New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani came face-to-face at Ground Zero on Friday after days of public tension surrounding the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The two men were captured shaking hands outside the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, putting aside their increasingly bitter war of words during the solemn remembrance ceremony.
The encounter came after Giuliani publicly criticized Mamdani’s planned attendance and said it “offended” him that the city’s first Muslim mayor would participate in the anniversary service.
Giuliani, who led New York City during the 2001 attacks and their immediate aftermath, had urged Mamdani to stay away from the ceremony.
The dispute intensified in the days leading up to Sept. 11 after Mamdani’s administration released more than 170,000 pages of previously unavailable city records dealing with air quality, health concerns and New York’s response following the collapse of the World Trade Center.
Mamdani accused previous city leaders of “lying” to New Yorkers about whether the air around Ground Zero was safe.
The newly released files include records detailing what city officials knew about toxic conditions in Lower Manhattan, along with internal discussions surrounding health concerns and potential liability.
Prior to the start of the lower Manhattan 9/11 ceremony, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani shook hands with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who had publicly called on the city’s first Muslim mayor not to attend. https://t.co/Mj0raZMjPR pic.twitter.com/UjFu9Yaie6
— ABC News (@ABC) September 11, 2026
The controversy placed renewed scrutiny on decisions made during Giuliani’s administration as thousands of first responders, residents and workers later developed illnesses associated with exposure to toxic dust and debris.
Despite the heated rhetoric before Friday’s ceremony, the two mayors kept their face-to-face interaction brief and civil.
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Video from Ground Zero showed Giuliani and Mamdani approaching one another and shaking hands as political leaders, survivors and relatives of victims gathered to mark a quarter-century since the attacks.
The Sept. 11 attacks killed 2,977 victims after al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes.
American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were flown into the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan. American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon, while United Airlines Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers.
Friday’s ceremony brought together current and former political leaders for the annual reading of victims’ names and moments of silence marking key points in the attacks.
President Donald Trump did not attend the Ground Zero ceremony and instead marked the anniversary at the Pentagon.
Trump had reportedly considered delivering remarks in Manhattan, but ultimately did not appear at the memorial.
For Giuliani and Mamdani, the handshake offered a stark contrast to the public feud that preceded it.
Giuliani’s criticism centered on Mamdani’s presence at the ceremony, while Mamdani’s administration used the anniversary week to release records that have reopened questions about how New York officials handled the health dangers surrounding Ground Zero.
The two men may remain bitterly divided over the legacy of the city’s post-9/11 response, but at Ground Zero on Friday, the confrontation ended with a handshake rather than another public clash.
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