A New York City political gesture over a September 11 remembrance has sparked outrage, with critics calling the choice of who received a ceremonial pen offensive and deliberate, and families and elected officials publicly condemning the move.
After revisiting accounts, footage, and survivor stories from that day, it is hard to pretend this was simply an awkward moment. The mayor signed an executive order recognizing September 11, then handed the ceremonial pen to an aide whose past legal work has drawn fierce criticism. People who lost loved ones or fought on that day reacted with anger and disbelief.
On Friday, the mayor signed an executive order recognizing September 11, and then he gave the pen to an aide and former lawyer who once represented an al-Qaeda terrorist.
That handoff landed like a slap to many New Yorkers because it appeared to spotlight a staffer with a controversial professional record during a solemn remembrance. Observers called the move tone-deaf and disrespectful to victims, survivors, and first responders. For Republicans and many others, the act read as political theater, not a moment of unity.
Administration officials were gathered at City Hall for a pair of executive orders — ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks — one establishing a Day of Remembrance and another beefing up security against future terror threats.
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After Mamdani signed the last of the documents, Hizzoner gave Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch the ceremonial pen, and whispered, “Can you pass this?”
Tisch awkwardly handed it to Mamdani’s chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, who just snuck into the press conference, before she hurried out of the Blue Room — the first official to exit the press conference.
“It was calculated,” retired detective and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice Michael Alcazar told The Post.
“It happened during a ceremony meant to be about the victims, and no one else. 9/11 families didn’t come to City Hall to watch Mamdani spotlight someone whose work intersects with the very ideology that took their loved ones. Commissioner Jessica Tisch was reduced to a prop rather than acknowledging her role as the leader of the NYPD.”
Photos and reactions circulated immediately, and for many viewers the expression on the aide’s face summed up their sense of insult. People who survived the attacks, and families who still grieve, saw a deliberate decision to elevate someone with a record that raises serious questions. The optics mattered because this was meant to be a day centered on loss and sacrifice.
Kassem smirked as he received the pen. He and Mamdani knew exactly what they were doing.
Dennis Warchola, whose brother Michael was a firefighter with FDNY Ladder 5 and was killed in the North Tower, called it “bulls**t.” That raw response echoed across survivor circles and among service members who feel the city should honor their losses without political posturing.
NYC Council Member Vicki Paladino of Queens blasted the move, insisting that “Ramzi Kassem said he was inspired by 9/11 — not to join the fight against terrorism but to defend the terrorists themselves. He doesn’t even belong in this country much less in our government,” she said. “His participation in anything related to 9/11 is an insult to every New Yorker who survived that day, and indeed all Americans,” she continued.
Commentary on social platforms amplified the outrage, with critics using blunt language to call out what they described as a tone of disrespect at City Hall. “Was it deliberate on your part to give your Muslim bae a hint that this is all BS to pacify other New Yorkers?” wrote one commenter in an expletive-laced post expressing suspicion and anger at the administration’s intent.
For Republican readers and many others, this episode is another example of political leadership making choices that alienate and inflame rather than console. The moment invited questions about judgment and priorities at a time when the city should present a united front for grieving families and public safety.
With the 25th anniversary approaching, the choice of who stands front and center during remembrances matters to a lot of people. Families planning to attend memorial events expect respect and solemnity, not what they see as deliberate provocations. Elected officials who want to heal divisions should be mindful that symbolic acts can harm more than they help.
The attention on this ceremonial pen transfer won’t vanish on its own; it will color how many New Yorkers view the administration’s judgment in the days ahead. People who lost family members or served that day deserve gatherings free from political signaling, and those gatherings should be managed with care and common sense.
