Petition to ban Mamdani from attending 9/11 memorial in NYC tops 55,000 signatures

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

A groundswell of opposition is forming in New York City as tens of thousands of people in the region are saying they want Mayor Zohran Mamdani to skip the 9/11 ceremony that will mark 25 years since the horrific terrorist attack. 

As of Thursday, more than 55,000 have signed the petition that was started by Giovanni Galante, whose wife, Grace Catherine Galante, was killed in the 9/11 attack. His petition is seeking to convince the controversial mayor to avoid attending this year's ceremony in lower Manhattan, which will mark 25 years since Islamic terrorists crashed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center Twin Towers and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 Americans. 

Galante's petition lists numerous reasons he and others think Mamdani should choose not to attend the event, among them:

• Mr. Mamdani’s own father, whom he has acknowledged as having shaped his views, penned a book shortly after 9/11 in which he argued that suicide bombers should be “understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism.” He also argued that there was a moral equivalence between the United States and al-Qaeda.

 • "The presence of individuals whose words or associations are perceived as conflicting with the solemn purpose of the event risks detracting from that focus and causing additional pain."

• Mr. Mamdani has praised Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who has been linked to radical Islam, was named as an alleged co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and served as a character witness for the “Blind Sheikh,” who was convicted in 1995 of plotting terror attacks against the United States.

Galante and others have also criticized Mamdani's association with the extremist podcast host Hasan Piker, who recently began displaying the Sept. 12, 2001, front page of The New York Times in the background of his podcast set. The newspaper shows a photo of one of the World Trade towers burning and the other one engulfed in flames seconds after being hit by a hijacked plane. 

Meanwhile, Galante's petition is gaining traction across the river from NYC in New Jersey. Several members of the NJ 9/11 families group have reportedly signed the petition, too, which has been racking up signatures by the day.

Mamdani, however, is adamant that he will. At a press conference this week, he told reporters, “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." Watch the video below for more, including celebs who have voiced opposition to Mamdani attending.