New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing backlash over his rhetoric after being snubbed from speaking at the funeral of a U.S. service member and being the subject of a petition drive to not participate in next month’s 25th anniversary memorial services for the Sept 11 attacks.
Mr. Mamdani was reportedly angry after not being called upon Friday to eulogize Army Staff Sgt. Angel Sarah Rampersad at her funeral in Queens, where he sat in the fourth row. Other elected officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, were called upon for remarks.
The New York Post first reported that Mr. Mamdani looked irritated at his staff when he realized he was being shunned.
Mr. Mamdani, an outspoken democratic socialist who has condemned Israel and the U.S. war against Iran, has become nationally known for his rhetoric. The Post reported that Rampersad’s family are supporters of President Trump and did not want the mayor to speak.
Rampersad, 28, was one of three U.S. soldiers killed on July 17 during an Iranian missile attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.
The eulogy snub happened not long after a petition was launched to call on Mr. Mamdani to not attend the 25th anniversary memorial events. Petition organizers say he’s sympathetic toward radical Islamists and refuses to condemn antisemitism.
The three-week-old petition was started by Brooklyn-born, Florida real estate agent Giovanni Galante, whose 29-year-old wife, Grace Catherine Galante, was among the 2,977 people killed by al Qaeda terrorists 25 years ago.
“After 25 years, it’s kind of a slap in the face that this guy being someone [who] supports terrorists and follows people that think we deserve 9/11 is really an insult,” Mr. Galante told The Washington Times. “That’s all it comes down to. And as far as speaking with some of the family members, we all feel that after 25 years, we really have to fight something that should be common sense.”
His petition drive collected more than almost 70,000 signatures by Sunday morning, and includes about 300 family members of 9/11 victims.
Mr. Mamdani’s supporters have pushed back on the petition through a nonprofit funded by leftist billionaire George Soros known as September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, which was founded by a group of 9/11 relatives in 2002.
The organization is known to criticize U.S. and Israeli military operations against Iran.
President Trump has weighed in on the effort to keep Mr. Mamdani away from the 9/11 memorial services.
“Well, I think they’re having a hard time with Mamdani,” Mr. Trump told The Times. “The people having to do with 9/11, the victims’ side … there are a lot of them who are very unhappy with what’s going on in New York, and they’re very unhappy with the mayor.”
Mamdani deputy press secretary Jeremy Edwards responded to the petition: “Mayor Mamdani will proudly honor the families, survivors and first responders forever impacted by these devastating attacks by standing alongside them at this year’s 9/11 Commemoration, reaffirming that we will never forget the solemn day felt by all of us who call this city home.”
