By Democrats have gone from sympathizing with terrorism to supporting candidate who allegedly worked for a terrorist front. Adam Hamawy, a plastic surgeon and leading Democratic candidate to replace retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman in New Jersey, is facing renewed scrutiny over his past ties to organizations and figures later linked to Islamist extremism, including the convicted terrorist leader Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, known as the “Blind Sheikh,” according to a new shocking report from Jewish Insider.
The scrutiny has now drawn sharp criticism from survivors and relatives of victims of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, who told the Washington Free Beacon they were appalled that a onetime associate and defense witness for Abdel-Rahman could soon serve in Congress.
One year before Hamawy testified on behalf of Abdel-Rahman during the sheikh’s 1995 terrorism trial, Hamawy traveled to Bosnia during the country’s civil war and volunteered with the Benevolence International Foundation, a Chicago-based charity later accused by U.S. authorities of serving as a logistical and financial support network for Al-Qaeda.
In a 1996 interview with the Newark Star-Ledger, Hamawy described his work in Bosnia. “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.”
Sarajevo and Zenica later became focal points in investigations into Benevolence International’s Balkan operations. In 2002, Bosnian authorities working alongside U.S. officials raided the organization’s offices there. The September 11 attacks Commission Report later identified the Sarajevo office as part of an “impressive array of offices” established by Osama bin Laden and associates during the early 1990s to covertly support terrorist activity.
The candidate has nevertheless emerged as a prominent progressive figure in the race, securing endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders and Representatives Ro Khanna, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib, which shouldn’t be too surprising. In 2024, for example, leftwing groups at Columbia University, just a few blocks away from where the World Trade Center once stood, held a “student event” that glorified the hijacking of airplanes and terrorism.
Court records from Abdel-Rahman’s federal terrorism trial show Hamawy, then a medical student, met the cleric in 1991, visited his residence, and accompanied him on a lengthy trip to Detroit. Hamawy also acted as Abdel-Rahman’s translator during a press conference in which the sheikh denied involvement in the 1993 bombing of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Hamawy later testified as a character witness for Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted for plotting attacks against New York City landmarks and infrastructure.
The 1993 bombing killed six people and injured more than 1,000. Michael Macko, whose father, William Macko, was killed in the blast while on his lunch break in the basement of the north tower, said Hamawy’s association with Abdel-Rahman was disqualifying.
“I would never vote for Hamawy because of this and again, saying that as a lifelong Democrat and someone who really wants to keep New Jersey blue, I would find another Democrat to vote for even if it meant writing in someone. I could not with a clear conscience ever vote for this man. Nor would I encourage anybody else to. Some things are just not forgivable,” Macko explained to the Free Beacon.
“These are people being associated with the very horrific killing of my father. Whenever I see things like this it’s hard because your immediate reaction is just unbelief,” Macko said.
“Maybe he didn’t know how bad the sheik was,” Macko said of Hamawy, “but I would find that hard to believe given his closeness to him.”
James Outerbridge, who survived both the 1993 bombing and the Sept. 11 attacks, said the first attack remains a source of trauma decades later.
“What had happened [in 1993] not only affected me, but was a precursor to 9/11,” Outerbridge told the Free Beacon.
“There’s no place for people like this,” Outerbridge said. “Allowing people who have those kinds of connections to come in here, run for political office, and then who knows, down the line, put their own agenda into play.”
“He doesn’t deserve to run for political office in our country,” Outerbridge added.
Charles Maikish, who was director of the Port Authority World Trade Department at the time of the bombing, also condemned Hamawy’s relationship with Abdel-Rahman.
“I was sitting at my desk in Tower One when the tower heaved. It just actually heaved. And I knew something had happened,” Maikish told the Free Beacon.
“I always referred to them as my twins,” he said. “And it was a devastating experience to have it, you know, injured the way it was injured.”
“Personally, it disgusts me,” Maikish said of Hamawy’s relationship with Rahman. “For somebody that has befriended that group, or the head of that sect that perpetrated such a heinous crime, to me, is just totally against what would be a free, open, democratic society.”
Little public attention has been paid in recent years to Hamawy’s association with Benevolence International, despite extensive federal evidence introduced during the government’s case against the organization and its executive director, Enaam Arnaout. Prosecutors presented weapons, correspondence with bin Laden, organizational documents tied to Al-Qaeda, and other materials they said demonstrated the charity’s role in financing and arming jihadist fighters.
Historian Marko Atila Hoare, a professor at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology, said the Bosnian conflict attracted Muslim volunteers from around the world. “A lot of them wanted to go and defend Muslims from non-Muslims persecuting them,” Hoare said.
Hoare noted that while many organizations operating in Bosnia during the war functioned as legitimate humanitarian charities, others served as fronts for radical Islamist groups. He said the wartime environment made effective oversight difficult and stressed that not every foreign volunteer associated with such organizations was necessarily a committed jihadist.
Federal documents later alleged that Al-Qaeda used the Balkans conflict to expand operational capacity against the United States. Prosecutors accused Benevolence International of funneling funds and weapons to Bosnian fighters and foreign mujahideen groups, including the “El Mujahedin” unit active near Zenica — the same region where Hamawy said he worked during his 1994 trip.
According to the Star-Ledger report, Hamawy said he connected with the foundation through the Bosnian mission to the United States. The article also stated his work was conducted “under the auspices of the United Nations High Command for Refugees,” though no such agency exists. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees could not confirm any partnership with Benevolence International during the Bosnian conflict.
At the time, New Jersey imam Saffet Catovic served as a counselor and deputy ambassador at the Bosnian mission in New York. Catovic later acted as a spokesman for Benevolence International during federal raids in 2001. He has remained active in New Jersey Muslim civic organizations and hosted Hamawy on a panel discussion about the Gaza conflict last year. Members of Catovic’s family have also contributed to Hamawy’s congressional campaign.
Neither Hamawy’s campaign nor Catovic responded to questions regarding any connection between the Bosnia volunteer work and the Bosnian diplomatic mission.
Arnaout pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in 2003 after admitting he diverted charitable donations to support Bosnian military efforts. Although terrorism-related charges were ultimately dropped, a federal judge later backed efforts to revoke Arnaout’s U.S. citizenship, citing his role in the organization and its documented ties to Al-Qaeda. Benevolence International remains designated as a terrorist-linked entity by both the U.S. Treasury Department and the United Nations Security Council.
On the campaign trail, Hamawy has emphasized his later service as a U.S. Army officer during the Global War on Terror, including work at military hospitals in Iraq. He has referenced his Bosnia volunteer experience only briefly, describing it as a humanitarian mission, though public accounts have reflected varying timelines regarding the trip.
Hamawy has also received attention for volunteer medical work in Gaza, including service at a hospital later struck by Israeli forces during operations targeting Hamas infrastructure. He has publicly challenged Israeli claims regarding Hamas activity at the facility.
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