{"id":77045,"date":"2026-08-06T02:58:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T07:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/06\/new-york-gubernatorial-candidate-urges-9-11-attendees-to-turn-away-from-mamdani-during-ceremony\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T02:58:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T07:58:54","slug":"new-york-gubernatorial-candidate-urges-9-11-attendees-to-turn-away-from-mamdani-during-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/06\/new-york-gubernatorial-candidate-urges-9-11-attendees-to-turn-away-from-mamdani-during-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"New York gubernatorial candidate urges 9\/11 attendees to turn away from Mamdani during ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate in New York&#8217;s gubernatorial race, said Wednesday that attendees at this year&#8217;s Sept. 11 memorial ceremony should turn their backs on New York City Mayor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/person\/zohran-mamdani\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zohran Mamdani<\/a> if he attends.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I would equate this to a wake. You don&#8217;t go to a wake if you&#8217;re not welcome,&#8221; Blakeman, whose nephew was killed in the South Tower on Sept. 11, 2001, and who currently serves as Nassau County executive, told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s completely appropriate if family members ask him not to come, but if he does come, I think there&#8217;s a respectful and peaceful way to protest that and I would suggest that people turn their back on the mayor,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/politics\/firefighter-brother-911-victim-incensed-radical-muslims-winning-key-dem-primaries\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>FIREFIGHTER BROTHER OF 9\/11 VICTIM INCENSED BY &#8216;RADICAL&#8217; MUSLIMS WINNING KEY DEM PRIMARIES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Blakeman argued Mamdani&#8217;s refusal to condemn the phrase &#8220;globalize the intifada&#8221; should disqualify him from attending the ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/category\/world\/terrorism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">terrorist attacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s not welcome there because he has yet to say anything in opposition to the global intifada. As a matter of fact, it seems like he supports that phrase, which is part of the reason why we had the tragedy we had on 9\/11,&#8221; Blakeman said.<\/p>\n<p>Mamdani&#8217;s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n<p>The mayor has said he still plans to attend the ceremony.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/politics\/9-11-families-push-ban-mamdani-25th-anniversary-remembrance-hostile-record\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>9\/11 FAMILIES PUSH TO BAN MAMDANI FROM 25TH ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE OVER &#8216;HOSTILE&#8217; RECORD<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I will proudly honor the families, the survivors, the first responders forever impacted by that horrific terror attack by standing alongside them at this year&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/category\/us\/terror\/september-11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">9\/11 commemoration<\/a> \u2014 reaffirming that we will never forget the solemn day&#8230;&#8221; Mamdani said last week.<\/p>\n<p>His comments came after relatives of Sept. 11 victims launched a petition urging the National September 11 Memorial &amp; Museum to bar Mamdani from attending the ceremony in <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/category\/us\/new-york-city\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lower Manhattan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Concerns have been raised about Mr. Mamdani&#8217;s public positions, associations, and responses to rhetoric that many perceive as hostile to these shared values,&#8221; the Change.org petition states.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Given these concerns, we respectfully ask that the organizers carefully consider whether Mr. Mamdani&#8217;s participation would align with the intention of the ceremony and the expectations of the families most directly affected by the tragedy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/us\/jewish-leaders-fault-mamdani-rhetoric-upper-west-side-stabbing-hate-crime-probe-continues\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>JEWISH LEADERS FAULT MAMDANI RHETORIC AS UPPER WEST SIDE STABBING, HATE CRIME PROBE CONTINUES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for the <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/politics\/9-11-museum-ceo-reflects-lasting-impact-terror-attacks-america-marks-250th-birthday\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">9\/11 Memorial &amp; Museum<\/a> previously told Fox News Digital that the organization has &#8220;intentionally worked to keep the commemoration free of politics because remembering those we lost on 9\/11 should never be a partisan issue.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Government officials from across the political spectrum, including every sitting president, governor, and mayor since 9\/11, have attended the ceremony simply to bear witness \u2014 they do not deliver remarks and are asked to remain in a designated area,&#8221; the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n<p>Former New York Gov. George Pataki was also asked Wednesday whether Mamdani should attend the ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s my nature to be inclusive, and that is my instinct, but Sept. 11 is different. So, I may have comments on that,&#8221; Pataki said, according to the New York Post.<\/p>\n<p><i>Fox News Digital&#8217;s Charles Creitz contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate in New York&#8217;s gubernatorial race, said Wednesday that attendees at this year&#8217;s Sept. 11 memorial ceremony should turn their backs on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani if he attends. &#8220;I would equate this to a wake. You don&#8217;t go to a wake if you&#8217;re not welcome,&#8221; Blakeman, whose nephew &#8230; <a title=\"New York gubernatorial candidate urges 9\/11 attendees to turn away from Mamdani during ceremony\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/06\/new-york-gubernatorial-candidate-urges-9-11-attendees-to-turn-away-from-mamdani-during-ceremony\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about New York gubernatorial candidate urges 9\/11 attendees to turn away from Mamdani during ceremony\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77045\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}