The “Ground Zero Mosque” Strategy Makes An Even More Pathetic Return

As we approach the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it has created an opportunity to reflect on what’s happened in the quarter-century since that fateful day, but more importantly, it has created an opportunity to get angry at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for being Muslim.

In late July, Giovanni Galante, whose wife Grace was killed in the attacks, posted an online petition requesting that the mayor not be allowed to participate in this year’s remembrance ceremony. The reasons that Mamdani’s presence would be supposedly disrespectful include the following: “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.” Basically anything could qualify under that criteria, which I suppose is the point.

One of Galante’s other reasons is that Mamdani once took a photo with Siraj Wahhaj, a Brooklyn imam whom law enforcement put on a list while investigating the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Andrew Cuomo had attacked Mamdani for this during last year’s mayoral race, repeating the feds’ terminology that Wahhaj was an “unindicted co-conspirator.” Another way to phrase that might be “never actually charged with a crime.” As mayor, Michael Bloomberg once met with Wahhaj, and yet somehow that didn’t disqualify him from attending any 9/11 ceremonies. Besides, Mamdani already attended last year before he was elected.