Ugandan-born socialist candidate for New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani suggested Friday that the real victim of the September 11, 2001 Islamic terrorist attacks was his Muslim aunt.
Speaking to voters outside the Islamic Cultural Center of the Bronx, Mamdani said “The dream of every Muslim is simply to be treated as any other New Yorker, and yet for too long we have been told to ask for less than that and to be satisfied with whatever little we receive.”
“I want to speak to the memory of my aunt –” Mamdani began, before pausing dramatically as though overcome with emotion, “‘– who stopped taking the subway after September 11 because she did not feel safe in her hijab.”
Cue yet another pause in which Mamdani struggles to produce any tears.
No mention, of course, of the 2,977 innocent victims who died horrific deaths after Muslim terrorists hijacked two planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center because the real victim was Mamdani’s aunt. Though perhaps that’s not surprising given Mamdani was seen smiling in a photo with Siraj Wahhaj, who was named as a potential co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing but was never indicted. Or that Mamdani has associated with Hasan Piker, who believes “America deserved 9/11.”
But this isn’t the first time Mamdani has tried to play the victim.
A resurfaced video of Mamdani running for state assembly in 2020 shows him claiming that after 9/11 a teacher pulled him out of class to warn him he would likely face bullying.
“In Uganda, I was Indian. In India, I was Muslim, and then, when we moved to New York, I was all of those things. New York still has something about it that lulls us all into believing that we too can become New Yorkers, no matter where you come from or who you are …” Mamdani said. “And yet there would be these multiple moments in my childhood where I was reminded that this promise came with exceptions.”
Twenty-five years after one of the worst terrorist attacks in American history, in which the victims were burned alive, forced to jump to their death, or crushed, the likely future mayor doesn’t mention the office workers, firefighters, and police officers. The new victims, we are told, are the Muslims who allegedly felt uncomfortable afterward.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2
