The United States marks the 24th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on Thursday, commemorating nearly 3,000 lives lost in the plane hijackings that reshaped the nation.
Vice President JD Vance is set to join ceremonies at Ground Zero in New York, while President Trump and First Lady Melania will attend the Pentagon service honoring the 184 victims there. Ceremonies will also honor Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back against the hijackers.
New York observed a citywide moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., when Flight 11 struck the North Tower, as church bells rang and victims’ families read the names of the dead at Ground Zero.
The official death toll of 9/11 reached 2,977, counting passengers and crew on the four planes, victims in the Twin Towers, firefighters, and Pentagon personnel—but not the 19 Al-Qaeda terrorist hijackers.
This year’s commemoration comes amid deep political rifts. New York’s mayoral race pits socialist Democrat Zohran Mamdani against former governor Andrew Cuomo and incumbent Eric Adams. Many have branded Mamdani a “communist lunatic,” and some have even urged his deportation.
“It was this horrific day that was also for many New Yorkers the moment at which they were marked an ‘other,'” Mamdani told The New York Times, describing a perceived surge in Islamophobic attacks that followed 9/11.
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