'Mamdani views himself as an executor of a pan-Islamist movement': Tiana Lowe Doescher

News about the White House, Congress and the Federal Government www.washingtonexaminer.com By Britta Miller , 1 hours ago Washington Examiner economics columnist Tiana Lowe Doescher criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for handing a symbolic 9/11 pen to a lawyer who once represented al Qaeda. Mamdani signed executive orders on Friday, designating Sept. 11 as a citywide day of remembrance. Mamdani handed ceremonial pens to members of his staff, including New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch. After signing the last order, Mamdani asked Tisch to pass a pen to chief counsel Ramzi Kassem. Kassem previously represented Ahmed al Darbi, who pleaded guilty to war-crime charges tied to al Qaeda, according to Fox News. 'I don't think Jessica Tisch will forget. I don't think New York City's law enforcement, firefighters, those first responders who ran into the burning buildings, they will [not] forget,' Doescher said Monday on Newsmax2's John Bachman Now . Doescher argued that Mamdani will justify his actions by saying something like, ''This is just because this is our chief legal counsel in New York.'' She criticized the mayor for choosing Kassem as his chief counsel, saying 'it's a choice.' Mamdani has faced backlash from the event, with commenters saying handing the pen to Kassem undermines the importance of the day. 'This is a slap in the face to victims ahead of the 25th anniversary of 9/11,' podcaster Benny Johnson said on X. Doescher slammed one of Mamdani's posts from 2023 about 9/11, where he "referred to the 3,000 New Yorkers who were murdered by terrorists as 'them dying.'' 'Nearly 3,000 New Yorkers died on 9/11; 22 years later, the death hasn't stopped,' Mamdani said on X. 'What is he saying is morally equivalent to the murder of 3,000 innocent American civilians?" Doescher said. Doescher argued that Mamdani is restoring Islamism, as seen through his support of Gaza. 'Mamdani views himself as an executor of a pan-Islamist movement,' Doescher said. GIULIANI SCORNS MAMDANI'S PRESENCE AT 9/11 ANNIVERSARY: 'IT OFFENDS ME' Doescher said Mamdani's 'number one issue is talking about Israel and Gaza,' despite being 'American-raised for the most part,' and neither Palestinian nor someone who has ever lived in Palestine. 'It is not about Islam. There are millions of Americans who are Muslim who cried on 9/11, who understood that it was an atrocity, it was an attack on America, because they are also patriots,' Doescher said.