Relatives of victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks don't want Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D-New York City) to attend the 25th memorial events because they contend he is sympathetic toward radical Islamists and has refused to condemn antisemitism, reports the Washington Times. Therefore, they have launched a petition drive seeking to bar him from Ground Zero.
Giovanni Galente, whose wife worked in the North Tower and was killed during the attack, started the petition, calling Mamdani's presence a “slap in the face” and an insult that a guy who supports these terrorists would attend.
But, despite the petition, Mamdani’s deputy press secretary has indicated the mayor will attend the commemoration.
Robert Knight, a columnist for the Washington Times, says that if he has any decency, then he’ll stay away from the 9/11 memorial.
"Since he backs the very people who did this terrible thing back in 2001 and killed about 3,000 people in New York and Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon,” Knight states. “But I doubt he will because Democrats seem very comfortable with hypocrisy, pretending to share the values of people that they are working to undermine at every level."
National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the sight of the annual commemoration ceremony, is located in New York City where the Twin Towers once stood as part of the World Trade Center complex.
According to Change.org, the petition has 84,826 verified signatures to bar Mamdani’s participation, and it is still growing.
Robert Spencer, the director of Jihad Watch, is very certain that Mamdani will make an appearance.
"He's going to deliver a speech that attempts to deflect the blame away from Muslims and onto the United States itself for colonialism and support of Israel. He should stay away if he had any decency, but he's a Marxist, and he's a Muslim, and they do not believe, either one, that their opponent should be accorded any respect," Spencer says.
SILive reports that not everyone, including relatives of victims, agree with excluding Mamdani from the memorial. They stand by that previous mayors have attended regardless of political positions and everyone should mourn and pay their respects.
