[Video below.] New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rudy Giuliani exchanged a handshake Friday at the 25th anniversary commemoration of the September 11 attacks at Ground Zero, a notable moment of civility after Giuliani had publicly urged Mamdani to stay away from the ceremony. The two men briefly spoke as they greeted each other at the memorial.

Giuliani, who served as mayor when the September 11, 2001, attacks devastated New York City, had said just days earlier that he was personally offended by Mamdani’s plans to attend the anniversary observance.

“Having lost friends there, and being very close to many of the families, it offends me that he’s coming.”

Giuliani also questioned Mamdani’s views regarding the nature of the September 11 attacks during his interview with Newsmax.

“Frankly, whatever he’d like to say, he doesn’t agree that Sept. 11 was an Islamic terrorist attack on the United States of America,” Giuliani said in the Sunday interview.

Giuliani’s criticism also included broad assertions about Muslims and claims that Mamdani supported an effort by Muslims to dominate American society. Those assertions about Mamdani’s beliefs have not been substantiated.

“They have every desire to take us over. This is not, they want to be just another religion, they want to dominate us,” Giuliani said of Muslims. “Mamdani is a clear supporter of that.”

Some of the opposition to Mamdani’s presence at Ground Zero also centered on his appointment of Ramzi Kassem as New York City’s chief counsel. Kassem previously represented Ahmed al-Darbi, an al-Qaida member who was convicted in connection with the 2002 bombing of the French oil tanker MV Limburg. Al-Darbi’s brother-in-law, Khalid al-Mihdhar, was one of the 19 September 11 hijackers.

Relatives of some 9/11 victims organized a petition calling on Mamdani not to attend Friday’s ceremony. By earlier this week, the petition had collected more than 100,000 signatures.

Among the objections raised in the petition were allegations that Mamdani had supported or associated with individuals viewed by its organizers as “dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies.”

Giuliani, meanwhile, repeatedly invoked Mamdani’s Muslim faith while criticizing his planned attendance and made a series of broader claims about Muslims and the September 11 attacks.

Mamdani rejected demands that he stay away. Instead of engaging extensively with Giuliani’s criticism, the mayor said attention surrounding the 25th anniversary should remain on the nearly 3,000 people murdered in the attacks, their families and the first responders who rushed into danger that morning. When reporters pressed him further about Giuliani’s remarks, Mamdani said he “did not have much more to add.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was among those who defended Mamdani’s presence at the ceremony, arguing that the anniversary should emphasize the sense of common purpose that followed the attacks.

“Division should not prevail over the spirit of unity that brought us together after September 11th,” Hochul said in a post on the social platform X. “On this 25th anniversary, we should honor those we lost by coming together again as New Yorkers and Americans. The Mayor of New York City will be there, as he should be.”

Days before the anniversary, the Mamdani administration also released approximately 170,000 pages of previously unavailable city records dealing with the government’s response to September 11, including documents concerning air quality and the health risks faced by first responders, workers and residents following the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Mamdani said the newly disclosed material underscored what he described as a failure by government authorities to adequately protect and assist those exposed to toxic conditions after the attacks.

“It would be one thing if government had stood alongside survivors and provided them with everything they needed at every step of the way,” Mamdani added, noting that “could not be further” from what occurred.

The records released by City Hall include documents dating to Giuliani’s administration, which governed New York City at the time of the attacks and throughout the immediate aftermath. The release is part of a broader effort to make city records concerning post-9/11 air quality and health concerns publicly accessible.

Asked specifically whether he believed Giuliani had lied to New Yorkers about the safety of the air following September 11, Mamdani declined to make that accusation himself.

“I leave it to New Yorkers to make their judgements.”

Against that backdrop of days of bitter public disagreement, the brief handshake between Mamdani and Giuliani at Ground Zero stood out Friday as the two joined victims’ families, first responders and current and past national and city leaders in commemorating a quarter-century since the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil.

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{Matzav.com}