Adam Hamawy Just Won a Congressional Primary - Why Are American Jews Alarmed?
Adam Hamawy, the Democrat headed to Congress from New Jersey, testified as a defense witness for the Blind Sheikh, drove him to jihad sermons, and volunteered with an Al Qaeda-linked charity. Here's what American Jews need to know.
Dr. Adam Hamawy, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who served as a combat trauma surgeon and became a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, won the Democratic primary for New Jersey's 12th Congressional District on Tuesday — and the Jewish community is paying close attention to what comes next.
In a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one across Mercer, Middlesex, and Somerset counties, winning the primary is effectively winning the seat. Hamawy is now on course to become a United States congressman. For many American Jews, that prospect raises serious and specific concerns.
Who Is He?
On the surface, Hamawy's biography is impressive. He deployed to Iraq, treated wounded soldiers, and is credited with helping save the life of Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth after her helicopter was shot down in 2004. He garnered endorsements from progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders and several Squad members, and was boosted by a pro-Palestinian super PAC that spent more than $1.5 million supporting his campaign.
But it is what lies beneath the resume that has drawn alarm.
The Blind Sheikh
During the campaign, it emerged that when Hamawy was in his 20s, he was called as a defense witness in the trial of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the Egyptian-born cleric convicted of conspiracy in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. That bombing killed six people and injured over a thousand others in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks on US soil before September 11.
According to investigative reporting, the relationship went beyond a single court appearance. Hamawy had served as a driver and translator for Abdel-Rahman in the early 1990s, accompanying him to a Michigan conference where the sheikh delivered sermons calling for jihad. After the 1993 bombing, Hamawy visited Abdel-Rahman in custody. At his 1995 federal trial, he took the stand for the defense.
A spokesperson told CNN that Hamawy "condemns that man's violent rhetoric and actions," characterizing the contacts as limited and from decades ago.
The Al Qaeda-Linked Charity
The Blind Sheikh association is not the only item in Hamawy's file. In 1994, shortly after the World Trade Center bombing, he traveled to Bosnia to volunteer with the Benevolence International Foundation. That organization was later raided by authorities, designated a terrorist financier, and found to have documented ties to Osama bin Laden, referenced in the 9/11 Commission Report. Hamawy has described his work there as purely humanitarian and medical.
Why This Matters to American Jews
The concerns here are not merely biographical. They are institutional and political.
Hamawy is outspoken in his support for Palestinians and has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. He has volunteered in Gaza. He supports dismantling the Department of Homeland Security. He received $2 million from American Priorities, a pro-Palestinian super PAC launched this year specifically to elect anti-AIPAC candidates to Congress.
Taken individually, any one of these positions might be contested but unremarkable in today's Democratic Party. Taken together, alongside the documented history with Abdel-Rahman and the Bosnia charity, they paint a picture that many in the Jewish community find deeply troubling: a man with a documented proximity to Islamist terror networks in the 1990s, who today holds views on Israel and on American security institutions that place him at the far edge of mainstream political discourse, is about to become a United States congressman.
The Todd Beamer District
There is a painful symbolism to the geography. The 12th District includes Cranbury, New Jersey, the hometown of Todd Beamer, the United 93 passenger who rallied fellow travelers with the words "Let's roll" before they overwhelmed the Al Qaeda hijackers on September 11, 2001, preventing what intelligence officials believe was a planned attack on the US Capitol. That a district anchored by his hometown will likely send to Congress a man who once defended the spiritual leader of the network responsible for the first World Trade Center attack is not lost on critics.
The Broader Pattern
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries congratulated Hamawy on his victory, a signal that the Democratic establishment is prepared to embrace him. For American Jews who have watched the Democratic Party's relationship with Israel deteriorate over the past several years, Hamawy's rise is not an isolated event, it is the latest chapter in a troubling trajectory, and, given the district's partisan math, almost certainly not the last one.
If US Jews are not already concerned, now is definitely the time.