9/11 Families Begged Mamdani to Skip Ground Zero and He Refused

New York City's mayor handed the 9/11 commemorative pen to a lawyer who defended the brother-in-law of the hijacker who flew into the Pentagon.

That happened five days ago – and he's refused every single request to stay home today.

Here's what 109,000 Americans couldn't stop.

The 9/11 Pen Mamdani Handed an Al Qaeda Lawyer

When Zohran Mamdani signed executive orders marking the 25th anniversary of September 11, he did something that turned stomachs across the country.

He handed the ceremonial signing pen to Ramzi Kassem – the chief counsel he handpicked for New York City.

Kassem isn't just any lawyer.

He spent years as lead defense attorney for Ahmed al-Darbi – an al-Qaeda operative convicted of bombing a French oil tanker in 2002 as part of al-Qaeda's post-9/11 terror campaign.

Al-Darbi's family tie runs even deeper: his sister married Khalid al-Mihdhar – one of the hijackers who flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Mamdani didn't accidentally hand this man a pen.

He quietly instructed Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to pass it along.

Kassem arrived after the signing had already started, took hold of the pen, and walked out.

This wasn't a scheduling slip.

It was a message.

The 109,000-Signature 9/11 Petition Mamdani Ignored

Giovanni Galante lost his wife Grace on September 11.

He organized the petition and personally delivered it to City Hall.

He said the families want privacy to grieve, without the mayor's presence turning it into a spectacle.

Charles Wolf, who lost his wife on September 11, put it even more directly: "This mayor is not serving us. He's serving himself."

NYC Council Member Vickie Paladino carried the petition up the steps of City Hall herself, insisting Mamdani has no business anywhere near the memorial site.

Monica Iken, whose husband Michael was killed in the attacks, made a point reporters mostly skipped over – Mamdani never showed up for the 20th anniversary either, so his sudden eagerness for the 25th doesn't add up.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani – who was actually there on September 11, 2001, who walked those streets while the towers burned – argued Mamdani refuses to call 9/11 what it was: an Islamic terrorist attack on America.

"Having lost friends there," Giuliani said, "it offends me that he's coming."

Republican senators backed the families.

So did a former New York governor and the state's current Republican candidate for governor.

Rep. Mike Lawler called Mamdani a "vile antisemite" with a circle of allies who won't call 9/11 what it was either.

Mamdani never budged.

Mamdani's Globalize the Intifada Record

This is not a man who stumbled into controversy.

Throughout his entire campaign for mayor, Mamdani refused – repeatedly, on national television, to multiple journalists – to condemn the phrase "globalize the intifada."

NBC's Kristen Welker pressed him on Meet the Press.

He dodged.

Even liberal podcast host Donny Deutsch went on MSNBC and said he was "outraged."

Even House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Mamdani needed to "clarify" where he stands.

Mamdani's answer was to tell a closed-door room of roughly 140 business leaders that he'd stop endorsing the slogan – careful wording that promised nothing about what he actually believes.

Then there's the 2023 post that resurfaced this week.

After the 22nd anniversary of the attacks, Mamdani wrote about "the hundreds of thousands who died in the wars that followed" – conspicuously omitting who carried out the attack or why.

Critics noticed immediately: the deaths were described like a weather event, with no one held responsible.

The families noticed every single one of these moments long before he ever picked up that pen.

What Ramzi Kassem's Pen Proves About Mamdani

New York City's mayor just proved, in one ceremonial gesture, exactly where his loyalties sit.

The left will say this is about Islamophobia.

It isn't.

It's about a man who has never once – not directly, not clearly, not without hedging – looked into a camera and said the people who murdered 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001 were evil and deserved what America gave them in return.

That's not a religious test.

That's the minimum standard for the job of Mayor of New York City.

The families who buried their people in the weeks after that morning understand this instinctively.

They don't need a constitutional law seminar explaining why Mamdani's associations are technically permissible.

They need a mayor who knows whose side he's on.

New York City doesn't have one.

Sources:

• Eric Mack, "Families of 9/11 Victims' Message to Mamdani: 'Please Do Not Come' to Memorial Ceremony," Fox News, September 8, 2026.
• "GOP Senators Rally Behind 9/11 Families in Push to Ban Mamdani From Anniversary Ceremony," Fox News, August 11, 2026.
• "New York Gubernatorial Candidate Urges 9/11 Attendees to Turn Away From Mamdani During Ceremony," Fox News, August 6, 2026.
• "Mamdani Draws Outrage by Handing 9/11 Pen to Attorney Who Helped Defend al-Qaeda Terrorist," Washington Times, September 6, 2026.
• "Mamdani Taps Controversial Lawyer Who Defended al-Qaeda Terrorist for Top Role," Fox News, December 30, 2025.
• "Zohran Mamdani Urged to Skip New York City's 9/11 Memorial: 'Vile Antisemite,'" Fox News, September 10, 2026.
• "Mamdani Faces Growing 9/11 Backlash as Old Post Resurfaces Ahead of Ground Zero Ceremony," Fox News/Yahoo News, September 5, 2026.