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Left-wing children’s influencer Ms. Rachel praised New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani amid a controversy over whether he should attend the 9/11 memorial on its 25th anniversary.
Political rancor is threatening to cast a long shadow over this year’s Sept. 11 remembrance events, marking 25 years since the tragedy that rocked the United States. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s past rhetoric and links to terror sympathizers are spurring intense backlash ahead of the city’s events memorializing the World Trade Center attacks, with Republicans and people whose lives were changed by the attacks demanding he not attend.
Ms. Rachel, whose real name is Rachel Accurso, appeared to address the controversy on the eve of the memorial in a social media post on Instagram, writing in a statement, “Mayor Mamdani is awesome. I’ve met him, and he truly cares about New Yorkers. He’s such a kind, gentle soul. Our NYC Pre-K curriculum teaches children to be kind, respect different religions and cultures, and be proud of who they are.
“It’s unacceptable that adults still judge, hate and attack each other because of religion and skin color. We should be setting a better example for our children.”
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Ms. Rachel during an appearance on the “Today” show Sept. 24, 2024. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
She added further in a caption to the post, “Also so disappointing to see some Christians expressing hate and Islamophobia. Jesus was Jewish, and he taught us in the Good Samaritan parable that our neighbors are not just those who share our religion.”
There has been widespread controversy about Mamdani being associated with any 9/11 memorials based on his own politics and that of his associates.
An online petition led by family members of people killed on Sept. 11 — signed by over 100,000 people — has called on Mamdani to skip the memorial.
“Mr. Mamdani has praised Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who has been linked to radical Islam, was named as an alleged co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and served as a character witness for the ‘Blind Sheikh,’ who was convicted in 1995 of plotting terror attacks against the United States,” the petition said.
“Mr. Mamdani has endorsed candidates such as Aber Kawas, who described 9/11 as an attack ‘a couple of people did in the context of U.S. capitalism, racism, White supremacy, and Islamophobia,’ and who also expressed sympathy for Ahmed Ferhani, who pleaded guilty to plotting to blow up a Manhattan synagogue,” it added.
Mamdani and other socialist candidates’ association with far-left activist Hasan Piker has also gotten intense scrutiny over Piker’s past comments that the United States “deserved” the attacks, remarks he promptly walked back at the time but continue to haunt him and his political circle. Mamdani has also condemned the comment.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a news conference. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Mamdani has faced backlash for giving a ceremonial pen from a 9/11 remembrance ceremony to a top aide who once represented a convicted al Qaeda member.
Mamdani had handed the pen to his chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem. Kassem previously represented Ahmed al-Darbi, who pleaded guilty to war crime charges tied to al Qaeda plots against commercial ships and was the brother-in-law of Khalid al-Mihdhar, one of the hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon, killing 184.
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s office and did not receive an immediate response.
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NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch hands a ceremonial pen to Ramzi Kassem, who once represented a convicted al Qaeda member tied to a 9/11 hijacker. (NYC Office of the Mayor)
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Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind, Amanda Macias and Matthew Donnell contributed to this report.