Mamdani eyes anti-Israel lawyer for top City Hall role

Kassem has a lengthy history of anti-Israel activism dating back to his student days at Columbia University.

By World Israel News Staff

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is considering a controversial civil rights lawyer with a long record of defending terrorists and attacking Israel for one of the most powerful legal positions in New York City government, according to a source familiar with the transition process.

Ramzi Kassem, a law professor at the City University of New York and a member of Mamdani’s transition team for legal affairs, has emerged as the leading candidate for chief counsel to the mayor, the top legal advisory role in the administration.

The potential appointment was first reported by the New York Post, citing a source close to the transition team.

Kassem has built a national profile representing Guantanamo Bay detainees, including Ahmed al-Darbi, an al Qaeda terrorist convicted in 2017 for involvement in the bombing of a French oil tanker.

He has also represented other detainees described by U.S. authorities as senior or close associates of Osama bin Laden. His legal career has been championed by progressive activist circles, while drawing sharp criticism from Jewish and pro-Israel groups.

Beyond his legal work, Kassem has a lengthy history of anti-Israel activism dating back to his student days at Columbia University.

According to reporting by the Washington Free Beacon, Kassem wrote multiple opinion pieces accusing Israel of “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing,” and illegitimacy, and argued that Zionism itself obstructs peace.

In a 1998 article in the Columbia Spectator, he claimed there was “sufficient evidence” of a “systematic genocide” against Palestinians, and in later writings rejected the viability of a two-state solution while endorsing a so-called Palestinian “right of return” that would effectively erase Israel as a Jewish state.

Kassem has also defended radical anti-Israel activists on U.S. campuses.

Most recently, he represented Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a group that publicly backed Hamas’s “armed resistance” against Israel and led illegal encampments demanding academic and economic boycotts of the Jewish state.

Khalil served as a lead negotiator during last year’s encampment protests, which sparked widespread concern over antisemitism on campus.

In 2022, Kassem was appointed as a senior immigration policy adviser to the Biden administration’s Domestic Policy Council, a move that drew scrutiny amid concerns about rising antisemitism and the administration’s posture toward Israel.

The Free Beacon noted at the time that Kassem’s academic home, CUNY School of Law, had repeatedly faced allegations of fostering a hostile environment for Jewish students and promoting anti-Israel boycotts.

Mamdani’s own record on Israel has intensified concern over Kassem’s potential elevation.

The mayor-elect has repeatedly accused Israel of apartheid and genocide, endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, and participated in rallies targeting Israeli policy.

At a July 2023 protest in Manhattan, Mamdani urged supporters to oppose what he called “state subsidy of settler crimes,” while following the October 7 Hamas massacre he criticized Israel’s response and called for “ending the occupation and dismantling apartheid.”

Mamdani is scheduled to be sworn in as New York City’s 111th mayor on January 1, 2026. If confirmed as Chief Counsel, Kassem would play a central role in shaping the city’s legal strategy, advising the mayor on litigation, legislation, and policy priorities.

The prospect of placing a lawyer with a record of defending al Qaeda terrorists and advancing extreme anti-Israel positions in such a senior role has already sparked alarm among Jewish leaders, who warn it would further legitimize hostility toward Israel and deepen concerns about antisemitism within New York City government.

anti-Israel activismNew York CityRamzi KassemZohran Mamdani