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Mayor Zohran Mamdani meant to sign executive orders creating a citywide Day of Remembrance and Service for 9/11 and to update emergency plans. What he got instead was a photo-op that feels like a slap in the face to the families who lost loved ones. In a split-second ceremony, the ceremonial pen passed from the mayor to Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and then into the hands of Chief Counsel Ramzi Kassem — a lawyer who once defended a Guantánamo detainee later convicted on al‑Qaeda‑linked charges. That small gesture has exploded into a big controversy, and for good reason.
A tone-deaf moment at City Hall
The sequence is plain on the City Hall video: Mayor Zohran Mamdani signs the orders, passes the pen to Commissioner Tisch, who then hands it to Chief Counsel Ramzi Kassem. Kassem’s legal résumé is real and public — a former CUNY law professor and the founder of a legal clinic, who represented clients at Guantánamo, including Ahmed al‑Darbi. Al‑Darbi later pleaded guilty to charges tied to the MV Limburg attack and has documented links to one of the 9/11 hijackers. Whether Kassem provided necessary legal representation or not, that image sent a clear message to many: bad optics, and very bad timing ahead of the 25th anniversary.
Defense work is legal — optics matter to victims
Defenders of Kassem are right on one fundamental point: lawyers represent unpopular clients all the time. That’s part of the rule of law. But legal correctness doesn’t erase reality. When you stage a solemn remembrance for the worst terror attack on American soil, you do not hand the pen to someone publicly tied to the defense of an individual linked to al‑Qaeda. City Hall says Kassem’s office helped draft the executive orders — fine. Then have him in the room, not playing a prop. Families of 9/11 victims organized a petition and hundreds of thousands clicked to sign; former Mayor Rudy Giuliani called the gesture offensive. Those reactions aren’t theatrical overreaches — they’re predictable and reasonable.
Politics, respect, and the fallout
This is more than a bad photo. It is proof that political theater still matters in New York politics. Mayor Mamdani can say he will attend memorial ceremonies and “honor the families, the survivors, the first responders.” But words ring hollow if the administration keeps making avoidable stumbles. The debate here isn’t about banning lawyers from their jobs. It’s about placing politics and optics ahead of plain respect for grieving families at a solemn moment. If you represent a city at a 9/11 remembrance, you should act like you understand what that day means to ordinary New Yorkers.
What should happen next?
Mayor Mamdani should do the obvious: publicly explain the handoff in clear terms, apologize to any families offended, and pledge specific steps to avoid similar missteps during anniversary events. A written clarification that Kassem did legal drafting work isn’t enough — details and transparency are. If he truly wants to honor victims and first responders, let actions, not photo ops, prove it. The city can have a chief counsel who defends civil liberties and also show basic decency toward those who lost everything on that tragic day. That would be a welcome change from political theater — and New Yorkers deserve nothing less.
