Adam Hamawi, a controversial candidate who previously volunteered with the al-Qaeda-linked group, has won the Democratic primary for the seat held by retiring Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Hamawi, who was supported by the so-called “Squad”, became a lightning rod for criticism on the campaign trail because of his sharp criticism of Israel and his volunteer work with the Benevolence International Foundation in Bosnia. New York Post: :
An Iraq War veteran, Hamawi made national headlines for saving the life of Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) after a helicopter crash, as well as for his volunteer work in the Gaza Strip.
However, Hamawi’s 1994 internship with the Benevolence International Foundation in Bosnia and his association with the infamous “Blind Sheikh” have also been scrutinized.
The 9/11 Commission report described the now-defunct Benevolence International Foundation’s operations in Bosnia as part of an “impressive chain of offices”. [that] Covert financial and other support for terrorist activities was provided 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 of operations in Europe against al Qaeda’s true enemy, the United States.”
Hamawi has never been charged or accused of working on behalf of Islamic terrorism. A spokesperson for his campaign dismissed the inquiry about his tenure with the group as “absurd” and “radical”.
according to jewish insiderRecords also show that in 1994, “the counselor and second deputy ambassador at the Bosnian mission in New York was a New Jersey native named Safet Katovic.”
It states, “In December 2001, at the time of the first federal raid on Benevolence International’s offices outside Chicago, Katovic was widely cited as a spokesperson for the foundation.”
