The petition, launched by relatives of the victims of the attacks, called out Zohran Mamdani over his controversial views and connections
A petition urging New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to stay away from the commemoration of the 9/11 attacks has gained traction online, attracting more than 70,000 backers.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the attack, which resulted in nearly 3,000 fatalities and the destruction of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. The annual commemoration is customarily held at the monument built on the spot where the towers used to stand. It is frequented by senior local and federal officials.
The upcoming anniversary sparked controversy well before the event, with a group of relatives of the victims launching a petition against Mamdani’s participation. According to the petitioners, the motion has nothing to do with the mayor’s religion, but with his controversial views and perceived connections to radicals.
The petition, which was launched last month, reached 50,000 verified signatures earlier this week and over 70,000 as of Sunday. It calls out the Muslim mayor over what it described as “public positions, associations, and responses to rhetoric that many perceive as hostile to these shared values.”
Among other things, it listed the mayor’s connections to radical Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj and the appointment of Ramzi Kassem, who previously represented a terrorist convicted in an al-Qaeda tanker bombing plot. The petition also called out his father, Mahmood Mamdani, over his 2004 book Good Muslim, Bad Muslim, in which the political scientist argued the 9/11 attack should be “understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism.” The mayor had previously noted that his father had largely shaped his own views, the petition pointed out.
Earlier this week, Mamdani brushed off the motion, describing it as an attempt by some people to keep him away from the commemoration and signaling his intention to attend. “I will proudly honor the families, the survivors, the first responders forever impacted by that horrific terror attack by standing alongside them at this year’s 9/11 commemoration reaffirming that we will never forget the solemn day felt by all of us who call this city home,” he stated.
A smaller activist group of the victim’s relatives, the September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, stood by the mayor, condemning the petitioners over the alleged “anti-American accusations and Islamophobic sentiment.” The dissenting group, believed to have just over 250 active members, has been bankrolled by the Soros Foundation, receiving more than $500,000 in grants from it over the past decade.
The controversy comes as the feud between the NYC mayor and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reignited this week after Mamdani said the latter could be arrested on war-crimes charges should he visit the city. Netanyahu claimed the mayor sided with Iran and accused him and other critics of Israel of “moral cynicism” and “absurdity.”
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