Bonsell: “There is no Room at a September 11 Ceremony for a Mayor who Associates Himself with Muslim Terrorist Supporters”

Sep 6, 2026 by Susan Rosenbluth

NEW YORK (Sep. 6, 2026) – Alina Bonsell, Republican and independent Block Mamdani candidate for New York State Senate District 28, today issued the following statement:

“On behalf of the many 9/11 families who have already asked Mayor Mamdani not to attend this year’s ceremony – and they are absolutely right to do so – I am calling on Mayor Mamdani, in the strongest possible terms, to stay away.

The 9/11 Memorial is not a political stage. It is sacred ground. It belongs to the families who lost loved ones and to the memory of the nearly 3,000 innocent people murdered that day. There is no room at a September 11 ceremony for a mayor who associates himself with Muslim terrorist supporters. We cannot let Mamdani defile a day meant to honor the victims

A mayor who continues to associate with Hasan Piker, a man who said that America ‘deserved’ the September 11 attacks, has no business standing at Ground Zero and pretending to honor the victims. And a mayor who has refused to reject the phrase ‘globalize the intifada,’ a slogan widely understood as endorsing or encouraging violence against Jews, should not be taking part in a ceremony commemorating the victims of terrorism.

Mayor Mamdani had every opportunity to draw a clear line. He chose not to.

After facing backlash for interviewing Piker, Mamdani initially refused to condemn Piker’s 2019 statement that ‘America deserved 9/11.’ Only later, when the political pressure became impossible to ignore, did he finally call the comment ‘objectionable and reprehensible.’ Yet he continues to associate with Piker.

That is not leadership. You do not get to call a statement reprehensible while continuing to embrace the person who made it.

And you certainly do not get to show up at Ground Zero and invoke the memory of 9/11 victims after failing to take a clear moral stand against someone who said America deserved to be attacked.

New York City’s 9/11 ceremony belongs to the families who lost everything that day. It belongs to the victims. It belongs to the first responders who ran toward the burning buildings. It does not belong to a mayor who needed public outrage and a news cycle before deciding that praising the murder of nearly 3,000 Americans was unacceptable.

Mayor Mamdani should respect the families, respect the victims, and stay away from this year’s ceremony.”

Bonsell is a businesswoman, healthcare professional, mother of two, and a more than 20-year resident of Manhattan’s East Side. She is running on the Republican and independent Block Mamdani ballot lines to represent District 28 in the New York State Senate. Learn more about Alina Bonsell at www.alinabonsell.com

Bonsell