By MATHILDA HELLER
JULY 26, 2026 15:33
Updated: JULY 26, 2026 16:03
Family members of those murdered on 9/11 have launched a petition calling for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to be excluded from the 25th-year memorial events on account of his association with extremism and refusal to condemn antisemitism.
The petition was launched by Florida relator Giovanni Galante, whose girlfriend was among those killed by al-Qaeda terrorists on 11 September, 2001. It has now gathered over 5,000 signatures.
The petition says that concerns have been raised about Mamdani’s public positions, associations, and responses to rhetoric that many perceive as hostile to shared American values.
These positions include a perceived reluctance to "clearly and unequivocally condemn phrases such as 'globalize the intifada,' which many interpret as endorsing or normalizing violence," the petition reads.
It also cited Mamdani's support for, or associations with, individuals whose public statements or records are viewed by family members as dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies.
The petition notes that Mamdani’s own father 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.” Mamdani has previously said that his father has been influential in shaping his views.
Mamdani has also praised Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who was named as an alleged co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and served as a character witness for the “Blind Sheikh,” who was convicted in 1995 of plotting terror attacks against the United States.
More recently, Mamdani appointed Ramzi Kassem, who previously represented Ahmed al-Darbi (convicted in an al-Qaeda tanker bombing plot), as New York City’s chief counsel.
The NYC mayor also endorsed candidates such as Aber Kawas, who described 9/11 as an attack “a couple of people did in the context of US 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.
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-903691