Adam Hamawy, a controversial candidate who previously volunteered with an al-Qaeda-linked group, has won the Democratic primary for retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman’s (D-NJ) seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Hamawy, who was endorsed by the so-called “Squad,” became a lightning rod for criticism on the campaign trail due to his intense criticism of Israel and his having volunteered with the Benevolence International Foundation in Bosnia, per the New York Post:
An Iraq War veteran, Hamawy has made national headlines for saving Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s (D-Ill) life after a helicopter crash as well as for his volunteer work in the Gaza Strip.
However, Hamawy’s 1994 internship with the Benevolence International Foundation in Bosnia, and his association with the infamous “Blind Sheikh” have also drawn scrutiny.
The 9/11 Commission Report described the now-defunct Benevolence International Foundation’s operation in Bosnia as part of an “impressive array of offices [that] covertly provided financial and other support for terrorist activities” by Osama bin Laden in the 1990s.
A 2003 court filing also alleged that al-Qaeda used Benevolence International as a front “to establish a base for operations in Europe against Al Qaeda’s true enemy, the United States.”
Hamawy has never been charged with or accused of working on behalf of Islamic terrorism. A spokesperson for his campaign dismissed inquiries into his time with the group as “absurd” and “bigoted.”
According to Jewish Insider, records also show that in 1994, “the counselor and second deputy ambassador at the Bosnian mission in New York was a New Jersey native named Saffet Catovic.”
“In December 2001, the time of the first federal raids upon Benevolence International’s offices outside Chicago, Catovic was widely quoted as the foundation’s spokesman,” it added.