripped the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism from city policy.
Asked to condemn the rallying cry "globalize the intifada" – a slogan that calls for the global spread of violence against Jews – Mamdani offered only that he would "discourage" its use.
He posted on social media calling Benjamin Netanyahu a "war criminal."
His pick for the city's chief legal counsel was Ramzi Kassem.
Kassem had previously represented Ahmed al-Darbi – an al-Qaeda operative convicted in a plot to bomb an oil tanker.
The top attorney for the city that lost nearly 3,000 people on September 11 spent his career defending al-Qaeda.
During his campaign, Mamdani showed up at Brooklyn's At-Taqwa mosque to campaign alongside Imam Siraj Wahhaj – a man federal prosecutors named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing who later vouched in court for the "Blind Sheikh," the mastermind convicted of plotting terror attacks against the United States.
Mamdani endorsed state Senate candidate Aber Kawas, who called the September 11 attacks something "a couple of people did" in the context of "U.S. capitalism, racism, white supremacy, and Islamophobia."
Another Mamdani-backed candidate, Darializa Avila Chevalier, boasted about wiping her dirty hands on the American flag.
Mamdani also took to social media to defend Anwar al-Awlaki, blaming America for radicalizing the al-Qaeda cleric whose preaching helped inspire the 9/11 hijackers.
His father, Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani, penned essays after 9/11 arguing that suicide bombings were a normal expression of modern political violence – not something to be "stigmatized as a mark of barbarism," in his own words.
Zohran Mamdani has previously said his father's views shaped his own.
9/11 Families and Patricia Heaton Demand Mamdani Be Banned From the 25th Anniversary Ceremony
Giovanni Galante launched his petition in early July, demanding organizers bar Mamdani from the September 11 anniversary commemoration at Ground Zero.
He described the potential attendance as an unwelcome guest intruding on a deeply personal day of mourning.
"This anniversary is one of remembrance grounded in shared American values," the petition states.
Within weeks, more than 50,000 people had signed – including over 300 verified family members of 9/11 victims.
Patricia Heaton, star of Everybody Loves Raymond and founder of the October 7 Coalition, threw her name behind the campaign on social media.
"Keep it going New Yorkers," Heaton wrote while sharing the petition link.
Heaton founded her nonprofit to mobilize Christians in vocal support of the Jewish people and against antisemitism – backing Galante's campaign was exactly the kind of fight she built it for.
The Left attacked her immediately.
One commenter told the 68-year-old actress to stay out of politics.
Others called the petition Islamophobic – the standard deflection when the specific accusations are too damaging to actually answer.
When Mamdani was confronted by reporters about the petition, he did not respond to a single grievance the families raised.
He announced he would "proudly honor" the victims by showing up anyway.
What New York Just Did to Itself
New York City voters knew exactly who Zohran Mamdani was before they elected him.
His radical ties, his refusal to condemn calls for anti-Jewish violence, and his endorsements of candidates who dismissed 9/11 as a footnote were all public record.
They elected him anyway.
Now 9/11 families are fighting to keep their own mayor away from the most sacred piece of ground in America.
Every mayor since 2001 – Republican and Democrat alike – attended the Ground Zero ceremony by standing quietly to bear witness without speaking.
The 9/11 Memorial and Museum kept the ceremony free of politics because it assumed every sitting mayor shared a basic respect for what happened at that site.
Zohran Mamdani ended that assumption the moment he hired an al-Qaeda defender as the city's top attorney and offered only to "discourage" a slogan calling for violence against Jews.
September 11, 2026 will mark 25 years since nearly 3,000 Americans were murdered on that ground.
The families of those Americans shouldn't have to explain to anyone why that matters.
Sources:
- Staff, "Family Members Of 9/11 Victims Want Mamdani Barred From 25th Anniversary Ceremonies," Daily Wire, July 2026.
- Staff, "9/11 families petition to bar Mayor Mamdani from anniversary ceremony," Fox News, July 2026.
- Cassandra MacDonald, "Mamdani Confronted About 9/11 Families Demanding He Be Banned from Sacred 25th Anniversary Ceremony," Gateway Pundit, July 2026.
- Rusty Weiss, "'Unwelcome Guest': 9/11 Families Demand Muslim Mayor Mamdani Banned From 25th Anniversary," RedState, July 2026.
- Charles Asher Small, "ISGAP report ties Mamdani's politics to Muslim Brotherhood ideology," Fox News, July 2026.