The controversy ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 11 September\n2001 attacks in New York is heating up. New York City Mayor Zohran\nMamdani has confirmed he will attend the main ceremony at Ground Zero on\nFriday (11\/9\/2026), despite calls from some victims\u2019 families and a\nnumber of political figures for him to stay away.<\/p>\n
The latest pressure came from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani,\nwho led the city when two planes struck the World Trade Center on 11\nSeptember 2001. Giuliani publicly asked Mamdani to skip this year\u2019s\ncommemoration ceremony. Former New York Governor George Pataki had also\npreviously voiced opposition to Mamdani\u2019s attendance.<\/p>\n
Mamdani, however, has not wavered. He affirmed that he will stand\nwith victims\u2019 families, survivors and first responders as New York marks\na quarter century since the tragedy. Mamdani also stressed his love for\nNew York and the United States, and asked that the focus remain on those\nwho lost family members and on those who risked their lives to save\ncitizens in 2001.<\/p>\n
The debate over Mamdani\u2019s attendance has in fact been running for\nseveral weeks. A petition initiated by a number of 9\/11 victims\u2019\nfamilies urged organisers to reconsider his involvement in the ceremony.\nBy early September, the petition had gathered more than 98,000\nsignatures from members of the public.<\/p>\n
Now, just days before the main ceremony, the controversy has found\nfresh fuel. The source is an object that is physically small but carries\nenormous symbolic weight: the pen Mamdani used to sign executive orders\nrelated to 9\/11.<\/p>\n
The pen that sparked the row<\/p>\n
On Friday (4\/9\/2026), Mamdani gathered a number of senior New York\nofficials at City Hall. Among them were New York Police Commissioner\nJessica Tisch, officials from the New York Fire Department (FDNY),\nemergency management officials, and the mayor\u2019s chief counsel, Ramzi\nKassem.<\/p>\n
Mamdani then signed two executive orders ahead of the 25th\nanniversary of 9\/11. The first order designates 11 September each year\nas a Citywide Day of Remembrance and Service across New York City. It\ndirects the city government to hold moments of silence, commemorative\nevents, educational programmes and community service activities.<\/p>\n
The second order updates New York\u2019s government continuity planning\nfor the first time since 2007. It also establishes a cross-agency team\nto ensure essential government services continue running when the city\nfaces an attack, disaster or other emergency.<\/p>\n
The controversy erupted after the signing ceremony concluded.\nAccording to reports by Fox News and the New York Post, Mamdani gave the\npen he had used to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and asked Tisch to\npass it on to Kassem. A photograph from the NYC Office of the Mayor\nshows Tisch subsequently handing the pen to the mayor\u2019s chief\ncounsel.<\/p>\n
For the city government, Kassem is no stranger to the policy\u2019s\ndrafting. As chief counsel, he and his legal team were involved in\npreparing the two executive orders that had just been signed.<\/p>\n
However, to Mamdani\u2019s critics, Kassem\u2019s professional history makes\nthe gift of the pen symbolically problematic. Kassem was once a lawyer\nfor Ahmed al-Darbi, a Saudi Arabian citizen detained at Guantanamo Bay\nwho later pleaded guilty to a number of war crimes charges connected to\nan Al-Qaeda plot against commercial ships.<\/p>\n
A number of Republican politicians condemned the decision as\ninsensitive to 9\/11 victims\u2019 families. The criticism spread rapidly\nacross social media and conservative American media. But the connection\nbetween Kassem, al-Darbi and the 9\/11 attacks requires further\nexplanation.<\/p>\n
Who is Ramzi Kassem?<\/p>\n
Kassem has never been charged with or found to have been involved in\nthe 11 September attacks. He is a lawyer and legal academic who, in his\nprofessional capacity, has represented a number of Guantanamo\ndetainees.<\/p>\n
A City University of New York (CUNY) profile describes Kassem as a\nlaw professor and founder of the CLEAR Clinic. His areas of work include\nconstitutional rights, national security, immigration, wartime detention\nand war crimes cases. He also served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the\nWhite House from 2022 to 2024.<\/p>\n
Kassem has argued cases before the US Supreme Court, federal courts,\nimmigration courts and the Military Commission at Guantanamo Bay.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/zohran-mamdani-to-attend-ground-zero-ceremony-despite-growing-controversy-1788843141", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }