Full Breakdown
Petition to Bar Mayor Zohran Mamdani from 9/11 25th-Anniversary Ceremonies
7/26/2026, 8:02:03 PM
Petition to Exclude the Mayor
Family members of victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks have launched a petition demanding that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani be excluded from the city’s 25th-year remembrance events. The petition, initiated by Florida relator Giovanni Galante—whose girlfriend died in the attacks—has gathered over 5,000 signatures. It argues that Mamdani’s public positions and associations are perceived as hostile to the solemn purpose of the ceremony and risk causing additional pain to families.
Controversial Past and Affiliations
Critics cite several of Mamdani’s past actions: his father’s post-9/11 book framed suicide bombers as a “feature of modern political violence,” a view Mamdani has said shaped his own outlook. He has praised Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, identified as an alleged co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a character witness for the “Blind Sheikh.” In 2022 Mamdani appointed Ramzi Kassem—who defended Ahmed al-Darbi, convicted in an al-Qaeda tanker-bombing plot—as the city’s chief counsel.
Petition’s Demands and Families’ Concerns
It stresses that the 25th anniversary should remain centered on remembrance, unity, and an unambiguous rejection of the violence and extremism that defined that day.
Verbatim Quotes
- “For 9/11 families, this is not simply a public ceremony, it is a deeply personal day of mourning,” — Giovanni Galante
- “As a survivor of the WTC attack on 9/11 I believe that based on Mayor Mamdani's past performance in regard to Israel and radical Islamic terrorism that he should be barred from all WTC memorial ceremonies,” — Craig. Silverio
- “Seeing 9/11 Live on the news while at my first Active Duty Duty Station, and subsequently deploying ISO OER in Afghanistan during rotation one, it is an affront to the memory of all who perished that day and in the following days while hunting the vile Islamic perpetrators that anyone who has voiced support for those despicable death cultists would be given a voice of any kind at that event,” — Justin
- “Shame on all who would put the relatives of those fallen in a position wherein they have to tell anyone they do not want these individuals at that ceremony.” — Brian
