New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed executive orders recognizing the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and handed one of the pens to his chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, who once represented an al-Qaida operative and convicted terrorist whose sister was married to one of the hijackers.
New York City leaders and families of Sept. 11 victims slammed the mayor and called the pen handoff insensitive and intentional.
New York State Assemblyman Kalman Yeger posted an image of Mr. Mamdani passing the pen and called it “sick.”
Joyce Cohen Day, whose mother died in the South Tower on Sept. 11, 2001, said Mr. Mamdani deliberately gave one of the pens “to an al Qaeda lawyer. ”
She posted on X: “I’m surprised that Mamdani didn’t give the al Qaeda lawyer models of Flights 11 and 175,” which struck the Twin Towers.
The video of Mr. Mamdani’s pen handoff went viral over the weekend and followed calls from survivors and former first responders urging the mayor to stay away from ground zero ceremonies planned for Friday.
“It’s a bit tone deaf to be signing this 9/11 Executive Order with your Chief Counsel, Ramzi Kassem, a former al Qaeda defense lawyer, in the shot,” former New York Democratic political consultant David Sivella posted on X. “Or was it deliberate on your part to give your Muslim base a hint that this is all BS to pacify other New Yorkers?”
Mr. Mamdani summoned his staff to his office on Friday to sign two executive orders “to honor the victims, first responders and survivors.”
The mayor said the orders establish the city’s “first Day of Remembrance and Service” and call on residents to honor the victims “through service and deep reflection.” The executive order promotes community service and “volunteer opportunities” for New Yorkers and city agencies on Sept. 11.
Mr. Mamdani signed the orders with multiple pens that he handed out to staff who surrounded him. He passed one to Mr. Kassem, who arrived late to the press conference and appeared to smirk when he took hold of the pen.
Mr. Kassem defended Ahmed al-Darbi, a terrorist held at Guantanamo Bay. In 2014, he pleaded guilty to planning an attack on a French oil tanker in 2002 as part of al-Qaida’s efforts to disrupt oil supplies following the Sep. 11 terrorist attack.
Al-Darbi admitted to buying boats, GPS systems and a hydraulic crane to carry out the attack and admitted to handling money from al-Qaida to fund the attack, which killed one crew member and injured 12 sailors.
Al-Darbi’s sister was married to Khalid al-Mihdhar, who was one of the hijackers who crashed a passenger jet into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
A petition calling on Mr. Mamdani to stay away from the Sept. 11 ceremony has collected more than 99,000 signatures.
The petition is organized by Giovanni Galante, whose wife, Grace, died in the 2001 attacks. He listed reasons why Mr. Mamdani’s presence at the event would be disruptive to the families, among them “support for, or associations with individuals whose public statements or records are viewed by concerned family members as dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies.”
The Washington Times has reached out to the mayor’s office.
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