More than 30 years after Omar Abdel-Rahman, known as the Blind Sheikh, was convicted on charges related to his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, a man who testified as a defense witness in the terrorist mastermind’s trial is now on a glide path to Congress. Democratic leaders paid little heed to Adam Hamawy before his primary win on Tuesday. Now, they will have to decide whether his past dealings with a terrorist cross a red line.
Hamawy, a plastic surgeon and retired Army doctor, won a crowded Democratic primary for New Jersey’s safely blue 12th congressional district this week and is widely expected to win the seat in November. Hamawy was never charged or convicted on terrorism charges. And prior to his plastic surgery career, he served more than 20 years as a medical doctor in the U.S. Army, where he worked overseas and provided medical care that saved now-senator Tammy Duckworth’s life.
But the anti-Israel candidate’s youthful association with the Blind Sheikh has drawn scrutiny from Republicans who are skeptical about his fitness for Congress while raising new questions about how far the Democratic Party’s tent stretches.
