Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who later served as President Trump’s personal lawyer, has publicly attacked Mayor Zohran Mamdani over his plans to attend the 9/11 commemoration at Ground Zero.
Giuliani led New York City through the devastating aftermath of the September 11 attacks, and he has positioned himself as a vocal defender of the event’s solemnity and significance.
“Frankly, whatever he’d like to say, he doesn’t agree that September 11th was an Islamic terrorist attack on the United States of America,” Giuliani said in an interview with Newsmax on Sunday.
“Having lost friends there, and being very close to many of the families, it offends me that he’s coming,” Giuliani added, making clear his objection was deeply personal as well as political.
Giuliani’s criticism extended far beyond Mamdani specifically, encompassing broad and inflammatory claims about Muslims generally, widely condemned as anti-Muslim sentiment rooted in false characterizations.
“They have every desire to take us over. This is not, they want to be just another religion, they want to dominate us,” Giuliani said of Muslims. “Mamdani is a clear supporter of that.”
Giuliani is the most prominent voice among a series of conservatives calling for Mamdani to skip the ceremony, including organizers behind an online petition that has gathered 100,000 signatures.
The petition cites the mayor’s alleged support for individuals viewed as being “dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies,” claims Mamdani has firmly rejected.
Controversy has also centered on Mamdani’s appointment of Ramzi Kassem as the city’s chief legal counsel, given Kassem’s past legal representation of a convicted al Qaeda member with family ties to the September 11 attacks.
Giuliani went further by comparing Mamdani to the September 11 hijackers, who he said harbored hostility toward America and “weren’t hiding it like Mamdani is trying to hide it.”
Mamdani responded to the criticism and the petition back in July, delivering a firm and unambiguous statement about his intentions and his commitment to the city’s remembrance of the attacks.
“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 and, frankly, by all of us who call this country home,” the mayor said.
Mamdani is expected to become the first Muslim mayor to attend New York City’s official 9/11 remembrance ceremony, a milestone given that nearly every mayor before him has participated in the annual event.
