Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has tapped a controversial lawyer who defended an al Qaeda terrorist and a radical anti-Israel campus chief at Columbia for a “high-ranking” place at Metropolis Corridor, The Publish has discovered.
Ramzi Kassem, who can be a regulation professor at Metropolis College of New York and a member of Mamdani’s transition workforce for authorized affairs, is the highest candidate for Chief Counsel, a very powerful advisory position within the mayor’s workplace, in line with a supply near the transition workforce.
Kassem, 47, was one of many attorneys who defended Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born chief of the pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and earmarked for deportation. Nonetheless, after 104 days in a detention camp judges dominated he needs to be launched.
Along with Khalil, Kassem helped to defend terrorist Ahmed al-Darbi, an al Qaeda member who was convicted in 2017 of bombing a French oil tanker, the Limburg, off the coast of Yemen in 2002.
“Kassem’s appointment to corp counsel wouldn’t sit effectively with the Jewish neighborhood,” stated Ken Frydman, a Democratic political operative.
“Everybody’s entitled to authorized illustration…even Mahmoud Khalil. However that doesn’t imply Ramzi Kassem needed to characterize him,” he added to The Publish.
Kassem, who was born in Syria, was additionally engaged in anti-Israel protests at Columbia, the place he attended regulation faculty on a fellowship funded by members of leftwing activists the Soros household, information present.
In 1999, he wrote a letter to the editor of the Columbia Spectator newspaper criticizing the naming of a sandwich as an “Israeli wrap” as a result of it was offensive to Muslims and Arabs, he stated.
In different columns for the newspaper, he wrote that Israel’s conduct amounted to “a transparent case of ethnic cleaning,” and in one other article in 1998 he wrote that Jews had come to the Center East “with the intention of conquering the land.” A two-state resolution between Israel and Palestine “is just not viable, neither is it fascinating,” he claimed.
Different sources stated they felt Kassem could be a “nice alternative” for the job.
“It’s previous time that Corp Counsel’s workplace be given an improve and refresh. I’ve no large objection to the best way Corp Counsel has been functioning however so many individuals on the prime have simply been there for too lengthy,” stated lawyer Ron Kuby.
In 2009, Kassem based a authorized clinic at CUNY, which presents free authorized illustration to Muslims and different communities in New York Metropolis. The nonprofit, Creating Regulation Enforcement Accountability and Duty (CLEAR) is essentially funded by progressive philanthropist George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, which have given the clinic greater than $3 million, public information present.
CLEAR has additionally acquired a minimum of $1 million from MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
In 2022, the Biden administration named Kassem a senior coverage advisor on immigration points.
Kassem and Mamdani’s marketing campaign didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from The Publish.
He isn’t the one controversial legal professional up for the highest spot. The Publish beforehand revealed that self-touted “social justice legal professional” Steven Banks was on the shortlist for Company Counsel in what insiders fearful would convey an excessive amount of of an activist mentality to the position, which is the first legal professional for each company within the metropolis.
The controversial Council on American Islamic Relations, the biggest Muslim civil rights group within the US, honored Kassem with an award in September for his work defending Khalil. Each Texas and Florida have just lately designated CAIR a overseas terrorist group.
