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A man whose life has been deeply impacted by radical Islamic terrorism is incensed as people he claims hold extreme beliefs are winning Democratic Party elections at alarming rates.
“When it comes to terrorist sympathizers, I don’t really suffer fools kindly, and this guy is beyond the pale,” Don Arias said of Dr. Adam Hamawy, now the Democratic nominee for Congress in New Jersey’s blue-leaning 12th Congressional District.
Arias is an Air Force veteran and former New York firefighter who witnessed the grave destruction of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
His brother, who worked on the 84th floor of the South Tower, died in the subsequent 9/11 terrorist attacks that changed the trajectory of American history.
Arias spoke to his brother, Adam, the morning of the attack after the first plane had already struck the North Tower.
Adam described to him the chaos, as desperate victims jumped from the burning skyscraper that once anchored the city’s skyline.
“So, that has stuck with me for many years,” he told Fox News Digital. Arias has since gone on to advocate for the families of victims of 9/11.
Hamawy is a veteran combat plastic surgeon who now operates his own private practice in New Jersey. He won a crowded Democratic primary to replace outgoing Rep. Bonnie Watson-Coleman, D-N.J., on June 2.
He emerged victorious despite heavy baggage, including ties to radical Islamic terrorism.
In his past, Hamawy cozied up to infamous terrorist Omar Abdel-Rahman, better known as the “Blind Sheikh,” the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing who died in federal prison in 2017.
The pair met in 1991, when Hamawy was a young adult, and soon thereafter Hamawy began accompanying Abdel-Rahman to mosques.
In the same year, Hamawy, the sheikh and others took a 13-hour car ride from Abdel-Rahman’s home in New Jersey to a conference in Detroit called “Towards a Global Islamic Economy.”
The pair met in 1991, when Hamawy was a young adult, and soon thereafter Hamawy began accompanying Abdel-Rahman to mosques.
The congressional hopeful testified on behalf of the defense in the sheikh’s trial.
While Arias said it’s possible that Hamawy has some positive credentials — he is a doctor and a veteran — he doesn’t trust the candidate at all.
“But when he’s pals with the Blind Sheikh, and he’s his translator for several years, when he testifies for him in court saying what a great guy is, when he spends that kind of time with this guy, and then says that he’s never heard him say anything about jihad, I have to question his veracity. I mean, that just doesn’t ring true,” Arias told Fox New Digital.
“Show me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are,” he continued. “And if this guy Hamawy is going to try and forget all about that — he wants it to go down the memory hole and say, ‘oh, I was a veteran, you know, I did good stuff’ — I’m not going to forget, and I don’t think people should forget.“
In 1994, Hamawy also went on what he describes as a humanitarian mission to Bosnia. There, he worked with the Benevolence International Foundation (BIF). In a post-9/11 terrorism crackdown, BIF was designated as a financier of terrorism by the U.S. government over its ties to al Qaeda.
“We’re not educating the voters, and the voters aren’t doing the proper research into their candidates, because I think if they knew that this guy, if it was top of mind awareness that this guy had these kinds of connections… they wouldn’t vote for him, and I think people need to bring that to the forefront.”
Additionally, a socialist candidate who once suggested that the United States deserved 9/11 is likely to win a seat in the New York State Senate.