JTA — Adam Hamawy, a staunch Israel critic, condemned antisemitism and accusations of dual loyalty days before he competes in the Democratic primary for a New Jersey congressional district on Tuesday.

“As a Muslim, I understand what it feels like to face bigotry, to feel unsafe in your community and to have your loyalty to this country questioned,” Hamawy said in a statement he sent to JTA on Wednesday. “In this country, we have seen recent attacks at both synagogues and mosques. I see our safety as intertwined.”

Hamawy, a plastic surgeon who served as a trauma surgeon in Gaza, is running in a crowded primary in Central New Jersey to succeed Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, who is retiring. Hamawy has distinguished himself from his competitors with his harsh anti-Israel stance, and surged to the top of the latest poll, conducted by Hamawy’s campaign, following a spending blitz on his behalf by pro-Palestinian super PAC American Priorities.

The political novice has also faced questions about his connections back in the early 1990s to Omar Abdel Rahman, the “Blind Sheikh” convicted on terrorism charges in 1995 linked to the World Trade Center bombing two years earlier and other plotted attacks.

A Hamawy spokesperson on Friday called the questions “gross and bigoted,” and said the attacks against him “are getting more desperate than ever.”

In his statement to JTA on Wednesday, Hamawy said that he finds antisemitism “abhorrent” and that he is “deeply worried about its continued rise.”

Hamawy’s comments to JTA were his most extensive on antisemitism since he’s hit the campaign trail. Earlier in the race, amid an investigation into threatening letters that were sent to Jewish organizations in his deep-blue 12th district, Hamawy said he was “disgusted” by the messages. NJ-12 covers the state capital of Trenton, a number of suburban areas and the college town of Princeton.

“We are seeing an epidemic of hatred in this country against religious and ethnic minorities, and it must stop,” he wrote on X earlier in May about the threats.

If Hamawy wins the primary on Tuesday and the general election in November, he will be one of Congress’ sharpest Israel critics. He has called for an end to military aid to Israel, a complete arms embargo against the........

© The Times of Israel