NEW: NYPD Chief Appears To Clap Back At Mamdani In Speech Marking 25 Years Since 9/11

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch appeared to take a thinly veiled shot at Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday, demanding “moral clarity” about the Sept. 11 terror attacks as the stone-faced socialist mayor looked on.

The commissioner’s pointed warning came during the unveiling of a new 9/11 Memorial Wall at One Police Plaza, just two days before the 25th anniversary of the attacks.

“Preserving that history also means preserving its moral clarity,” Tisch told relatives of first responders gathered for the ceremony.

“The men who attacked this city were terrorists. The men and women who ran into the towers to save innocent lives were heroes,” she continued.

“Twenty-five years cannot be allowed to blur that distinction and shame on those who do.”

Tisch did not identify anyone by name, but her comments were quickly interpreted by several attendees and Mamdani critics as a possible dig at the mayor.

The unusually blunt warning came amid a bitter political fight over Mamdani’s participation in the quarter-century remembrance. It also followed a controversial exchange involving his chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, who previously represented an al Qaeda terrorist.

Three attendees told The Post they snickered when Tisch invoked “moral clarity,” believing the commissioner was sending a message to the mayor.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch demands ‘moral clarity’ on 9/11 with Mamdani by her side https://t.co/S4pVbI0Um5 pic.twitter.com/XVCe0xncZ2

— New York Post (@nypost) September 9, 2026

“It definitely sounded like she took a shot at the mayor, especially after the pen incident last week,” said one attendee.

Mamdani did not visibly react during the remarks.

The newly unveiled wall includes 469 additional names honoring NYPD members who have died from illnesses connected to their work at Ground Zero. Tisch said preserving the memorial also meant safeguarding the truth about the terrorists who attacked New York and the heroes who rushed toward danger.

NYPD officials did not say whom Tisch had in mind when pressed by The Post.

A source close to the commissioner pushed back on claims that the comments were specifically aimed at Mamdani.

“It is, I think, much more generally about the politicization of 9/11,” the insider said.

The timing, however, immediately raised eyebrows.

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Days earlier, Mamdani signed executive orders recognizing Sept. 11 and strengthening the city’s emergency preparations. After signing the documents, the mayor asked Tisch to pass the ceremonial pen to Kassem.

Kassem, a civil rights attorney and Mamdani’s chief counsel, previously represented convicted al Qaeda operative Ahmed al-Darbi. Al-Darbi was imprisoned for his role in the 2002 bombing of a French oil tanker. His brother-in-law was one of the hijackers aboard the plane that struck the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

The pen handoff infuriated some 9/11 families and elected officials who considered it deeply inappropriate.

Mamdani has also faced questions about figures in his political orbit, including left-wing online personality Hasan Piker. Piker previously said that “America deserved 9/11.” He later walked back his 2019 comments, saying he meant that U.S. actions in the Middle East could have a boomerang effect.

Councilwoman Vickie Paladino, a Queens Republican and outspoken Mamdani critic, appeared to read Tisch’s remarks as a rebuke.

“Good work by commissioner Jessica Tisch here,” Paladino posted on X.

Paladino is among a group of New Yorkers urging Mamdani to skip Friday’s anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero. The group also includes relatives of 9/11 victims, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Gov. George Pataki.

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Mamdani’s defenders have slammed the campaign as Islamophobic.

“The reason people are attacking Zohran Mamdani & objecting to his presence at 9/11 ceremony is because he is Muslim,” Councilman Lincoln Restler, a Brooklyn Democrat, posted on X.

“This bigotry from Blakeman, Giuliani and others is disgusting.”

Some social media users suggested Tisch’s comments might have been aimed at Mamdani’s critics rather than the mayor.

“TISCH: ‘We must speak with moral clarity against [LACK OF CLARITY COMMENCES] those people who confuse the heroes with the terrorists,’ a self-described Democratic Socialist X user posted.

Another user mocked the ambiguity surrounding Tisch’s remarks.

“[Zohran thinking] ‘Wait, is she defending me or scolding me?’” the user sniped.

Mamdani and Tisch have publicly acknowledged their sharp disagreements over Israel and public safety, though the two have largely maintained a united front before the cameras.

They later appeared together at a briefing on the city’s security preparations for the 25th anniversary of the attacks.

Mamdani also attended the FDNY’s official Sept. 11 anniversary commemoration at the Staten Island FerryHawks stadium, where the city honored the 343 FDNY members killed that day.

The mayor did not speak during the ceremony, according to sources. Mamdani was booed during an NYPD event on Staten Island last month.

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