Adam Hamawy, an Egypt-born former fight surgeon who as soon as volunteered with an Al Qaeda-linked group in Bosnia, emerged victorious Tuesday within the Democratic main for retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman’s (D-NJ) seat.
Hamawy — a staunch critic of Israel who was endorsed by “Squad” Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), in addition to socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — was the highest vote-getter within the crowded Democratic main race for the Backyard State’s deep-blue twelfth Congressional District.
An Iraq Warfare veteran, Hamawy has made nationwide headlines for saving Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s (D-Ailing) life after a helicopter crash in addition to for his volunteer work within the Gaza Strip.
Nonetheless, Hamawy’s 1994 internship with the Benevolence Worldwide Basis in Bosnia, and his affiliation with the notorious “Blind Sheikh” have additionally drawn scrutiny.
The 9/11 Fee Report described the now-defunct Benevolence Worldwide Basis’s operation in Bosnia as a part of an “spectacular array of workplaces [that] covertly supplied monetary and different assist for terrorist actions” by Osama bin Laden within the Nineteen Nineties.
Authorities alleged in a 2003 court docket submitting that Benevolence Worldwide was utilized by the phobia group as a entrance “to determine a base for operations in Europe in opposition to Al Qaeda’s true enemy, the US.”
Jewish Insider first uncovered Hamawy’s previous work with the muse.
Hamawy was by no means charged or confronted any accusations of involvement with Islamic terrorism. A spokesperson for his marketing campaign described assaults on Hamawy’s work with the muse as “determined,” “absurd” and “bigoted.”
Hamawy additionally had a yearslong relationship with Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in 1995 after his followers carried out the bombing of the World Commerce Middle two years earlier.
Hamawy was referred to as as a protection witness to dispute a authorities informant’s accusations that Abdel-Rahman urged his followers to homicide then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
At trial, the long run Democratic congressional hopeful additionally testified that feedback Abdel-Rahman made about “conquering the land of the infidels” have been being taken “out of context” by prosecutors, in line with a transcript of proceedings.
“I feel the voters of New Jersey have a proper to know why Dr. Hamawy felt so strongly in defending a violent jihadist chief — the Blind Sheikh — that he repeatedly lied underneath oath within the 1995 terrorist trial,” stated Steven Emerson, founder and govt director of the Investigative Mission on Terrorism, a Washington, DC-based suppose tank that research extremism. “Dr. Hamawy’s silence till now suggests he has no qualms about his testimony.”
A spokesperson for Hamawy countered by highlighting the candidate’s lengthy profession of service within the US navy and added of Abdel-Rahman: “On the time, the person in query was one in every of only a few spiritual figures in what was then a really small Muslim neighborhood in New Jersey … Dr. Hamawy condemns that man’s violent rhetoric and actions, and all violence, hatred, and terrorism — and he’ll at all times. Dr. Hamawy had no contact with this individual after they have been arrested.”
