by Jerry Dunleavy
"This one is for you Gaza!" Infamous Islamic activist Linda Sarsour helped Zohran Mamdani in his rise to New York City's mayoralty. Now, she has helped Democrat Dr. Adam Hamawy, another controversial Muslim American, this time in a quest to join Congress.
The controversial Muslim activist Linda Sarsour helped Dr. Adam Hamawy, an Egyptian-American veteran of the U.S. Army who has been linked to the Blind Sheikh and to an Al-Qaeda front, win the Democratic nomination for a House seat in New Jersey.
Hamawy — largely a political newcomer who nevertheless won his Democratic primary race in early June — successfully ran a far-left campaign with a keen focus on opposition to Israel.
“WE DID THAT. Congratulations Dr. Adam H. Hamawy!” Sarsour posted on June 2, sharing a photo of herself and Hamawy smiling together. “We have a real champion for justice and the Palestinian people going to Congress. This one is for you Gaza!
Hamawy served as a U.S. Army combat surgeon and currently runs a plastic surgery practice. He also volunteered at hospitals in Gaza through the Palestinian American Medical Association after the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023.
Hamawy a character witness, translator for Egyptian Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman
In the 1990s, Hamawy was also an associate of, a translator for, and a character witness for Egyptian Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman — commonly known as the “Blind Sheikh” — who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in 1995 for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other plots to bomb major NYC landmarks. The FBI said that six people were killed immediately, and more than a thousand people suffered injuries.
Also in the 1990s, Hamawy briefly volunteered for the Benevolence International Foundation in Bosnia — with the group later being accused of being an Al-Qaeda front by The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.
Sarsour, a Palestinian-American activist and vocal anti-Israel critic, stepped down from leading the Women’s March in 2019 over allegations of antisemitism and her connections to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
Hawamy gets support from "The Squad"
The Hamawy campaign website’s “endorsements” page lists the backing of Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and from far-left socialists such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. The endorsement page also lists Muslim activist groups like CAIR Action and CAIR New Jersey, the New Jersey Muslim Civic Coalition, and Emgage Action. Hamawy also lists endorsements from anti-Israel groups such as Track AIPAC, Jewish Voice for Peace, and the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights.
Sarsour is not mentioned among the endorsements.
With an array of high-level endorsements and help from Sarsour, Hamawy defeated twelve other opponents with 27.2% of the vote in the June 2 primary. Hamawy’s campaign and Sarsour did not respond to requests for comment.
Sarsour rallies left-wing advocates and pro-Palestinian activists behind Hamawy
Hamawy announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination to represent New Jersey’s 12th District in the House of Representatives on January 16, 2026. Sarsour endorsed him the next day, posting on Facebook that she was “so excited about Dr. Hamawy for Congress in New Jersey-12!” She was sharing an NBC News article on Duckworth endorsing Hamawy.
DataUSA reports that as of 2024, 31.9% of Congressional District 12, NJ residents were born outside of the country.
His campaign’s Instagram page — Hamawy for New Jersey — sent out a post on February 12, and the “collaborators” on the post included Sarsour and Track AIPAC, which has been criticized over the way it presents its claims and for some of its extremist endorsements. The Hamawy campaign post which tagged Sarsour was touting an endorsement from ex-Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y.
One of Hamawy’s opponents in the primary, progressive activist Elijah Dixon, had dropped out of the race in April and endorsed Hamawy. Sarsour helped lead a rally and a canvassing effort for Hamawy on the ground in New Jersey. She partnered with the far-left Climate Revolution and with Muslim activist groups such as CAIR Action, New Jersey Muslim Civic Coalition and Engage Action.
“In his medical career, [Hamawy ] has focused on restoring dignity to patients recovering from trauma and served on numerous medical missions in war-torn and disaster zones such as Gaza, Haiti, and Bosnia,” the climate activist group wrote. “Dr. Hamawy’s work reflects a broader commitment to healthcare as a human right, not a privilege. As a candidate, Dr. Hamaway brings that same ethos to public service, advocating for economic fairness and community-centered leadership that prioritizes people over politics and challenges systems that leave too many people behind.”
Sarsour was also tagged as a “collaborator” for this same post on Instagram.
“We have a little over two weeks to help elect a pro-Palestinian, humanitarian, physician to Congress in New Jersey. The enthusiasm is electric. Let’s make history New Jersey!” Sarsour said on Instagram on May 17.
Sarsour celebrates Hamawy’s big win as "pro-Palestinian" candidate
Sarsour was thrilled by Hamawy’s victory, posting celebratory hands emojis on Facebook the day after his primary win.
She was responding to a Huffington Post article written the day before the primary which said, “The Pro-Palestine Movement Is On The Verge Of One Of Their Biggest Electoral Victories Yet. Hamawy is the front-runner in Tuesday's primary for a solidly Democratic New Jersey congressional district.”
Sarsour also blasted The New York Times on June 4 because the outlet had dared to mention Hamawy’s links to the Blind Sheikh in the subheadline of its story on Hamawy’s win.
“It doesn’t matter that a Muslim American is a 9/11 first responder and risked his own life to save others, or that he served this country as an army surgeon or a humanitarian that has done surgeries from Haiti to Gaza,” she said on Instagram. “Our resumes don’t matter. Our track records don’t matter. The margins of victory don’t matter. They will find a way to discredit and defame and engage in guilt by association. Shame on New York Times (again). Thank God for voters of New Jersey-12 saw beyond this and gave @HamawyForNJ the win he deserved and earned.”
She included a screenshot from Marxist online influencer Hasan Piker and a screenshot of the article she was lamenting.
“nyt can you please have some decency about a decorated war veteran combat surgeon who saved tammy duckworth's life, who treated 9/11 first responders and was in gaza during the genocide. i get that he's muslim and antizionist but this is a shameful and racist subheader!” Piker had claimed on X.
The headline in question said that “Adam Hamawy, a Progressive Democrat, Wins House Primary in New Jersey.”
The subheadline at the time stated that “Dr. Hamawy, a U.S. Army veteran, faced questions about his past association with an Egyptian cleric who was convicted in 1995 of a conspiracy to wage ‘a war of urban terrorism’.” The subheadline was later changed by Times editors — without explanation — to say that “Dr. Hamawy, a U.S. Army veteran, has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza. His victory makes him the heavy favorite to win in November in the left-leaning district.”
Piker — who also campaigned hard for Hamawy in the closing days of the primary — has a long history of pro-jihadist and pro-Communist commentary, including saying in 2019 that "America deserved 9/11.”
Piker has also repeatedly praised the terrorist group Hamas as he has attacked Israel, claiming in an X post in January that “as a lesser evil voter i will once against repeat my harm reductionist credo! hamas is a thousand times better than the fascist settler colonial apartheid state” of Israel.
“I stand by that,” Piker said of his support for Hamas during a Pod Save America podcast episode in April. Podcast host Jon Favreau asked him, "When you say Hamas is a thousand times better, do you actually mean that?" Piker replied that "I do mean it" and that “I would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.”
Hamawy had visited, traveled, and worked with the Blind Sheikh
Hamawy’s associations with the Blind Sheikh in the early 1990s became a topic of controversy in the final days of the Democratic primary, but it did not stop him from winning.
The Jewish Insider wrote in May about the links between Hamawy and Rahman, reporting that “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.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer also reported on the relationship in May, with an opinion piece stating that “two months after six people died in the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, the infamous ‘Blind Sheikh,’ held a news conference at his Jersey City, N.J., home to deny his guilt” and that “standing with him that day was a young medical student from New Jersey who had followed the sheikh’s teachings, traveled with him, and had graciously agreed to translate the sheikh’s press release from Arabic to English.”
“The young man was Adam Hamawy, now considered a front-runner in the crowded Democratic primary race,” the outlet said.
“I would disagree that after he was a suspect, I did anything for him,” Hamawy told the outlet. “Just the translation.”
“A blind man has a piece of paper and says, ‘What does it say on there?’” Hamawy also said. “It’s more about that than a nefarious action here.”
The 9/11 Commission report said that the Blind Sheikh’s preaching had inspired the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat, and that the Blind Sheikh was a spiritual guide for the Islamic Group and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the latter of which was an Egyptian jihadist group led by Ayman al-Zawahiri, who would later merge his group with al-Qaeda and would serve as Osama bin- Laden’s longtime deputy.
The report said Rahman “found refuge” in the U.S., and “from his headquarters in Jersey City, he distributed messages calling for the murder of unbelievers.”
The prosecution against the Blind Sheikh grew out of the federal investigation into the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
Then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy wrote in 2004 that “Rahman and eleven others were ultimately convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges after a nine-month trial that ended in October 1995.”
McCarthy — now a contributing editor and writer at National Review — also wrote about Hamawy’s victory in early June.
“Hamawy was a friend and aide to the Blind Sheikh, which is why he voluntarily appeared as a witness for him. The main subject of his testimony was a trip to Detroit in 1991. A government informant had testified that during the trip, when the informant was discussing his time in the Egyptian army, the Blind Sheikh asked him why he hadn’t turned his gun on Hosni Mubarak, Sadat’s successor. Hamawy claimed, not very convincingly, that he hadn’t heard any such conversation,” the former prosecutor wrote.
Hamawy’s volunteering in Bosnia linked to Al-Qaeda front group
Hamawy’s volunteer work in Bosnia in the 1990s also garnered scrutiny when its links to an alleged Al-Qaeda front group were revealed.
The Jewish Insider reported in May that “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,” the outlet wrote.
The 9/11 Commission Report assessed that “Bin Ladin’s impressive array of offices covertly provided financial and other support for terrorist activities” and that “the network included […] an office of the Benevolence International Foundation in Sarajevo, which supported the Bosnian Muslims in their conflict with Serbia and Croatia.”
A “Terrorist Financing Staff Monograph” by the 9/11 Commission also said that Benevolence International “raised millions of dollars in the United States, much of which it distributed throughout the world for purposes of humanitarian aid” but that “the U.S. government believed BIF had substantial connections to terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda, and was sending a sizable percentage of its funds to support the international jihadist movement.
Hamawy is now the nominee in a heavily-Democratic congressional district, and is likely to become the first Islamic congressman from New Jersey.
Jerry Dunleavy
Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/linda-sarsour-helped-new-jersey-democrat-house-contender-linked-blind
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