Adam Hamawy, the leading Democratic candidate in New Jersey's 12th Congressional District primary, volunteered in 1994 with a Chicago-based nonprofit that federal authorities later raided and identified as a front for al-Qaeda, the New York Post reported. The revelation adds to an already complicated picture of a candidate whose past associations with convicted terrorist Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman have drawn scrutiny throughout his campaign.
Hamawy, an Egyptian-born former combat surgeon now seeking the seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, spent time in Bosnia working under the banner of the Benevolence International Foundation. Eight years later, U.S. government agents raided BIF's offices and uncovered weapons, letters from al-Qaeda leaders, a photograph of Osama bin Laden, and documents detailing terror group operations.
The 9/11 Commission Report described BIF's network in Bosnia as part of an "impressive array of offices [that] covertly provided financial and other support for terrorist activities", a network the commission said bin Laden "leaned on in the 1990s." The government determined BIF operated as a front "to establish a base for operations in Europe against al Qaeda's true enemy, the United States."
Hamawy was never charged with or accused of involvement in Islamic terrorism. His spokesperson dismissed the reporting as a last-ditch campaign attack.
In a 1996 interview with the Newark Star-Ledger, Hamawy described his volunteer work in straightforward humanitarian terms:
"I worked in Sarajevo for 10 days and then the rest in Zenica, a large regional center in central Bosnia. We went out to hospitals around the area and in the mountains to check what supplies they needed and we tried to deliver them."
The work took place in the summer of 1994, shortly after Hamawy graduated from medical school. National Review noted that the five-week volunteer stint brought Hamawy to BIF offices in Sarajevo and Zenica, the same offices that Bosnian and U.S. authorities jointly raided in 2002 as part of an effort to dismantle the group after identifying it as a front for al-Qaeda.
His spokesperson framed the work as innocent medical aid, saying Hamawy "volunteered to provide medical assistance to victims of the Bosnian genocide, per the suggestion the Bosnian mission made to him on how to help via a United Nations-approved route."
That may well be true. Young medical graduates looking to do good work abroad are not typically in a position to audit the intelligence profiles of the organizations that facilitate their travel. But the question voters face is not whether Hamawy knowingly aided terrorism in 1994. It is whether a pattern of associations, BIF, Abdel-Rahman, and the circles in which Hamawy moved as a young man, reflects the kind of judgment that belongs in Congress.
The BIF connection is not the first time Hamawy's past has raised questions. Throughout his campaign, he has faced scrutiny over his relationship with Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, the Islamist cleric known as "The Blind Sheikh," who was convicted in the mid-1990s for pushing a "war of urban terrorism" against the United States. Abdel-Rahman's prosecution came in the wake of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and he died in prison in 2017.
Hamawy first met Abdel-Rahman in 1991 while attending medical school. The two embarked on a 13-hour road trip together to a conference in Detroit focused on "the Muslim economy." Court transcripts show that at that conference, Abdel-Rahman mused about "conquering the land of the infidels."
When asked about that statement during Abdel-Rahman's trial, Hamawy told the court the prosecution was "kind of taking it out of context." He wasn't just an acquaintance passing through the cleric's orbit. Hamawy worked as a translator for Abdel-Rahman and later served as a defense witness during the sheikh's terror trial, where he disputed a government informant's accusation that Abdel-Rahman had urged the murder of then-Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak.
A young medical student who takes a 13-hour road trip with a man later convicted of plotting urban terrorism, then serves as his translator and defense witness, has some explaining to do, regardless of what happened afterward.
Hamawy's defenders point to what came next: a 20-year military career that included service in Iraq and, by his spokesperson's account, climbing the rubble at Ground Zero on September 11, 2001, searching for survivors. He was awarded the Global War on Terrorism medal for his service in Iraq.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs when her helicopter was downed in Iraq, has credited Hamawy with saving her life. That endorsement carries real weight, and no honest accounting of Hamawy's record should ignore it.
He has also volunteered in the Gaza Strip, where his team was briefly stranded after the Rafah border crossing closed. And he has assembled an endorsement roster that reads like a who's who of the Democratic Party's progressive wing: Reps. Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ro Khanna, along with Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Duckworth.
That endorsement list is revealing in its own right. The same progressive figures who have faced their own controversies over rhetoric about Israel and U.S. foreign policy are lining up behind a candidate with documented ties to an al-Qaeda-linked charity and a convicted terrorist. Voters in New Jersey's 12th District should ask whether those endorsements reflect shared values or shared blind spots. The pattern of Democratic officials taking positions that raise questions about their judgment on national security is not new.
Hamawy's spokesperson offered a sharp rebuttal, calling the timing of the revelations suspect. "It must be the final days of the election, because the attacks are getting more desperate than ever," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson went further, framing any scrutiny as bigotry:
"The idea that this absurd claim could be seriously entertained about the work of a veteran who served our country for twenty years, was awarded the Global War on Terrorism medal for his service in Iraq, and climbed the rubble at Ground Zero searching for survivors on 9/11 would be laughable if it weren't so gross and bigoted."
That response follows a familiar playbook: when the facts are uncomfortable, call the question itself illegitimate. But the facts here are not manufactured by political opponents. They come from the 9/11 Commission Report, federal court transcripts, government raid documentation, and Hamawy's own prior interviews. Jewish Insider first uncovered his past work with BIF. The questions are grounded in the public record.
Calling legitimate scrutiny "bigoted" does not answer the underlying question. It dodges it. New Jersey voters deserve better than deflection from a man who wants to represent them in Washington.
The Hamawy story lands at a moment when New Jersey's Democratic establishment is already fielding uncomfortable questions. State Democrats have clashed with federal immigration authorities in high-profile confrontations, and the party's leadership in the state has repeatedly prioritized ideological positioning over the bread-and-butter concerns of public safety and accountability.
Hamawy is the frontrunner in a crowded Democratic primary field. If he wins, he will carry these associations into a general election, and into Congress, where oversight of national security is among the most consequential responsibilities a representative holds.
The question of what Hamawy knew about BIF's true nature in 1994 may never be fully answered. He was a young medical graduate. The foundation's terrorist ties were not publicly exposed until 2002. Fair enough.
But the Abdel-Rahman relationship is harder to explain away. Hamawy didn't just cross paths with the Blind Sheikh at a large public event. He rode in a car with him for 13 hours. He worked as his translator. He testified on his behalf. He dismissed the sheikh's remarks about "conquering the land of the infidels" as being taken "out of context." These are choices, not coincidences.
Federal authorities have been clear about the nature of the organizations and individuals in Hamawy's past. When the government identifies links between individuals and designated terrorist networks, voters have every right to weigh those connections, even when the candidate himself was never charged.
Several questions remain unanswered. What was the full scope of Hamawy's work as Abdel-Rahman's translator? Did his relationship with the cleric extend beyond the 1991 road trip and the subsequent trial? What, specifically, did his volunteer work with BIF in Bosnia entail beyond hospital visits and supply deliveries? And did he maintain any contact with BIF or its personnel after 1994?
Hamawy's military service is real. His medical work in conflict zones is real. The endorsement from a senator whose life he may have saved is real. None of that is in dispute.
But so are the court transcripts. So is the 9/11 Commission Report. So is the 2002 raid that exposed BIF as an al-Qaeda front. A candidate's résumé does not erase his record, it sits alongside it.
New Jersey Democrats have shown a pattern of prioritizing political theater over the serious work of governance. Sending a candidate with these associations to Congress without demanding full transparency would be one more example.
Military service earns gratitude. It does not earn immunity from questions that the public record demands be asked.
