New York Mayor-elect Set to Name Al-Qaida Terrorist Defense Attorney as Chief Counsel
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is expected to appoint Ramzi Kassem, a law professor at The City University of New York and a member of his transition team for legal affairs, to the chief counsel position in his administration.
Kassem, 47, has represented Ahmed al-Darbi, an al-Qaida terrorist convicted in 2017 for his role in the 2002 bombing of the French oil tanker Limburg off the coast of Yemen. He was also among the attorneys who defended Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born leader of a pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia University who faced deportation proceedings.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations honored Kassem with an award in September for his work representing Khalil.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have each designated CAIR a “foreign terrorist organization” under state authority, though the group is not listed as such by the federal government and has challenged the actions in court.
Ken Frydman, a Democrat political operative, stated that Kassem’s potential appointment “wouldn’t sit well with the Jewish community,” noting New York is home to the nation’s largest Jewish population.
Kassem has also participated in anti-Israel protests at Columbia University, where he attended law school on a fellowship funded by members of the Soros family, according to public records.
In a 1999 letter to the editor of the Columbia Spectator student newspaper, Kassem criticized the naming of a sandwich as an “Israeli wrap,” writing that the term was offensive to Muslims and Arabs.
In separate columns for the student paper, he described Israel’s behavior as amounting to “a clear case of ethnic cleansing.”
He also wrote in a 1998 column that Jews had come to the Middle East “with the intention of conquering the land” and that a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine “is not viable, nor is it desirable.”
Other sources believe Kassem would be a strong choice for the role. Lawyer Ron Kuby stated: “It is past time that the Corp Counsel’s office be given an upgrade and refresh.”
In 2009, Kassem founded a legal clinic at The City University of New York offering free legal representation to Muslims and other communities in New York.
The nonprofit Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR), which has received over $3 million from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and at least $1 million from MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is associated with Kassem.
In 2022, the Biden administration named Kassem a senior policy adviser on immigration issues.
Neither Kassem nor Mamdani’s campaign has responded to requests for comment.
