New York’s first Muslim mayor says he will attend the 25th anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero despite calls from former mayor Rudy Giuliani and other Republicans for him to stay away.

By Abdullahi Yusuf

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani will attend Friday’s 9/11 memorial ceremony at Ground Zero despite calls from former mayor Rudy Giuliani and other Republicans for him to stay away from the city’s 25th anniversary commemoration.

Mamdani said he would take part in the main ceremony and other events marking the anniversary, saying his focus would be on the families who lost loved ones and the first responders who risked their lives during and after the attacks.

“I’m proud to be the mayor of this city. I love this city. I love this country,” Mamdani said.

He said he wanted the week’s commemorations to focus on “the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago” and the first responders who “gave everything they could to this city”.

Giuliani, who was mayor of New York when the attacks took place, has publicly opposed Mamdani’s attendance.

Speaking to Newsmax, Giuliani said Mamdani should stay away from the ceremony and questioned his presence in connection with his Muslim faith. He also compared Mamdani with the hijackers who carried out the attacks.

Mamdani, 34, has declined to engage directly with Giuliani’s remarks and has instead continued to emphasise the purpose of the commemoration.

Former New York Governor George Pataki has also opposed Mamdani’s attendance, while an online petition calling for him to stay away has attracted more than 100,000 signatures.

Mamdani has nevertheless maintained that he will attend the ceremony, as he did last year.

Last week, he signed an executive order designating September 11 as an annual “Day of Remembrance and Service” in New York City. His administration has also released more than 170,000 pages of records concerning the impact of the attacks on air quality and the city’s response in the years that followed.

The 2026 ceremony will mark 25 years since the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden are expected to attend commemorative events in New York, while President Donald Trump is expected to mark the anniversary at the Pentagon. Vice-President JD Vance is expected to represent the administration at the New York ceremony.

Mamdani has said he intends to spend the anniversary honouring those who died, the first responders and New Yorkers who came together in the aftermath of the attacks.

The main memorial ceremony will take place on Friday at the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan, where the names of those killed in the attacks will be read aloud.