‘Squad’-backed NJ Democrat who volunteered with Al Qaeda-linked group wins primary to replace Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman

Adam Hamawy, an Egypt-born former combat surgeon who once volunteered with an Al Qaeda-linked group in Bosnia, emerged victorious Tuesday in the Democratic primary 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.), as well as socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — was the top vote-getter in the crowded Democratic primary race for the Garden State’s deep-blue 12th Congressional District. 

An Iraq War veteran, Hamawy has made national headlines for saving Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s (D-Ill) life after a helicopter crash as well as for his volunteer work in the Gaza Strip.

Dr. Adam Hamawy, a staunch critic of Israel who was endorsed by the far-left “Squad,” was the top vote-getter in the crowded Democratic primary race for the Garden State’s deep-blue 12th Congressional District.  AFP via Getty Images

However, Hamawy’s 1994 internship with the Benevolence International Foundation in Bosnia, and his association with the infamous “Blind Sheikh” have also drawn scrutiny. 

The 9/11 Commission Report described the now-defunct Benevolence International Foundation’s operation in Bosnia as part of an “impressive array of offices [that] covertly provided financial and other support for terrorist activities” by Osama bin Laden in the 1990s.

Authorities alleged in a 2003 court filing that Benevolence International was used by the terror group as a front “to establish a base for operations in Europe against Al Qaeda’s true enemy, the United States.”

Jewish Insider first uncovered Hamawy’s past work with the foundation. 

Hamawy was never charged or faced any accusations of involvement with Islamic terrorism. A spokesperson for his campaign described attacks on Hamawy’s work with the foundation as “desperate,” “absurd” and “bigoted.” 

Hamawy also 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 Trade Center two years earlier.

Hamawy was called as a defense witness to dispute a government informant’s accusations that Abdel-Rahman urged his followers to murder then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. 

At trial, the future Democratic congressional hopeful also testified that comments Abdel-Rahman made about “conquering the land of the infidels” were being taken “out of context” by prosecutors, according to a transcript of proceedings.

“I think the voters of New Jersey have a right to know why Dr. Hamawy felt so strongly in defending a violent jihadist leader — the Blind Sheikh — that he repeatedly lied under oath in the 1995 terrorist trial,” said Steven Emerson, founder and executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, a Washington, DC-based think tank that studies extremism. “Dr. Hamawy’s silence until now suggests he has no qualms about his testimony.”

A spokesperson for Hamawy countered by highlighting the candidate’s long career of service in the US military and added of Abdel-Rahman: “At the time, the man in question was one of very few religious figures in what was then a very small Muslim community in New Jersey … Dr. Hamawy condemns that man’s violent rhetoric and actions, and all violence, hatred, and terrorism — and he will always. Dr. Hamawy had no contact with this person after they were arrested.”