Today, Sept. 11, 2026, marked the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani attended the official ceremony at Ground Zero. A petition organized by 9/11 widower Giovanni Galante had asked him to stay away, and by Friday it had drawn more than 110,000 signatures. Critics pointed to one specific hire: Mamdani's appointment of Ramzi Kassem as the city's chief legal counsel. Kassem was the military-commission defense attorney for Ahmed al-Darbi, a Guantanamo detainee and the brother-in-law of one of the 9/11 hijackers. Al-Darbi pleaded guilty to a separate 2002 al-Qaeda tanker bombing and later cooperated with U.S. prosecutors. City Council Members Joann Ariola and Vickie Paladino, both Republicans, delivered the petition to City Hall. Mamdani confirmed days earlier that he'd attend. At the ceremony, he shook hands with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who had said his presence "offends" him.

1. He Shouldn't Have Been There (Giovanni Galante, Rudy Giuliani, George Pataki, Bruce Blakeman)

Family members and Republican officials say the appointment made Mamdani the wrong person to stand with them today.

Giuliani says it's simple: Mamdani offended him by showing up. The former mayor called for the city to disinvite Mamdani and, on Newsmax, said of Muslims broadly: "They have every desire to take us over... they want to dominate us."

Pataki says his objection is to Kassem's client, not Mamdani's religion. The former governor said Muslims "have always been included" in the ceremony. But he said it's different when a top city official has represented someone tied to political violence: Mamdani, he said, "don't belong there. This is about the families."

Blakeman says the day is too solemn for a photo op. The Nassau County executive, who was a Port Authority commissioner in 2001, likened the ceremony to "a wake" and said Mamdani shouldn't attend.

Galante says he built the petition around one specific complaint. The 9/11 widower who organized it said having Mamdani there "would show a disrespect to our family members because of the people he supports," and cited Mamdani's "radical views."

2. The Office Deserves the Seat, Whoever Holds It (Zohran Mamdani, Julie Menin, Kathy Hochul, Chuck Schumer)

Mamdani and his defenders say organizers built the ceremony to stay out of fights like this one. And 74% of New Yorkers agree he belongs there.

Mamdani says the day should be about the families. He said the focus should be "on the New Yorkers who were killed that day, their families, the survivors, the first responders."

Menin says the design keeps politicians out. The City Council Speaker told WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show she disagreed "at all" with calls for Mamdani to skip it. Officials have followed a no-speeches policy since 2012, attending only to bear witness.

Hochul says this moment tests whether hatred or unity wins out. The governor said: "This is a time when the voices of hatred should not prevail over the voices of those who say, 'Let us come together.'"

Schumer just calls it Mamdani's job. The senator called Giuliani's comments "divisive" and said flatly: "Mamdani is the mayor of New York City and of course he should be at 9/11."

Most New Yorkers back him on this specifically. A Suffolk University poll found 74% of city voters said Mamdani should attend as the city's official representative.

3. Name What's Actually Happening (Basil Smikle, Mehdi Hasan, Jonathan Shainin, Jerry Nadler)

This camp agrees Mamdani should attend. They argue the real story is bigotry disguised as a legal objection, and Democratic leaders who won't say so.

Smikle says this is racism that never went away. The Columbia University professor and political consultant said: "It's not just Islamophobia. It's racism. It didn't go away. It just went dormant for a while and reared its head again."

Hasan is calling out his own party's leaders by name. The Zeteo editor-in-chief criticized the "deafening silence" from Democratic leadership on the attacks on Mamdani, arguing Muslim Americans notice exactly which Democrats stay quiet.

Shainin says few episodes compare to how bad this is. The Equator magazine editor wrote on X: "Competition is obviously fierce but this feels like the most brazenly racist episode in recent American history."

Nadler is criticizing Blakeman himself, not just what he said. The congressman attacked Blakeman specifically for campaigning alongside conspiracy theorists, calling it "downright appalling."

This camp is tracking who spoke up and who didn't. Sen. Chuck Schumer, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Rep. Pat Ryan and Rep. Gregory Meeks all defended Mamdani publicly. This camp credited Van Hollen specifically for condemning "blatant anti-Muslim rhetoric." They named House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand as leaders who hadn't spoken up.

Where This Lands

Galante's camp says the objection was about one specific hire, not about Mamdani's faith. Menin's camp says the no-speeches policy has kept elected officials out of the program since 2012, precisely to avoid fights like this one. And most New Yorkers agree Mamdani belongs there regardless. Smikle's camp says the first argument, about the hire, is really just cover for the second, about bigotry. Mamdani and Giuliani shook hands anyway, cameras rolling. Neither side has backed down over Kassem's appointment.

Sources