A sharp controversy has erupted in New York City after Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed special executive orders late last week commemorating the victims of September 11 and reinforcing municipal readiness against terror threats—only for a gesture immediately following the ceremony to trigger widespread fury.
After the official signing, Mamdani handed the ceremonial pen to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and whispered” “Can you pass this ove”?” The pen was promptly delivered into the hands of Ramzi Kassem, Mamdani’s chief legal counsel, an attorney who previously represented an al-Qaeda terrorist.
Kassem previously served as defense counsel for Ahmed al-Darbi, an al-Qaeda operative convicted of terrorism offenses in connection with the deadly 2002 bombing of the French oil tanker Limburg. The connection to September 11 is especially raw and sensitive: al-Darbi’s sister was married to Khalid al-Mihdhar, one of the five al-Qaeda hijackers who crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon.
The gesture sparked furious condemnation from the families of 9/11 victims and local elected officials across the city. Dennis Vurckio, whose brother Michael, an FDNY firefighter, was killed in the North Tower, voiced outrage: “How could anyone defend a person like that who wants to harm Americans or any innocent person?”