Giuliani vs Mamdani: A deeply divided United States prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11

This Friday, the United States will commemorate one of the defining traumas of its history. It is hard to find anyone old enough to remember that day who has forgotten the shock of watching, live on television screens around the world, the Twin Towers engulfed in flames and collapsing under the devastating impact of Osama bin Laden’s jihadist campaign and his Al-Qaeda accomplices.

But when those attending this year’s September 11 ceremony in New York observe a minute of silence at 8:46 a.m., the exact moment when, 25 years ago, the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11, struck the North Tower, the nation mourning its dead will do so deeply divided.

The ceremony at Ground Zero, where the towers once stood, will be attended by Vice President J.D. Vance, but not by President Donald Trump. According to media reports, which he has denied, the Republican president is unhappy that he will not be allowed to speak at the event. Rather than traveling to New York, as his predecessors have done throughout the past quarter century, he will stay in Washington.

But perhaps nothing better symbolizes the country’s divisions than the attack launched by Republican Rudolph Giuliani, New York City’s leader at the time of the attacks, against the man who now holds the office, Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Giuliani, the mayor who helped unite New York and much of the country at a moment of grief unlike anything that generation had experienced, has lashed out at the mayor who won election less than a year ago. “Having lost friends there, and being very close to many of the families, it offends me that he’s coming,” the former New York mayor, a close Trump ally who has also served as the president’s lawyer, told the right-wing outlet Newsmax on Sunday.

Giuliani went so far as to compare Mamdani, who is Muslim, to the September 11 hijackers. They had hostility to America and “weren’t hiding it like Mamdani is,” he said. Giuliani also claimed, without offering any evidence, that Mamdani supports a Muslim plot aimed at “taking over certain parts of America and certain parts of Europe.”

Petition against Mamdani

These outbursts come after nearly 100,000 people signed an online petition calling on Mamdani not to attend Friday’s commemoration of the victims. Its organizers argue that the anniversary should be grounded in “respect for the victims, recognition of the gravity of the attacks, and a clear rejection of the ideologies that contributed to such violence.” They contend that Mamdani’s rhetoric, as a politician who has been highly critical of the Israeli government and supportive of the Palestinian cause, is “hostile to these shared values.”

Among other examples, they cite his “reluctance to clearly and unequivocally condemn phrases such as ‘globalize the intifada’” as well as his alleged “support for, or associations with, individuals whose public statements or records are viewed by concerned family members as dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies.” The controversy has also focused on Mamdani’s appointment of Ramzi Kassem as the city’s chief legal counsel. Kassem previously represented a convicted Al-Qaeda member whose brother-in-law was among the terrorists who hijacked the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

Mamdani has made clear that he intends to attend Friday’s events, as every New York mayor has done over the past quarter century. The Democratic politician has also demonstrated his commitment to preserving the memory of the attacks by establishing an annual day of remembrance on September 11. He has also updated the city’s emergency preparedness plans and has attended, or is expected to attend, nearly a dozen commemorative events, many of them at firehouses that lost members in the attacks.

“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,” he said last July.

During Friday’s ceremony, relatives of the victims will read the names of those who died. There will be seven moments of silence, each marking a pivotal moment from that day: the impact of each plane into the two World Trade Center towers, the collapse of the towers, the attack on the Pentagon, and the crash of Flight 93. The seventh and final moment of silence will honor those who have died since then from illnesses and injuries linked to the attacks.

Over the past 25 years, these commemorations have brought together leading figures from both parties, who traditionally set aside their political differences for the day to jointly honor the dead. This year, in addition to Vance and Mamdani, all living former presidents are expected to attend: Democrats Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and Republican George W. Bush.

Political speeches prohibited

The ceremony, which is nonpartisan, has barred political speeches since 2012. Elected officials attend only as witnesses while family members honor the victims.

This Friday, Trump will become the first sitting president not to attend the New York commemoration. Instead, he has chosen to take part in September 11 observances at another of the attack sites, the Pentagon. According to The New York Times, he had hoped to deliver a speech at Ground Zero, but the event’s rules do not allow it.

The president denied the report on his social media platform, Truth Social. “This is more Corrupt News, I’ve been to New York many times over the years, and no one ever speaks, it’s a ‘solemn ceremony!’ he wrote, adding that he would be happy not to speak because, in his own words, “I’m speaking all the time.”

The president also attacked one of the reporters responsible for the story, Maggie Haberman, calling her “fake” and “an unattractive person, both inside and out.” “She’s been falsely writing about me for years — She’s a stalker, and should be forced to turn over any and all money that she’s made through her fake reporting on me,” he added.

It was another indication of the political climate in which the United States approaches the 25th anniversary of one of the darkest days in its history.

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