60,000 Sign Petition Against Mamdani Attending 9/11 Memorial: "He Should Stay Home"
A massive controversy has erupted in New York over demands to bar Mayor Zohran Mamdani from 9/11 memorial ceremonies. A petition calling for his absence has garnered over 60,000 signatures.
The massive storm in New York surrounding the request to prevent New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani from attending the 9/11 memorial ceremonies refuses to subside. After the petition garnered over 60,000 signatures, the New York Post reported that a left-wing organization is seeking to block the families' request, citing "Islamophobia."
The organization, which calls itself "September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows," published a sharp statement against the position of thousands of family members and relatives of the victims of the largest terrorist attack in the modern era. In the statement, the organization accused the drafters of the petition, who are seeking to distance Mamdani — the first Muslim mayor of New York — of being motivated by racist considerations.
"We strongly condemn the anti-American accusations and the Islamophobic sentiment that underlie the effort to prevent him from being at Ground Zero," the organization's statement read. The organization, affiliated with the radical pressure group Tides Center, was founded in 2002 and currently has about 250 members worldwide. Its agenda includes, among other things, sharp condemnations of US and Israeli military actions.
In response to the attack, Giovanni Galante, whose 29-year-old wife Grace was murdered in the Twin Towers by Al-Qaeda terrorists and who is one of the leaders of the petition, strongly rejected the organization's claims. Galante clarified that the demand to distance Mamdani does not stem from his religious identity, but from his conduct and the close ties he maintains with elements that express support for terrorism.
"This has nothing to do with Islam or the fact that Mamdani is a Muslim," Galante told the Post. "It has everything to do with the people he associates with and what he represents. We are not against Muslims, we are not against Jews, we are not against anyone. We are against people who act against America — people who want us to be harmed or killed."
