There are moments in public life when you can afford to make a mistake. The 25th anniversary of September 11th isn’t one of them. Yet somehow, Mayor Zohran Mamdani found a way to turn what should have been a solemn commemoration into another controversy that leaves 9/11 families rightfully furious.
The facts are simple enough. Mamdani signed executive orders Friday related to the upcoming 25th anniversary of the attacks, declaring it a citywide day of remembrance and service. Standard stuff. Important, yes, but straightforward. After signing the final order, he handed the ceremonial pen to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and asked her to pass it to Ramzi Kassem, his chief counsel. That’s where things went sideways.
Kassem previously represented Ahmed al-Darbi, a Guantánamo Bay detainee who pleaded guilty to war crimes connected to al Qaeda plots against commercial ships. But here’s the kicker that makes this particularly awful: al-Darbi’s brother-in-law was Khalid al-Mihdhar, one of the terrorists who hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 and flew it into the Pentagon, killing 184 innocent people.
You don’t need a political science degree to understand why this stings. Giovanni Galante, who lost his wife Grace on that terrible day, is now organizing a petition to ban Mamdani from the September ceremony at Ground Zero. Can you blame him? The man watched his wife die in an act of terror, and now he’s watching the mayor hand out commemorative pens to someone who defended people connected to those very terrorists.
City Hall’s response was predictably bureaucratic. They told the New York Post that Kassem attended because he and his team drafted the executive orders as part of his duties as chief counsel. Technically accurate, maybe. But this defense misses the entire point. Yes, defense attorneys serve an important role in our legal system. That’s not the issue here. The issue is awareness, sensitivity, and basic human decency when it comes to the families still grieving 23 years later.
There’s something larger at play here that goes beyond one pen at one ceremony. It speaks to a disconnect that’s becoming harder to ignore. New York City isn’t some abstract concept or political playground. It’s ground zero, literally. This is where nearly 3,000 people died. Where fathers kissed their children goodbye and never came home. Where firefighters ran into collapsing towers while everyone else ran out. Where the smell of burning steel and worse hung in the air for weeks.
The symbolic weight of that pen matters because symbols are how we show respect to the fallen and their families. When you’re signing orders specifically meant to honor those who died fighting Islamic terrorism, maybe don’t hand the pen to someone whose legal career included defending people tied to that exact network. It’s not complicated moral calculus.
Former New York state Senate candidate Maria Danzilo captured the frustration perfectly when she wrote that it’s hard being in New York City with this mayor, especially approaching the most solemn day on the city’s calendar. She’s right. New Yorkers deserve a leader who gets it instinctively, who doesn’t need a political consultant to explain why this looks bad.
Mamdani already faced criticism for years of recycled 9/11 tributes that seemed perfunctory at best. Now this. At some point, the pattern becomes the story. The question isn’t whether Kassem had a right to be there or whether defense attorneys deserve respect for their constitutional role. The question is whether Mamdani understands the city he’s supposed to lead and the people he’s supposed to serve.
The answer, unfortunately, seems clear.
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