New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has drawn sharp criticism after a decision he made during a 9/11 remembrance ceremony on Friday, which many believe was an intentional insult to the victims of the September 11 attacks.
The mayor signed a declaration commemorating the 25th anniversary of the terrorist strikes that claimed 2,977 American lives. In his statement, Mamdani said: “The families who lost loved ones on 9/11 have every right to be outraged. On the 25th anniversary, City Hall should be honoring their sacrifice with dignity, not forcing those families to endure yet another insult.”
However, many New Yorkers were offended when he handed a ceremonial pen to Ramzi Kassem, who had previously acted as legal counsel for Ahmed al-Darbi, a convicted al-Qaeda terrorist whose brother-in-law hijacked the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11. Ahmed al-Darbi was sent to Guantanamo Bay on terror charges and later convicted in 2017 before being transferred to Saudi Arabia.
Social media users expressed their anger with comments such as: “He’s pissing on everyone who went in to try to save people in the towers.” and “Mamdani handed that guy that pen very fkin intentionally.”
Republican Council Member Joann Ariola condemned the gesture as “breathtakingly tone-deaf and disrespectful,” adding, “The families who lost loved ones on 9/11 have every right to be outraged. On the 25th anniversary, City Hall should be honoring their sacrifice with dignity, not forcing those families to endure yet another insult.”
City Hall stated that Kassem was at the ceremony because his team drafted the declaration as Mamdani’s legal counsel.
