Organizer of petition by 9/11 families disappointed Mamdani showed at memorial ceremonies but has no regrets

The lead organizer of a petition that collected more than 113,000 signatures on behalf of families of 9/11 victims demanding New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stay away from the ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the terror attacks said he’s disappointed Hizzoner showed up at Ground Zero — but has no regrets about taking the stand.“Of course we’re disappointed after all the time and work we put into it … but in the end he’s mayor and did what he wanted,” Giovanni Galante told The Post Saturday.Galante – whose 29-year-old wife Grace was among 2,977 innocents killed by al-Qaeda terrorists – said he never dreamed the Change.org petition he drafted in July would score so many signatures.But he said he felt someone had to act because Mamdani has historically been an Islamic terror apologist.“I didn’t want to go through this really – I’m not an advocate, but I’m glad I did,” said the Brooklyn-born real estate agent who now lives in Florida. “And I would do it again, 100 percent! I never expected to get over 113,000 signatures – 113,000 is humongous – I would have been happy with 3,000… We must never forgot [the victims].”He estimated thousands of the signatures collected were directly from the family members of 9/11 victims.Mamdani’s past remarks and associations with people openly hostile to the US or scornful of the worst terror attack in American history — such as vile left-wing influencer Hasan Piker, who once said “America deserved” the Sept.

11, 2001 terror attacks — made his planned attendance a lightning rod for criticism for months, but the mayor brushed off the growing chorus and vowed to attend.Galante said he and many of the other family members of 9/11 victims were prepared to turn their backs on Mamdani and give him an earful at the ceremony — if the opportunity presented itself – but event organizers at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum sat all elected officials away from fami...