25 years after 9/11, an Al-Qaeda lawyer has Zohran Mamdani's ear
This column was first published by The Washington Examiner.
Well, it actually happened. Zohram Mamdani has become New York City Mayor just a few years after being an unemployed wannabe rapper, a few years after becoming an American citizen, and even fewer years since flipping off Christopher Columbus. In other words, he’s the poster child of the modern Democratic Party, especially when we consider that his first speech as mayor would make Trotsky think “hmm, maybe that’s a bit much?”
Not only did Mamdani declare the replacement of frigid “rugged individualism” with “the warmth of collectivism” — which makes absolute sense if you throw the foundation of the United States into the trash and ignore the tens of millions of people killed by the not-so-warm collectivist ideology in the 20th century alone. Not only did he scrap various anti-antisemitism efforts in New York City — because if there’s one thing we know about Zohran Mamdani, it’s that he’s not a fan of the Jews. Sorry, Israel.
No, arguably the worst thing about Mamdani? The people he surrounds himself with.
I’m not just talking about rapper-turned-activist Mysonne Linen serving on his transition team’s “criminal legal system” committee, with Linen’s expertise presumably built on the seven years he served in prison for armed robbery.
I’m not just talking about Catherine Almonte Da Costa, who resigned after being announced as Mamdani’s Director of Appointments because even she was deemed too antisemitic for the man who called to “globalize the infitada,” such as her 2011 tweet, “Money hungry Jews smh.” Honestly, I’m not sure how Zohran Mamdani even expects to pay for his free buses, free healthcare, free childcare, or free anything without taxing a few “money hungry Jews” into oblivion.
And I’m not even talking about his multiple worrying close associations, including Cassie Wilson, an influencer whose hilarious videos include her Christmas declaration to “kill all the billionaires.”
No, the most stunning indication of Mamdani’s spit-in-our-eye radicalism? His selection of Ramzi Kassem — a lawyer whose clients include Mahmoud Khalil and an al-Qaeda terrorist who was convicted of bombing a French oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden in 2002— as the city’s chief counsel, set to advise Mamdani and City Hall on legal matters.
When I saw this news, my first reaction was something in the neighborhood of “yeah, of course.” After all, it’s hardly surprising that an Islamist communist would place allies in the fight for Islamization at the center of his mission.
But then I remembered — lest we forget — that this is happening in New York City. Then I asked myself: if we could time travel back to September 12, 2001, would any — and I mean quite literally any — New Yorker believe that just over 24 years later, a lawyer who defended an al-Qaeda terrorist would be the city’s chief counsel — let alone the chief counsel under something who, to put it as politely as possible, isn’t all that opposed to Islamic terrorism?
In 2001, we vowed to never forget. Twenty five years later, it’s clear that New York — at least, those who voted for Zohran Mamdani — have forgotten.