New York City narrowly averted a catastrophe on Saturday. Outside Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the mayor, two men—Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi—attempted to detonate shrapnel-filled improvised explosive devices. Their targets were NYPD officers and a group of anti-Islam protesters. By the grace of incompetent engineering, the bombs gave off smoke and flames but did not explode. According to federal prosecutors, the suspects said they were inspired by ISIS, the jihadist group that the U.S. has tried to fully stamp out for more than a decade. They now face federal terrorism charges, among others.
The episode was, in many ways, a test for New York’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani. As a progressive Muslim leader whose own home was the site of this near disaster, his response was bound to draw scrutiny.
