Partisan rancor threatens solemn unity of 9/11 ceremony

New York City’s leader at the time of the 9/11 attacks, Rudy Giuliani, says “it offends” him that current Mayor Zohran Mamdani will attend Friday’s commemoration ceremony. George Pataki, state governor during the disaster, says Mamdani should stay away. Bruce Blakeman, a candidate for governor, vows to turn his back on the mayor if he turns up.

The comments to reporters from the three Republicans follow a petition launched by a man whose wife was killed on September 11, 2001, for Mamdani to be disinvited so the 25th anniversary can be “centered on remembrance, unity, and an unambiguous rejection of the violence and extremism that defined that day.”

Mamdani, a progressive politician who became his city’s first Muslim mayor in January, has always said he would attend the ceremony at Ground Zero to remember and honor the victims.

This year’s memorial will come just three days after Mamdani’s administration released more than 170,000 documents showing that officials from Giuliani’s administration onwards — Republican, Democratic and Independent — repeatedly misled the public about air quality after the twin towers of the World Trade Center came crashing down.

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NYC Mayor Mamdani releases 9/11 records showing officials misled New Yorkers about air quality around Ground Zero

“People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” Mamdani said during Tuesday’s announcement of the first tranche of material. But he declined to criticize anyone by name, saying any judgment to be passed on former leaders of the city, state or federal government would be up to the public.

Mamdani has spent time in the weeks leading up to the anniversary of what he calls the “the darkest day in our city’s history” visiting firehouses who lost members of their teams and unveiling tributes for the nearly 3,000 people who died on the day and the thousands more who suffered from related and often fatal illnesses since. He designated September 11 as the city’s first official “Day of Remembrance and Service” and donned a hairnet to help volunteers pack meals for New Yorkers without enough to eat.

“I’m proud to be the mayor of this 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 last Monday.

But the rancor around his attendance at the ceremony has shown no sign of abating. As the names of the dead are read out, and bells tolled at tragic moments, backs may also be turned.

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In some ways, the rhetoric today is similar to post-9/11 Islamophobia, said Scott Hibbard, an associate professor and chair of political science at DePaul University, who researches American foreign policy, Middle East politics and international relations.

“You can get a lot of traction out of politicizing terrorism,” he said, adding the comments were not altogether surprising from Republicans facing political headwinds ahead of the midterm elections. President Donald Trump is not expected to be in New York, but Vice President JD Vance, who has said the mayor has shown “no gratitude” towards America, is scheduled to attend.

Mamdani, who was 9 years old in 2001, has spoken passionately about how the post-9/11 era helped to shape his life growing up in New York City.

His supporters argue that calls to bar him from the ceremony are unfair.

“It’s concerning to me that the mayor is being treated differently simply because he is Muslim,” city councilwoman Shahana Hanif told CNN. “It makes me very sad that Muslim New Yorkers, who also lost loved ones, who lost first responders who were Muslim, we all lived through it and then grueling wave of Islamophobia that came after and that sadly, is still alive.”

Hanif, the first Muslim woman to be elected to the New York City Council, was also a child in 2001 and said some of her earliest memories were about members of her community who were cab drivers being assaulted.

Long before his descent into conspiracy theories and election denialism, Giuliani was known as “America’s Mayor” for what many saw as his unifying leadership after the attacks. But for many of the city’s Muslims, Giuliani was a divisive figure who helped to fuel anti-Muslim sentiment and continues to do so today.

“Who is he to tell Muslims where they belong or not?” Hanif said of his call for Mamdani to stay away from Ground Zero.

Mamdani’s critics say it is his actions that trouble them. They point to his progressive politics as well as his affiliation with Hasan Piker , the left-wing streamer and activist who said the United States “deserved 9/11.” Piker later called his remark “inappropriate” and said he was trying to make a more nuanced point about US foreign policy. Mamdani has since called the comments “objectionable and reprehensible.”

Cheri Sparacio, whose husband Tom Sparacio, a currency trader at Euro Brokers on the 84th floor of the south tower, was killed, said she was not targeting Mamdani over his religion or background. “It is strictly about the policies that he has today,” Sparacio said. “It is today that he stands with people like Hasan Piker … that is what we object to.”

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New pain for some 9/11 families as New York’s mayor finds himself in commemoration controversy

Sparacio along with some other family members of 9/11 victims and two members of the City Council gathered at City Hall Tuesday to deliver an online petition signed by more than 100,000 people asking Mamdani to avoid Friday’s memorial event.

Some survivors and family members told CNN last month they may stay away from the event this year.

But there will be politicians.

As they have done for 25 years, officials will gather under a tent in the plaza, listening in as the names of the dead are read, moments of silence are honored, and an eerie silence falls over Lower Manhattan.

9·11事件发生时的纽约市长鲁迪·朱利安尼表示，现任市长佐兰·马姆达尼将出席周五的纪念仪式，这让他“感到愤慨”。灾难发生时的纽约州州长乔治·帕塔基则表示，马姆达尼应该缺席。州长候选人布鲁斯·布莱克曼誓言，如果马姆达尼出席，他将背对着他。

三位共和党人向记者发表的评论，源于一位妻子在 2001 年 9 月 11 日遇难的男子发起的一项请愿，该请愿要求取消马姆达尼的邀请，以便 25 周年纪念活动能够“以缅怀、团结和明确拒绝定义那一天的暴力和极端主义为中心”。

马姆达尼是一位进步派政治家，今年一月成为该市首位穆斯林市长。他一直表示，他会出席世贸中心遗址的纪念仪式，缅怀和悼念遇难者。

今年的纪念活动将在马姆达尼政府公布超过 17 万份文件三天后举行，这些文件显示，从朱利安尼政府开始，共和党、民主党和独立人士等各级官员在世贸中心双子塔倒塌后，一再就空气质量问题误导公众。

Beth A. Keiser/法新社/盖蒂图片社

纽约市长马姆达尼公布了9/11事件相关记录，显示官员们就世贸中心遗址附近的空气质量问题误导了纽约市民。

“人们生病是因为他们信任的领导人撒谎，告诉他们呼吸有毒空气是安全的，”马姆达尼在周二公布第一批物资时说道。但他拒绝指名道姓地批评任何人，称对市、州或联邦政府前领导人的任何评判都将由公众做出。

在9月11日——他称之为“我们城市历史上最黑暗的一天”——周年纪念日前的几周里，马姆达尼走访了那些失去队员的消防站，并为​​当天遇难的近3000人以及此后数千名遭受相关疾病折磨（往往是致命疾病）的人们揭幕了纪念碑。他将9月11日定为纽约市首个官方“纪念和服务日”，并戴上发网，帮助志愿者为食不果腹的纽约市民打包食物。

“我很荣幸能成为这座城市的市长，我热爱这座城市，我热爱这个国家。我希望本周的重点是那些在25年前9月11日恐怖袭击中失去亲人的家庭，”马姆达尼上周一告诉记者。

但围绕他出席仪式的争议丝毫没有平息的迹象。当死者的名字被念出，当悲痛的时刻钟声响起时，人们或许也会背过身去。

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德保罗大学政治学系副教授兼系主任斯科特·希巴德表示，在某些方面，今天的言论与9/11事件后的伊斯兰恐惧症类似。希巴德的研究方向是美国外交政策、中东政治和国际关系。

“将恐怖主义政治化能获得很多关注，”他说道，并补充说，考虑到共和党在中期选举前面临政治逆风，这些言论并不令人意外。预计唐纳德·特朗普总统不会到访纽约，但曾表示市长对美国“毫无感恩之心”的副总统JD·万斯计划出席。

2001 年时 9 岁的马姆达尼热情地讲述了 9/11 事件后的时代如何塑造了他在纽约市的成长经历。

他的支持者认为，要求禁止他参加典礼是不公平的。

“市长仅仅因为是穆斯林就受到区别对待，这让我感到担忧，”市议员沙哈娜·哈尼夫告诉CNN。“令我非常难过的是，纽约市的穆斯林也失去了亲人，失去了身为穆斯林的急救人员，我们都经历了那场灾难，随后又遭遇了令人痛苦的伊斯兰恐惧症浪潮，而令人悲哀的是，这股浪潮至今仍然存在。”

哈尼夫是第一位当选纽约市议员的穆斯林女性，她在 2001 年还是个孩子，她说她最早的一些记忆是关于她所在社区的出租车司机遭到袭击。

早在朱利安尼沉迷于阴谋论和否认选举结果之前，他就因在袭击事件后展现出的团结一致的领导力而被誉为“美国市长”。但对许多纽约市民而言，朱利安尼却是一个分裂人物，他助长了反穆斯林情绪，而且这种影响至今仍在持续。

“他有什么资格告诉穆斯林他们应该待在哪里或不应该待在哪里？”哈尼夫就马姆达尼呼吁他远离世贸中心遗址一事说道。

马姆达尼的批评者认为，真正令他们担忧的是他的行为。他们指出，马姆达尼的政治立场偏向进步主义，并且与左翼主播兼活动家哈桑·皮克尔关系密切。皮克尔曾表示，美国“咎由自取，活该遭受9·11袭击”。皮克尔后来称自己的言论“不妥”，并表示他当时只是想就美国的外交政策提出一个更为细致的观点。马姆达尼也曾公开谴责皮克尔的言论“令人反感且应受谴责”。

切丽·斯帕拉西奥的丈夫汤姆·斯帕拉西奥是南塔84层的欧洲经纪公司（Euro Brokers）的货币交易员，不幸遇难。切丽表示，她并非因为马姆达尼的宗教信仰或背景而针对他。“我们反对的完全是他现在的政策，”斯帕拉西奥说，“他现在竟然和哈桑·皮克尔之流站在一起……这才是我们反对的原因。”

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纽约市长卷入纪念活动争议，给部分9/11事件遇难者家属带来新的痛苦

周二，斯帕拉西奥与一些 9/11 事件遇难者家属和两名市议员聚集在市政厅，递交了一份由超过 10 万人签署的在线请愿书，要求马姆达尼避免参加周五的纪念活动。

上个月，一些幸存者和家属告诉 CNN，他们今年可能不会参加该活动。

但总会有政客出面。

就像过去 25 年一样，官员们将聚集在广场上的帐篷下，聆听死者的名字被宣读，默哀的时刻被铭记，曼哈顿下城陷入一种诡异的寂静之中。