Mamdani’s words, actions roil Americans ahead of 25th anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks

Zohran Mamdani was just nine years old when Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes and plowed them into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in one of America’s darkest days in history.

But the man who is now New York City’s first Muslim and socialist mayor will be front and center for the solemn 25th anniversary commemoration of the deadliest terrorist attacks on US soil.

And his words and actions leading up to Friday’s events are already stirring controversy and distrust.

On Friday, he signed an executive order designating September 11 as a day of commemoration and service, but then subtly gave the pen used to sign the order to the NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch to hand to a lawyer who represented an Al-Qaeda operative and relative of one of the hijackers.

Mamdani wanted the ceremonial pen to go to his chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, who as a private lawyer represented Ahmed al-Darbi, a terrorist convicted of charges tied to Al-Qaeda terror plots against commercial ships who also is the brother-in-law of Khalid al-Midjar, a hijacker aboard American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon.

Mamdani also told The New York Times in a year-old interview that resurfaced last week that the Sept. 11 attacks were an ignition point for Islamaphobia.

“It was this horrific day that was also for many New Yorkers the moment at which they were marked an ‘other,’” he was quoted by the Times as saying.

Mamdani’s predecessor as mayor, Rudy Giuliani, who won acclaim for his stoic, steady response on Sept. 11, 2001 and its aftermath, has suggested the current mayor should step aside from the current commemorations.

"If he had a little bit of a heart, even with his views, he wouldn't go because he would know he's disturbing the people who are the most important people at that celebration," said Giuliani, a Republican.

Giuliani told Newsmax that he believes Mamdani harbors a dislike of America. The hijackers “weren’t hiding it like Mamdani is trying to hide it,” he said.

“It offends me,” he said.

Others such as conservative podcaster Benny Johnson blasted Mamdani for his decision for gifting the pen to an Al-Qeada defense lawyer.

"This is a slap in the face to victims ahead of the 25th anniversary of 9/11," he wrote on X.

Businessman and philanthropist Adam Milstein also laced into the mayor.

“Zohran Mamdani handed the ceremonial pen used to sign a 9/11 remembrance order to his chief counsel, who previously represented an al-Qaeda operative,” Milstein wrote in X. “Of all the people in City Hall he could have honored, Mamdani chose him.

“Absolutely grotesque,” he wrote.

City Council Member Joann Ariola, a Queens Republican, told The New York Post the mayor’s action was “breathtakingly tone-deaf and disrespectful.”

“The families who lost loved ones on 9/11 have every right to be outraged. On the 25th anniversary, City Hall should be honoring their sacrifice with dignity, not forcing those families to endure yet another insult,” she also said.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed on 9/11.

For his part, Mamdani has mostly dismissed the criticism, and plans to attend a dozen different September 11 commemoration events this week. He insists he recognizes Sept. 11 as a dark day for the city and respects those who lost their lives that day.

“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,” he said back in July.