Hamawy, who’s the favorite in the Democratic primary for an open New Jersey House seat, was close with Omar Abdel-Rahman for years, and was a defense witness at the sheikh’s sensational 1995 trial
Wikipedia editors are fighting to keep Democrat Adam Hamawy’s yearslong friendship with terrorist mastermind Omar Abdel-Rahman, the notorious “Blind Sheikh,” off his Wikipedia page.
Hamawy, a plastic surgeon, is the frontrunner in a crowded Democratic primary to replace retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman in New Jersey’s deep blue 12th district.
The Egyptian-born doctor served as a defense witness for Abdel-Rahman, who was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the deadly 1993 World Trade Center bombings and plotting myriad other attacks. (The Blind Sheikh died in prison in 2017. In its coverage of the sensational 1995 trial, the New York Times called Hamawy “a supporter” of Abdel-Rahman.)
But despite Hamawy’s ties to—and support of—Abdel-Rahman being well-documented from his sworn testimony, his supporters are doing their best to downplay his terror ties, with a major effort underway to clean up Hamawy’s Wikipedia entry, one of the top search results for his name.
Wikipedia is “crowdsource” edited by nameless volunteers, many of whom build up credibility and power over years of contributions. On the evening of May 11, a Wikipedia editor by the name of “GrafBismarck” quietly added the following lines to Hamawy’s “Early Life” section.
In 1991, Hamawy met Omar Abdel-Rahman, known as “the Blind Sheikh,” an Egyptian jihadist militant who was later convicted in 1995 of plotting to bomb numerous New York City landmarks, at a community event.[3] Hamawy testified that he remained in contact with Abdel-Rahman until the latter’s arrest in June 1993.[4] Hamawy was later called as a defense witness in Abdel-Rahman’s 1995 trial, testifying that he did not hear Abdel-Rahman call for the assassination of Egyptian President Hosni Muburak.[5] Hamawy was not charged in connection to those proceedings.
In addition to the Times, GrafBismarck linked to a Politico article which cited the Washington Free Beacon’s reporting and the original trial transcripts.
The edits lasted only about five hours before being removed at 2:53 a.m. on May 12 by an editor named “Apex-nurse.”
“Move any further discussion to talk page before publishing edits,” Apex-nurse ordered.
On the talk page, where the editors discuss their work, a second editor named “Edittttor” had taken the article hostage over the objections of multiple other editors in a process which began before GrafBismarck attempted to change Hamawy’s entry.
“I have concerns that including this is attempting to ascribe guilt by association when he was never suspected or charged with any wrong-doing,” Edittttor wrote in a May 7 response to another user who suggested including Hamawy’s ties to Abdel-Rahman.
“According to the reporting I’ve seen, he only briefly knew him 25 years ago,” Edittttor added—dismissing the yearslong friendship Hamawy admitted to having with Abdel-Rahman in his trial testimony.
In addition to friendship, Hamawy traveled with Abdel-Rahman to a notorious 1991 conference in Detroit—which was rife with extremist rhetoric about “jihad” and “infidels”—and visited Abdel-Rahman’s associates overseas, according to Hamawy’s testimony.
Edittttor’s excuse for not including Hamawy’s deep terror ties mirrors exactly what has been Team Hamawy’s response to the growing scandal, with a spokesman condemning “guilt-by-association attacks on Muslim and Arab candidates,” to Politico and other outlets in recent days.
“The way that you worded it in your version is implying guilt by association,” Edittttor said, scolding GrafBismarck. “Just for him knowing someone who did something bad,” Edittttor added, again downplaying both Hamawy’s connection to Abdel-Rahman and Abdel-Rahman’s own history of violent terrorism.
“I think it’s pretty obvious that there is a progressive bent to Wikipedia. It really can’t be argued,” Larry Sanger, a cofounder of the massive platform, told the Free Beacon. “Wikipedians are very good at playing a certain game, the game of using Wikipedia policy to the benefit of your own cause.”
“This sort of thing just encapsulates a common problem on Wikipedia. I’ve heard literally hundreds of stories like this before,” Sanger added.
The Hamawy dispute remained unresolved as of this writing.
Hamawy, who has never been accused of wrongdoing, has refused to denounce Abdel-Rahman—telling local New Jersey media that his old friend was a “leader of the community” and “a blind old man.” (Abdel-Rahman was 54 at the time of the WTC attack.) In addition to Abdel-Rahman, Hamawy has also raised eyebrows for a trip he took to Gaza in May 2024. During his stay there, he provided services at a medical facility that also doubled as a Hamas command center. He repeatedly claimed that Hamas had no presence in or around the hospital.
A year after Hamawy left, Hamas boss Mohammed Sinwar was killed in a tunnel directly under the hospital’s emergency department. The Israelis later revealed that a major Hamas bunker and tunnel complex had long been beneath the hospital.
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