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Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has tapped a controversial lawyer who defended an al Qaeda terrorist and a radical anti-Israel campus leader at Columbia for a “high-ranking” position at City Hall, The Post has learned.
Ramzi Kassem, who is also a law professor at City University of New York and a member of Mamdani’s transition team for legal affairs, is the top candidate for Chief Counsel, the most important advisory role in the mayor’s office, according to a source close to the transition team.
Kassem, 47, was one of the attorneys who defended Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born leader of the pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and earmarked for deportation. However, after 104 days in a detention camp judges ruled he should be released.
In addition to 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 well with the Jewish community,” said Ken Frydman, a Democratic political operative.
“Everyone’s entitled to legal representation…even Mahmoud Khalil. But that doesn’t mean Ramzi Kassem had to represent him,” he added to The Post.
Kassem, who was born in Syria, was also engaged in anti-Israel protests at Columbia, where he attended law school on a fellowship funded by members of leftwing activists the Soros family, records show.
In 1999, he wrote a letter to the editor of the Columbia Spectator newspaper criticizing the naming of a sandwich as an “Israeli wrap” because it was offensive to Muslims and Arabs, he said.
In other columns for the newspaper, he wrote that Israel’s behavior amounted to “a clear case of ethnic cleansing,” and in another article in 1998 he wrote that Jews had come to the Middle East “with the intention of conquering the land.” A two-state solution between Israel and Palestine “is not viable, nor is it desirable,” he claimed.
Other sources said they felt Kassem would be a “great choice” for the job.
“It is past time that Corp Counsel’s office be given an upgrade and refresh. I have no giant objection to the way Corp Counsel has been functioning but so many people at the top have just been there for too long,” said lawyer Ron Kuby.
In 2009, Kassem founded a legal clinic at CUNY, which offers free legal representation to Muslims and other communities in New York City. The nonprofit, Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR) is largely funded by progressive philanthropist George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, which have given the clinic more than $3 million, public records show.
CLEAR has also received at least $1 million from MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
In 2022, the Biden administration named Kassem a senior policy advisor on immigration issues.
Kassem and Mamdani’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post.
He isn’t the only controversial attorney up for the top spot. The Post previously revealed that self-touted “social justice attorney” Steven Banks was on the shortlist for Corporation Counsel in what insiders worried would bring too much of an activist mentality to the role, which is the primary attorney for every agency in the city.
The controversial Council on American Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights group in the US, honored Kassem with an award in September for his work defending Khalil. Both Texas and Florida have recently designated CAIR a foreign terrorist organization.
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