Democrat Adam Hamawy is leading the polls and the fundraising battle in his run for Congress in New Jersey’s 12th District. He is a board‑certified plastic surgeon and is a former Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army, where he was a combat trauma surgeon.
Sounds qualified, right?
He has one little problem on his resume, though: he’s reportedly spent part of his time cozying up to terrorists. According to JewishInsider, Hamawy was buddy-buddy with the notorious Blind Sheik:
Adam Hamawy’s past relationship with terrorist mastermind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman has loomed over his rapid rise in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ).
Their relationship spanned a 1991 road trip the two took together to Detroit, Hamawy’s service as the sheikh’s translator for a press conference in which Abdel-Rahman denied any role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and Hamawy’s testimony on the sheikh’s behalf at his 1995 trial, where the Islamist leader was convicted of plotting to carry out a campaign of terrorist attacks in New York City.
Big SCOOP @jewishinsider via @WillBredderman: "Leading N.J. Dem Congressional candidate Adam Hamawy volunteered with Al-Qaida-tied group in Bosnia"
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) May 27, 2026
"Hamawy worked with Benevolence International Foundation, later shuttered as an Al-Qaida front"https://t.co/HCvqKlAyKy
That seems problematic. But there’s more:
But just one year before Hamawy took the witness stand to describe his travels with Abdel-Rahman, the now-Congressional candidate made a different journey with another party entangled in terrorist conspiracies: to Bosnia, with a group subsequently shut down for providing “logistical support” to Al-Qaida.
In a 1996 interview with the Newark Star-Ledger, according to a copy Jewish Insider recovered through an archive of print publications, Hamawy described volunteering in Bosnia during the summer of 1994 with a Chicago-based nonprofit called the “Benevolence International Foundation.”
He volunteered in two cities in 1994, Sarajevo and Zenica, as he worked for a Chicago-based non-profit, Benevolence International. However, that non-profit reportedly engaged in some questionable activities:
Sarajevo and Zenica were the exact cities where Benevolence International maintained its offices — offices that Bosnian authorities raided in 2002, part of a joint effort with U.S. authorities to dismantle the group, which they had identified as a front for Al-Qaida. The 9/11 Commission Report would later identify the foundation’s base in the Bosnian capital as part of the “impressive array of offices [that] covertly provided financial and other support for terrorist activities” that Osama bin Laden established in the early 1990s.
Our story of course notes @HamawyforNJ's military service. It also notes that he wouldn't answer our questions about his contacts and activities in Bosnia while volunteering with the Benevolence International Foundation, shuttered as an Al Qaida front.https://t.co/xu5eMMPnPZ https://t.co/6zYoNGBcbe pic.twitter.com/jSOGK89oYI
— Will Bredderman (@WillBredderman) May 27, 2026
More Headaches for Zohran Mamdani After Posts Resurface of Wife's Praise for Terrorist Hijacker
Former Attorney General and U.S. district judge for the Southern District of New York Mike Mukasey weighed in on the matter in a May 7 Wall Street Journal op-ed. He reminisced about being on the bench for the 1995 trial of Omar Abdel Rahman, aka the Blind Sheik, who was convicted of numerous offenses regarding the 1992 World Trade Center Bombing. He recounted some disturbing details:
The defense offered Mr. Hamawy’s testimony to rebut a prosecution witness’s testimony that, during a trip to Detroit, Abdel Rahman had urged that witness to point a rifle at Mubarak’s chest and kill him. Mr. Hamawy testified he recalled no such statement, although he did recall Abdel Rahman characterizing the U.S. and Israel as “enemies of Islam” and speaking of the need for Muslims to conduct jihad against the enemies of Islam: “Of course that’s what [he] always talked about.”
New Jersey’s voters will have to make what they will of Hamawy’s past, but Mukasey isn’t impressed. Although his conclusion is dry, it’s dripping with skepticism:
I will be interested to see what the voters of central New Jersey make of their opportunity to consider the credentials of this alumnus of my courtroom.
Oh, and guess who’s endorsed the candidate? Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), and Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), as well as the far-left Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Pretty much tells you all you need to know.
Editor's Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.
Help us continue exposing Democrats' plans to lead America down a dangerous path. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member