🔥 GIULIANI TAKES DIRECT AIM AT MAMDANI OVER HIS 9/11 CEREMONY APPEARANCE — AND THE “OFFENDS ME” REMARK JUST BLEW THE CLASH WIDE OPEN… |
GIULIANI SAYS MAMDANI'S 9/11 MEMORIAL APPEARANCE 'OFFENDS ME' — BUT FAMILIES ARE DIVIDED OVER WHETHER THE MAYOR SHOULD ATTEND
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the man who led the city through the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, is publicly urging current Mayor Zohran Mamdani to stay away from the 25th-anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero.
Giuliani's words are real. Appearing on Newsmax's Sunday Agenda on September 6, he said that Mamdani's planned attendance personally offended him because of his own losses on 9/11 and his close relationships with victims' families.
"Having lost friends there and being very close to many of the families, it offends me that he's coming," Giuliani said.
But one part of the viral framing needs updating: Mamdani is not merely 'expected' to attend. He has already said publicly that he will attend the September 11 commemoration and 'proudly honor the families, the survivors, the first responders' by standing alongside them.
The deeper controversy is therefore no longer about whether the mayor plans to show up. It is about whether his presence honors the office he now holds or disrespects families who believe his past rhetoric, political associations and views make him an inappropriate participant.
Giuliani's quotation is verified. Mamdani has also explicitly said he will attend. What is not accurate is treating Giuliani's objection as the unanimous view of 9/11 families.
Giuliani Said Mamdani Should Stay Away
On Sunday Agenda, Giuliani was asked whether Mamdani should skip the September 11 ceremony.
His answer was unequivocal.
Giuliani said the commemoration is fundamentally for the families and for the country to remember what happened, and he argued that Mamdani's presence would be painful to people who lost loved ones.
Giuliani's own standing in the argument is unusual. He was mayor when al-Qaeda terrorists attacked New York, and his public leadership in the immediate aftermath became one of the defining episodes of his career.
He also personally knew people who died and has remained closely associated with the city's annual remembrance ceremonies.
That history gives his objection a personal dimension that is different from an ordinary partisan attack.
The Dispute Predates Giuliani's Sunday Remarks
Giuliani did not start the campaign against Mamdani's attendance.
For weeks, a group of 9/11 family members and conservative political figures has urged the mayor to stay away from the 25th-anniversary ceremony.
A petition organized by Giovanni Galante, whose wife Grace was killed in the North Tower, has accumulated tens of thousands of signatures and was approaching 100,000 by the first weekend of September.
Other relatives of victims have told local media they plan to ignore Mamdani or turn away if he appears.
Republican City Councilwoman Joann Ariola and former New York Gov. George Pataki have also supported calls for Mamdani not to attend.
The movement is therefore real and politically significant.
A petition with nearly 100,000 signatures demonstrates substantial opposition. It does not establish that 9/11 families as a whole oppose Mamdani's attendance.
Some 9/11 Families Have Defended Mamdani's Right to Attend
Other relatives of people killed in the attacks have taken the opposite position.
Elizabeth Miller, whose father was killed on 9/11 and who works with September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, has publicly said Mamdani should be allowed to attend.
She has argued that the focus of the anniversary should remain on the people who were killed, the survivors and the lessons of the past quarter-century rather than on excluding an elected mayor.
CBS New York has reported that some family members oppose the effort to keep Mamdani away and view the ceremony as one where New York's mayor should be present.
That split matters because phrases such as 'the 9/11 families don't want him there' flatten a genuinely divided set of views into a single political position.
Mamdani Has Already Confirmed He Plans to Attend
Mamdani addressed the issue directly well before Giuliani's September comments.
Asked in July about survivors and relatives urging him to stay away, he said he would 'proudly honor the families, the survivors, the first responders forever impacted by that horrific terror attack' by standing alongside them at the commemoration.
His office reaffirmed that position when reporters asked about Giuliani's criticism.
That makes the mayor's attendance a stated decision, not speculation based on scheduling or protocol.
As New York City's sitting mayor, Mamdani would also be following a long tradition of mayors and national political leaders attending the annual Ground Zero ceremony.
Mamdani Has Taken Several Official 9/11 Commemorative Actions
The mayor has also taken public actions in the days leading up to the anniversary that complicate claims that he is indifferent to September 11.
On September 2, he participated in an FDNY World Trade Center Memorial Wall plaque dedication ceremony and called participation a 'solemn privilege.'
He described September 11 as the darkest day in the city's history and spoke about the sacrifices of firefighters and families whose lives were permanently changed.
On September 4, Mamdani signed executive orders designating September 11 as a Day of Remembrance and Service and creating new city emergency-preparedness measures.
His administration said the goal was both to honor victims and first responders and to strengthen continuity planning for future crises.
Those actions do not require critics to approve of Mamdani's broader politics. They do show that it would be inaccurate to claim he has refused to commemorate 9/11 or denied the significance of the attacks.
Why Critics Still Say His Presence Is Inappropriate
Critics of Mamdani are not basing their argument solely on the fact that he is Muslim, although anti-Muslim rhetoric has undeniably appeared around the controversy.
The more substantive objections focus on people and movements Mamdani has defended, associated with or declined to denounce, as well as his previous statements about policing, Israel and U.S. foreign policy.
Some 9/11 relatives say those associations make them feel that his presence would politicize a ceremony they regard as belonging to victims and their families.
Others object to his past support for reducing police funding and say that position is incompatible with honoring the hundreds of first responders who died on September 11.
Those are political and moral judgments rather than findings that Mamdani supported the 9/11 attacks.
The Strongest Critique Is Not That Mamdani Supported Al-Qaeda
Some attacks on Mamdani have gone much further, suggesting that he supports the same ideological movement responsible for the September 11 attacks or is part of a broader effort to impose Islamic rule in the United States.
No credible evidence establishes that Mamdani supports al-Qaeda, the 9/11 hijackers or their terrorist goals.
He has publicly described the attacks as horrific and has said the anniversary should honor the people who were killed, first responders, survivors and families.
Giuliani has also made broader claims about an Islamist effort to take over parts of the United States and Europe.
Those claims should not be presented as established facts without specific evidence tying Mamdani to such a project.
Mamdani can be criticized aggressively for his actual policies, statements and associations. It is not defensible to equate his Muslim faith or progressive politics with support for al-Qaeda without evidence.
Giuliani's Personal Authority on 9/11 Is Real
None of those corrections erase why Giuliani's words carry weight with many New Yorkers.
When the Twin Towers were attacked, Giuliani was the sitting mayor and became the public face of a city under extraordinary pressure.
He attended funerals, visited command posts, addressed national and international audiences and became closely identified with New York's response.
Many victims' relatives and first responders still regard his 2001 leadership as central to the city's 9/11 story.
That means his statement that Mamdani's attendance 'offends me' is not simply another partisan quote. It reflects a personal judgment from someone who occupied the mayor's office on the day itself.
But the Mayor's Office Also Carries Institutional Responsibilities
Mamdani's defenders make a different institutional argument.
The mayor of New York represents the city at moments of mourning and civic remembrance regardless of whether every family approves of that mayor's politics.
The September 11 ceremony has historically included elected officials from both parties, former mayors, presidents and governors.
Supporters of Mamdani's attendance say excluding the sitting mayor would turn the anniversary into a political loyalty test and risk making the controversy itself the dominant story.
They also note that allowing Mamdani to stand silently with families does not require those families to endorse him.
The Ceremony Is Not a Campaign Rally
The strongest point shared by people on both sides is that the anniversary should not become a campaign event.
The annual ceremony centers on the reading of victims' names, moments of silence and remembrance of the nearly 3,000 people killed on September 11, 2001.
The 25th anniversary carries additional weight because an entire generation has now grown up with no firsthand memory of the attacks.
Giuliani has emphasized that 'never forget' requires teaching younger Americans the history accurately.
Mamdani has similarly said the anniversary should focus on victims, survivors, first responders and the enduring impact on New York.
The political fight over who should stand at Ground Zero risks overwhelming that shared purpose.
The Petition Is Significant — but Its Meaning Should Not Be Inflated
The petition against Mamdani is one of the clearest signs that the controversy is not manufactured.
Its organizers include people who lost immediate family members on September 11, and their objections deserve to be described in their own terms rather than dismissed as partisan theater.
At the same time, online signature totals do not reveal how many signers are 9/11 relatives, New Yorkers or people with no direct connection to the attacks.
Fact-checking of the petition controversy has specifically warned against describing it as representing every family of every 9/11 victim.
The most accurate wording is that some families — including prominent and outspoken relatives — want Mamdani to stay away, while other families have publicly defended his attendance.
Mamdani's Religion Is Part of the Political Atmosphere Whether Supporters Like It or Not
Mamdani is New York City's first Muslim mayor, making the 25th anniversary an unusually sensitive civic moment.
That fact has led some critics to make the controversy explicitly about Islam, while others insist their objections are about Mamdani's political record and associations rather than his faith.
The distinction should be respected where it is real.
A victim's relative can oppose Mamdani's attendance because of a specific statement or political association without that opposition automatically being anti-Muslim.
Conversely, claims that a Muslim mayor is inherently aligned with the religion claimed by al-Qaeda or is un-American because of his faith are not evidence-based arguments.
Giuliani's Quote Is Strong Enough Without Adding More to It
The original quote itself does not need embellishment.
Giuliani did not merely say he disagreed with Mamdani's decision.
He said the mayor's presence at the 25th-anniversary ceremony personally offends him because of the friends he lost and the families he knows.
That is a powerful criticism from the mayor who led New York on September 11.
A defensible article can preserve that force without claiming every survivor agrees with him or attaching unsupported allegations that Mamdani sympathizes with the terrorists who attacked the city.
What Is Confirmed and What Remains Disputed
Rudy Giuliani said on September 6, 2026 that Zohran Mamdani's planned attendance at the 25th-anniversary 9/11 ceremony 'offends me.'
Giuliani was mayor of New York City during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and says he lost friends that day and remains close to victims' families.
He believes Mamdani should stay away from the Ground Zero ceremony.
Mamdani has explicitly said he will attend and will stand with families, survivors and first responders.
A petition urging him to stay away has attracted nearly 100,000 signatures and includes relatives of people killed on 9/11.
Several family members have publicly said his presence would upset or disrespect them.
Other 9/11 family members have publicly defended Mamdani's inclusion and said the sitting mayor should be allowed to honor the victims.
Mamdani participated in an FDNY World Trade Center memorial event on September 2 and signed executive orders on September 4 designating September 11 a Day of Remembrance and Service and strengthening emergency preparedness.
There is no credible evidence that Mamdani supports al-Qaeda or the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The dispute is therefore best described as a real and emotionally charged division over whether Mamdani's political record and associations make his presence at Ground Zero inappropriate.
The strongest defensible headline is not that '9/11 families reject Mamdani' as a unanimous bloc.
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It is that Giuliani — backed by a substantial group of victims' relatives and critics — says Mamdani should stay away, while the mayor and other 9/11 families insist he has a duty and a right to attend.
On September 11, the most important question should ultimately be whether the ceremony remains focused on the people who were murdered, the first responders who ran toward danger and the families who have carried the loss for 25 years.
