Zohran Mamdani Does the Unthinkable During 9/11 Tribute Ceremony

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani did what many said he shouldn’t do: he showed up.

On Friday morning, the 34-year-old mayor — New York’s first Muslim and first South Asian mayor — attended the 25th-anniversary commemoration of the September 11 attacks at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, standing alongside Vice President JD Vance, all four living former presidents, and Governor Kathy Hochul.

But the moment that truly stunned observers came when Mamdani was seen shaking hands with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani — the man who, days earlier, had publicly questioned Mamdani’s patriotism and said it “offends me that he’s coming”.

The Handshake That Shocked the Room

Giuliani, who was mayor during the 2001 attacks, had been the most vocal figure urging Mamdani to stay away. In a Newsmax interview, Giuliani claimed Mamdani “doesn’t agree that Sept. 11 was an Islamic terrorist attack on the United States of America” — a claim without evidence — and suggested the mayor should be barred from the ceremony.

Yet photographs from the ceremony show the two men shaking hands, a moment that quickly went viral. The gesture appeared to defuse — or at least publicly shelve — the bitter pre-ceremony feud that had dominated headlines for days.

Mamdani refused to engage further when asked about Giuliani’s attacks. “I don’t have much more to add,” he told reporters.

What Mamdani Actually Said

In a video message posted Friday morning, Mamdani delivered a solemn tribute to the victims, speaking of “2,753 parents and children, husbands and wives, friends and colleagues, 2,753 universes gone in an instant”.

“September 11 was a horrific act of terror, a day of immeasurable loss,” he said, calling it “the darkest day in our city’s history”.

He also honored the more than 300 firefighters who died responding to the attacks, noting that they “climbed the stairs of the World Trade Center knowing the danger ahead and never hesitated to put their lives on the line”.

Mamdani described a “sacred obligation” to honor those lost by caring “for one another as they cared for strangers” and building “a city where we run toward one another”.

Why Some Wanted Him Absent

The pushback against Mamdani’s attendance was rooted in his identity and political positions.

An online petition that gathered more than 100,000 signatures — including from some 9/11 family members — urged him to stay away, citing concerns about his “public positions, associations, and responses to rhetoric that many perceive as hostile to these shared values”.

Critics pointed specifically to Mamdani’s appointment of Ramzi Kassem, a lawyer who had previously represented a convicted al-Qaeda member, as the city’s top legal counsel. They also referenced his prior associations with figures like streamer Hasan Piker, who once said America “deserved” the 9/11 attacks — comments Mamdani condemned during a mayoral debate, and which Piker has since disavowed.

Giuliani, in his attacks, went further, making broad anti-Muslim statements: “They have every desire to take us over,” he said of Muslims. “Mamdani is a clear supporter of that”.

The Defense: ‘The Mayor of New York City Will Be There, As He Should Be’

Not everyone wanted Mamdani absent. Governor Kathy Hochul defended his right to attend: “Division should not prevail over the spirit of unity that brought us together after September 11th”.

Even Mamdani’s Republican rival in the 2025 mayoral race, Curtis Sliwa, supported his presence.

City Council member Shahana Hanif, the first Muslim woman elected to the body, told CNN: “What concerns me is that the mayor is being treated differently simply because he is Muslim”.

Mamdani himself framed the decision simply: “I love this city. I love this country,” he told reporters earlier in the week.

A Mayor Who Has Already Made History

Zohran Mamdani’s rise has been nothing short of meteoric. Born in Kampala, Uganda, to Indian-origin parents — his mother is the acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair — he moved to New York at age seven. He was elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020 and stunned the political establishment by defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the 2025 Democratic mayoral primary.

His campaign focused on affordability: rent freezes, free buses, universal childcare, and a $30 minimum wage. He ran as a democratic socialist and a fierce critic of President Donald Trump, whom he addressed directly in his victory speech: “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up”.

He has also been an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza and a supporter of the BDS movement.

The Broader Fight Over 9/11’s Legacy

The controversy over Mamdani’s attendance exposed a deeper truth about post-9/11 America: 25 years later, anti-Muslim sentiment remains deeply embedded in the country’s political discourse.

A Pew Research Center survey released this spring found that more than 4 in 10 American adults believe Muslims are not as patriotic as other Americans, and a similar share say Muslims have a negative impact on the country. Among Republican voters, 76% believe Islam encourages violence — compared to 29% of Democrats.

Reports of anti-Muslim discrimination reached a record high in 2025, with more than 8,600 complaints filed.

Yet Muslim political participation is also at an all-time high. More than 250 Muslim officials now serve at all levels of government, with Mamdani as the most prominent.

‘That Is How We Remember’

After the ceremony, Mamdani released a statement on social media honoring the nearly 3,000 lives lost:

“Today, New York remembers. We will Never Forget”.

He also announced the release of thousands of documents showing that city officials had misled the public about the toxicity of the air in Lower Manhattan in the weeks after the attacks — records that implicated the Giuliani administration among others.

“It would be one thing if government had stood alongside survivors and provided them with everything they needed at every step of the way,” Mamdani said. That, he added, “could not be further” from what occurred.

For a mayor who was told he didn’t belong at the memorial, Mamdani’s message was clear: remembrance isn’t about exclusion. It’s about running toward one another — even when the other person has spent the week attacking you.