A nonprofit funded by far-left billionaire kingmaker George Soros is trying to silence a surging movement to keep NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani from attending the 25th-anniversary memorial for victims of the 9/11 attacks at Ground Zero.
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows put out a statement on Tuesday that sharply contrasted with the views expressed by many other 9/11 victims’ families.
It all but accused the Change.org petition of targeting Mamdani because he’s the city’s first Muslim mayor.
“We strongly condemn the anti-American accusations and Islamophobic sentiment underlying the effort seeking to prevent him from being at Ground Zero,” said the group.
Soros has funneled $525,000 to the nonprofit since 2016 to help fund lefty causes through his grant-making network Open Society Foundation, records show.
The nonprofit September 11th Familes for a Peaceful Tomorrow – an affiliate of the deep-pocketed radical advocacy group Tides Center – was founded by a small group of 9/11 relatives in 2002 and claims to now have 250 members worldwide. It’s agenda also includes strongly condemning the U.S. and Israeli military’s ongoing attacks on Iran.
Giovanni Galante, the ban-Mamdani petition’s lead organizer, fired back, saying the mayor is not wanted at the ceremony because he supports and engages with terror sympathizers. This includes vile left-wing influencer Hasan Piker, who once said “America deserved” 9/11, and notorious Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
“This has nothing to do with Islam or Mamdani being Muslim,” Galante told The Post. “It has to do with who he associates with and who he represents.
“We’re not against Muslims; we’re not against Jews; we’re not against anyone,” added Galante, whose 29-year-old wife, Grace, was among the 2,977 innocents killed by al-Qaeda terrorists.
“We’re against people who are against America – who want us to suffer or be murdered. The people against the petition don’t have a clear understanding.”
The petition has gained serious steam since The Post first reported on the initiative last week. As of Saturday morning more than 62,000 signatures have been collected, and Galante estimates thousands are from family members of 9/11 victims.
“I’ve gotten so much support from people I don’t even know,” he said. “Emails, texts showing love and interest in keeping the mayor out of the ceremony.”
Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) said it’s no shock that Soros — a Democratic megadonor and serial supporter of ultra-woke causes — is funding a nonprofit trying to muzzle grieving families.
“The voices of 9/11 families should not be drowned out by billionaire-backed activists and those engulfed by their propaganda campaign,” said Ariola, who represents Belle Harbor and surrounding neighborhoods that lost many residents during the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attack. “The mayor needs to stay home and sit this one out.”
Soros and Open Society Foundation indirectly funneled a combined $37 million to the Working Families Party and at least nine left-wing groups whose endorsements and get-out-the-vote groundwork played a pivotal role in helping Mamdani upset ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in last year’s Democratic mayoral primary, the Post previously reported.
A spokesperson for Soros and his grant-making network did not return messages.
Charles G. Wolf, who lost his 40-year-old wife Katherine during the Twin Tower attack and signed the petition, ripped the nonprofit opposing it, saying “anything that is backed by George Soros is illegitimate.”
“This is not the people speaking,” he added. “This is George Soros and his billions of dollars trying to cause public strife in America. Don’t let George Soros make a monkey out of us.”
