Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani encouraged Mayor Zohran Mamdani to consider skipping the upcoming ceremony on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the city.
In an interview with Newsmax’s “Bianca Across America,” Giuliani said, “I think Mayor Mamdani has to take into consideration that the most important thing here, to me at least in terms of the human part of it, are the feelings of these people that went through an indescribable experience.”
“It could easily be decided that he, as a gracious act, decides, ‘I wasn’t really involved in this,'” Giuliani explained. “He may say, ‘They misunderstand what I say.’ I don’t think they do, but I’m sure he says that. ‘But out of deference to their feelings, I’m not going to make that day more difficult for them.'”
“There is no point in evoking hurt on them,” he said. “This day is not about [him]. This is about these people who went through an indescribable loss.”
The former mayor’s comments come as families of 9/11 victims have launched a petition that demands Mamdani be banned from participating in anniversary events for the terror attacks.
The petition goes on to list concerns regarding Mamdani, including his support for or association with those who have made comments dismissive of American institutions, and links to those holding a radical Islamic ideology. Mamdani has also “endorsed candidates such as Aber Kawas, who described 9/11 as an attack ‘a couple of people did in the context of U.S. 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.”
Mamdani has said that he will attend the anniversary event. He stated, “I will proudly honor the families, the survivors, the first responders forever impacted by that horrific terror attack by standing alongside them.”
