The buzz around the campaign of Dr. Adam Hamawy is continuing to grow as he competes in New Jersey’s Democratic primary for the state’s 12th Congressional District. He currently leads a field of 13 Democrats and 1 Republican vying for the seat currently held by Democrat Bonnie Watson Coleman, who is retiring.
The former combat surgeon turned plastic surgeon has drawn support from some of the most prominent figures on the progressive left, including rising political streamer Hasan Piker, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). Piker appears especially enthusiastic about Hamawy’s candidacy and is set to campaign alongside him at a rally in Trenton next weekend.
Dr. Adam Hamawy has embraced a slate of progressive positions, including Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, and ending U.S. aid to Israel. During an April interview with Piker, he also said, “he wants to take apart and defund the military.”
But perhaps the most objectionable thing about Hamawy is that, in the early 1990s, he was a loyal follower of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the terrorist cleric known as the “Blind Sheikh.” His support continued even after Abdel-Rahman was named as a suspect in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which left six people dead. And to this day, Hamawy continues to sympathize with him.
Hamawy appeared as a witness for the defense during Abdel-Rahman’s 1995 trial. According to the trial transcript, several months after the bombing, Hamawy told him, “If you need anything, you can just give me a call.”
In a recent interview with NJInsider, Hamawy still appears to support Abdel-Rahman, who died in 2017. The Washington Free Beacon’s Jon Levine reported that Hamawy “pointedly refused to condemn his late mentor. … [He called] Abdel-Rahman ‘a blind old man’ and a ‘well-known person in the community’ who only talked about ‘innocuous things.'”
Levine noted that Hamawy’s recent portrayal of Abdel-Rahman contradicts his testimony from the trial, during which he told the prosecutor that the sheikh “always talked about jihad.” Levine provided an excerpt from the transcript:
Fitzgerald: “Did you hear defendant Abdel-Rahman prior to the arrest talk with about how America is the enemy of Islam?”Hamawy: “Yes.”Fitzgerald: “And you heard prior to the arrest about how Israel is the enemy of Islam, correct?”Hamawy: “Yes.”Fitzgerald: “Did you hear about how Muslims had to do jihad against the enemies of Islam before the arrests in June 1993?”Hamawy: “Of course. That’s what he always talked about. He talked about jihad, you know.”
In 1996, Abdel-Rahman was convicted of “preparing what prosecutors called a ‘war of urban terrorism’ in New York City.” More specifically:
Conspir[ing] to “overthrow or put down or destroy by force the Government of the United States.” Abdel Rahman was found guilty of plotting to blow up the George Washington Bridge, the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, the United Nations building, and other Manhattan landmarks. He was also linked to the [Israeli-American rabbi Meir] Kahane murder and convicted of trying to orchestrate the assassination of Egyptian Pres. Ḥosnī Mubārak. Abdel Rahman was sentenced to life in prison.
As of Saturday, The New York Times lists only two publicly available polls in the race. Both were conducted by Workbench Strategy and commissioned by Hamawy’s campaign.
The first poll, conducted between March 30 and April 1, showed candidate Verlina Reynolds-Jackson leading the field with 16% support, followed by Sue Altman at 12%, Brad Cohen at 11%, while Hamawy registered 5%.
A second poll, conducted between May 5 and 7, suggested a dramatic shift in the race. Hamawy’s support had nearly quadrupled, putting him in first place with 19%. Sue Altman, his closest competitor in the survey, remained at 12%.
It seems to me that voters should draw the line at support for terrorist sympathizers, but those lines appear to have been erased for progressives.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn.
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