Incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani is raising eyebrows for appointing to serve as New York City’s chief counsel an attorney who built his career as the go-to lawyer for al Qaeda terrorists stuck at Guantanamo Bay. 

Ramzi Kassem, a professor at the City University of New York School of Law, was tapped to fill the city’s top legal role in Mr. Mamdani’s incoming administration. The mayor-elect announced the appointment on Tuesday, praising Mr. Kassem for his “remarkable experience and his commitment to defending those too often abandoned by our legal system.” He predicted that “City Hall will be stronger with him in it.”

As the city’s chief counsel, Mr. Kassem will be responsible for providing Mr. Mamdani with legal guidance on policy and legislation to ensure that the city’s operations are lawful and ethical. His appointment will not need to be approved by the City Council. 

Mr. Kassem was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and later moved to America, where he completed his undergraduate and law degrees at Columbia University. As a student, Mr. Kassem was a prominent anti-Israel activist who petitioned the school to rename a dining hall sandwich from the “Israeli wrap” to what he called the “more inclusive” Middle-Eastern wrap. In columns for the university paper, Mr. Kassem wrote about throwing stones at Israel from the Lebanese border.

Mr. Kassem has also been vocal in his criticism of the overuse of the “terrorist” label. In a 2001 op-ed, he described the September 11 attacks as a result of “resentment these terrorists felt towards the United States” and “our country’s policies.”

After the attacks, Mr. Kassem shifted his focus to representing detainees held at Guantanamo Bay and Bagram Air Base. One of his clients, al Qaeda member Ahmed al-Darbi, pleaded guilty in 2014 to planning a terrorist attack on a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen. Mr. Kassem and his students have represented at least 15 prisoners held at Guantanamo and other facilities.

In 2009, he founded a legal clinic at CUNY Law School to provide free legal services to Muslims accused of terrorism. He later joined the Biden administration as a senior policy adviser for immigration at the White House Domestic Policy Council.

In 2024, while still working at the White House, Mr. Kassem was recruited by a hard-line anti-Israel group, Within Our Lifetime, to lead an “emergency session” on a “survival guide to arrests and jail support” ahead of a planned protest on the anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 massacre. Within Our Lifetime has openly expressed support for the October 7 terror attack and has been behind some of the most virulent anti-Israel protests on college campuses. 

Mr. Kassem is currently representing an anti-Israel student activist at Columbia University, Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in March after the State Department revoked his visa and green card. Mr. Kassem is among the lawyers helping the 31-year-old activist challenge his deportation.

In announcing Mr. Kassem’s new role, the mayor-elect boasted that Mr. Kassem has “been on the front lines of providing legal defense for students detained by ICE and supporting many more at risk.”

The appointment was lauded by a Muslim advocacy group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which called the move “a powerful affirmation of the city’s commitment to justice, civil rights and the rule of law.” 

CAIR itself was recently designated by both Florida and Texas as a terrorist organization over its alleged ties to terror groups. In his proclamation, Governor Greg Abbott of Texas cited evidence of CAIR members’ affiliations with “terrorism-related activities” and noted that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has identified the nonprofit as a “front group” for Hamas and its support network in America. The group has denied the allegations.

Mr. Mamdani’s selection of Mr. Kassem was also applauded by anti-Israel activist and co-founder of Within Our Lifetime, Nerdeen Kiswani, who called it “Mamdani’s best appointment yet.” Ms. Kiswani was named “Antisemite of the Year” in 2020 by a Jewish advocacy group that referenced her role in staging pro-Hamas protests across New York City.  

The mayor elect will be sworn in on Thursday, January 1, with the help of Attorney General Letitia James of New York and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Mr. Mamdani, the first Muslim to lead City Hall, will also be the first mayor of New York to be sworn in on a Quran. His advisers said last week that he will use several Qurans during the swearing in ceremonies, including one that belonged to his grandfather.