WASHINGTON (TNND) — As New York City honors the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing back against calls for Mayor Zohran Mamdani to stay away from memorial events.
Hochul spoke spoke out after former Mayor Rudy Giuliani took aim at Mamdani’s Muslim faith and said he should not attend the main ceremony.
Giuliani, who was the city’s mayor from 1994 to 2001, is criticizing Mamdani’s planned attendance.
“Having lost friends there and being very close to many of the families it offends me that he’s coming,” Giuliani told Newsmax.
Some families of people killed in the attacks have also asked Mamdani not to attend memorial ceremonies.
Hochul said she disagrees with the calls for Mamdani to stay away.
“This is a time when people should be welcome to come together in our collective grief and memory and honoring those people, not trying to divide us, that’s abhorrent,” Hochul said.
While confirming that he will attend Friday’s main ceremony, Mamdani said he is proud to be the mayor of New York City.
“I love this city, I love this country and what I want this week to be a focus on is on the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror of September 11,” Mamdani told reporters.
“A focus also on the first responders who gave everything they could to this city. And to the people who came together to try and help their fellow New Yorkers. And so in the days to come, my focus will be on attending events that memorializes that incredible courage and I will be there on Friday at the memorial, just as I was last year,” he added.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the attacks carried out by al Qaeda, when terrorists hijacked passenger planes and flew them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan.
The attack in New York City killed more than 2,500 people, including firefighters and law enforcement officers. Another roughly 230 people died in other parts of the attacks in Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Other notable figures, including Vice President JD Vance, are set to attend the anniversary events. President Donald Trump is expected to commemorate the day at the Pentagon, which also came under attack on Sept. 11, 2001.