{"id":68827,"date":"2026-05-27T16:41:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T19:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/aoc-backed-dem-frontrunner-worked-with-al-qaeda-front-and-defended-world-trade-center-bomb-mastermind\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T16:41:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T19:41:00","slug":"aoc-backed-dem-frontrunner-worked-with-al-qaeda-front-and-defended-world-trade-center-bomb-mastermind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/aoc-backed-dem-frontrunner-worked-with-al-qaeda-front-and-defended-world-trade-center-bomb-mastermind\/","title":{"rendered":"AOC-backed Dem frontrunner worked with Al-Qaeda front and defended World Trade Center bomb mastermind"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"js-article-text\">\n<ul>\n<li class><strong>Politics is fast. We&#8217;re faster. Sign up to the DC Insider newsletter for a front-row seat to Washington&#8230; and unlock 3 FREE months of DailyMail+ <a class rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/link.news.dailymail.co.uk\/join\/dc-insider-sign-up?utm_source=dailymail.co.uk&#038;utm_medium=organic_editorial&#038;utm_campaign=conversion_newsletter&#038;utm_term=dcinsider_bullets&#038;utm_budgetpot=organic\">HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>See more Daily Mail on Google &#8211; <a rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=dailymail.com\">save us as a Preferred Source<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>By <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/profile-962\/jon-michael-raasch.html\">JON MICHAEL RAASCH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/follow?screen_name=JMRaasch&#038;tw_p=followbutton\"><span><\/span><\/a> <\/p>\n<p><span> <span>Published:<\/span> <time datetime=\"2026-05-27T20:34:57+0100\"> 15:34 EDT, 27 May 2026 <\/time> <\/span> | <span> <span>Updated:<\/span> <time datetime=\"2026-05-27T20:41:50+0100\"> 15:41 EDT, 27 May 2026 <\/time> <\/span> <\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p><a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/new-jersey\/index.html\" id=\"mol-0c9b33b0-59fa-11f1-9468-69693b997523\">New Jersey<\/a> Democratic <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/us-congress\/index.html\" id=\"mol-0c989ba0-59fa-11f1-9468-69693b997523\">congressional<\/a> hopeful Adam Hamawy is facing outrage over his past work tied to the terror group Al-Qaeda.<\/p>\n<p>Hamawy&#8217;s past relationship with Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, a late mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing known as the &#8216;blind sheikh,&#8217; has been thrust into the limelight after a recent report from Jewish Insider.<\/p>\n<p>Hamawy served as the sheikh&#8217;s translator during a press conference in which the terrorist mastermind denied involvement with the 1993 World Trade Center attack.<\/p>\n<p>He also translated for the sheikh during his 1995 trial, and even served as a defense witness during proceedings. Abdel-Rahman was ultimately convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting the attacks and died in federal prison in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Hamawy&#8217;s connection to the World Trade Center bombing mastermind has incensed Republicans.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Democrats are now running actual terrorists for Congress. Surprising? No. Disappointing? Yes,&#8217; said <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/montana\/index.html\" id=\"mol-e8624450-5a00-11f1-a7cb-0f02a226b235\">Montana<\/a> Republican Senator Tim Sheehy.<\/p>\n<p>But it&#8217;s not scaring away his top Democratic backers, including Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar &#8211; and Independent Senator Bernie Sanders.<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Mail reached out to their offices for comment.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>New Jersey Democratic congressional candidate Dr Adam Hamawy reportedly has ties to a 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind and an Al-Qaeda-linked aide group that was later shuttered over its terrorism ties<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Hamawy&#8217;s volunteer work in the early 1990s for the Benevolence International Foundation, a group later shuttered for providing &#8216;logistical support&#8217; to Al-Qaeda, is also exposed in the Jewish Insider report.<\/p>\n<p>He admitted in a past interview that he went to Bosnia to help the foundation&#8217;s relief efforts, spending time in Sarajevo and Zenica while on a trip.<\/p>\n<p>Years later in 2002, Bosnian authorities raided the Sarajevo and Zenica offices of the Benevolence International Foundation, where they discovered the office was connected to Al-Qaeda&#8217;s global network.<\/p>\n<p>The <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/9-11-attacks\/index.html\" id=\"mol-0c9ce160-59fa-11f1-9468-69693b997523\">9\/11<\/a>Commission Report later said the Bosnian Al-Qaeda base was a part of an &#8216;impressive array of offices [that] covertly provided financial and other support for terrorist activities.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Weapons and correspondence between the benevolent group&#8217;s former top executive, Enaam Arnaout, and Osama bin Laden were discovered at the office.<\/p>\n<p>US federal prosecutors alleged in a case against Benevolence International that Al-Qaeda deployed representatives to the Balkans in the early 1990s &#8216;to establish a base for operations in Europe.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>A 1996 interview with Hamawy in the Newark Star-Ledger sheds light on the future candidate&#8217;s time in Bosnia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I worked in Sarajevo for 10 days and then the rest in Zenica, a large regional center in central Bosnia,&#8217; Hamawy, fresh out of medical school, told the paper at the time.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, a late mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing known as the &#8216;blind sheikh,&#8217; toured America in 1991 with Hamawy, then a medical student<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8216;We went out to hospitals around the area and in the mountains to check what supplies they needed and we tried to deliver them.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The trip lasted about five weeks total.<\/p>\n<p>The Democratic hopeful has run on a pro-Palestinian platform while condemning Israeli interest group AIPAC.<\/p>\n<p>Hamawy is the heavy favorite to win the June 2 primary for New Jersey&#8217;s 12th congressional district.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Damage from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to prediction site Kalshi, Hamawy had a 90 percent chance of winning the primary as of 3:00 pm ET on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Hamawy and a crowded field of Democratic candidates are running to succeed retiring Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, who has held the seat since 2015.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>                                                                                                                                  <ad-slot position=\"smart_feed\"><\/ad-slot>                                                                <ad-slot position=\"after_article\"><\/ad-slot>                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Politics is fast. We&#8217;re faster. Sign up to the DC Insider newsletter for a front-row seat to Washington&#8230; and unlock 3 FREE months of DailyMail+ HERE See more Daily Mail on Google &#8211; save us as a Preferred Source By JON MICHAEL RAASCH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT Published: 15:34 EDT, 27 May 2026 | Updated: 15:41 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-donald-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}