Blind Sheikh Associate Wins NJ-12 Democratic Primary as Party Establishment Stands By

Adam Hamawy, a plastic surgeon and fierce Israel critic with documented ties to Omar Abdel Rahman — the ‘Blind Sheikh’ convicted on terrorism charges — won the Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District Tuesday with 28% of the vote in a crowded field, defeating seven opponents by a 12-point margin. Hamawy had testified at Abdel Rahman’s 1995 trial and maintained ties to his circle in the early 1990s. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democratic establishment, having been unable to recruit a stronger alternative, are standing by him. New Jersey — home to one of the country’s largest Jewish populations — has now nominated him as the party’s standard-bearer for a competitive general election seat.

• Hamawy won with 28% in a crowded 8-candidate field, holding a 12-point margin over second-place finisher Brad Cohen with 86% of the vote counted.
• Hamawy testified at the 1995 trial of Omar Abdel Rahman (‘Blind Sheikh’), convicted of inspiring the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and plotting mass terror attacks; Hamawy spent time in Rahman’s circle in New Jersey in the early 1990s.
• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer publicly backed Hamawy at a press conference despite questions from reporters, citing his view that Democrats need the seat.
• A newly formed American Priorities PAC — explicitly positioned as a counter to AIPAC — spent $2 million backing Hamawy and two Mamdani-endorsed New York House candidates.
• Jewish Insider reports the Democratic Party ‘nominated a mix of pro-Israel moderates and anti-Israel ideologues’ in Tuesday’s primaries — with Hamawy’s victory described as the ‘biggest red flag’ of the night.

This is the Democratic Party's Hamawy problem in compressed form: a candidate with terrorism-adjacent history wins a major primary in a Jewish-heavy state, the Senate minority leader defends him, and an anti-AIPAC super PAC floods in $2 million to normalize the candidacy. The question for the general election is whether NJ-12 voters — or Jewish donors funding the party — treat Hamawy as a disqualifying case or absorb him as the new baseline.

The leadership of the Congressional Progressive Caucus — whose 95 members constitute nearly 45% of the House Democratic caucus — is actively urging members to vote for Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s Lebanon war powers resolution, which would end U.S. intelligence sharing and military cooperation with Israel’s operations in Lebanon. Jewish Insider reports Tlaib is expected to force a vote this week. The resolution’s co-lead, Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL), has described the Lebanon campaign as ‘another genocide’ — escalating the framing beyond prior ceasefire demands.

• The resolution would bar any U.S. ‘cooperation with or assistance for’ Israeli operations in Lebanon — including intelligence sharing — without congressional authorization.
• CPC backing does not guarantee passage; most moderates are expected to vote against it, but the vote will force Democrats on the record.
• Rep. Delia Ramirez, the co-lead, has explicitly characterized Israel’s Lebanon campaign as ‘another genocide’ — the first time a major Democratic caucus leader has used that framing on the House floor.

A war powers resolution cutting U.S.-Israel intelligence cooperation would represent the most operationally significant anti-Israel action ever to receive a floor vote in Congress — not a symbolic ceasefire statement but a binding mechanism. The CPC's decision to whip votes signals that the anti-Israel bloc in the House has moved from protest to a legislative strategy with teeth. Whether it advances or fails, the roll call will be a definitive IFF map of where House Democrats stand.

Tuesday’s California primary produced unresolved results on Israel-adjacent races. In the Los Angeles mayor’s race, incumbent Karen Bass leads, but City Councilmember Nithya Raman — who has faced sustained criticism from Jewish LA for her conduct earlier this month — is battling for the second runoff spot against reality TV personality Spencer Pratt with returns still coming in. AIPAC made one of its largest single independent expenditures of the cycle, spending nearly $1.2 million on Maryland state delegate Adrian Boafo to succeed retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer. Jewish Journal and JNS both flagged California’s open primary as a bellwether for Democratic Party direction on Israel.

• The LA mayor’s race is not yet resolved: Nithya Raman at ~20% is fighting for the second runoff spot against Spencer Pratt (~30%), with Bass leading at ~36%.
• AIPAC’s United Democracy Project spent $1.2 million on pro-Israel Maryland Democrat Adrian Boafo — one of its largest single-cycle state investments.
• Jewish Journal published a community piece on the grapple with choices, with many Jewish voters still searching for candidates ‘who reflected both their values and their concerns.’

A Raman runoff in Los Angeles would mean the city's Jewish community faces a general election between two candidates with troubled records on Israel — and ICAN's ability to frame that choice for Jewish voters would be the central variable. The California results, taken as a whole, show AIPAC defending incumbents and allies while the anti-Israel bloc runs strong in open-primary jurisdictions with large Arab and progressive bases.

Iranian drones struck Kuwait’s main airport terminal Wednesday, killing one person and wounding at least 63, forcing flight suspensions across the Gulf — the most significant Iranian attack on a US-aligned Arab state since the ceasefire took effect. The strike came as Iranian state-linked media claimed Tehran had stopped communicating with ceasefire mediators over Israel’s continued Lebanon operations, though Trump disputed that characterization. In a separate interview, Trump confirmed he called Prime Minister Netanyahu ‘f***ing crazy‘ in a heated phone call, expressing frustration over Israeli Lebanon strikes that complicated Iran deal negotiations.

• Iran’s drone strike on Kuwait’s airport killed 1, wounded 63, and forced flight diversions — Iran claimed it was ‘in response to a series of US military attacks.’
• Trump confirmed the expletive-laden Netanyahu call, saying he was ‘perturbed’ by Israel’s ‘constant fighting with Lebanon,’ but insisted the two leaders maintain a strong relationship.
• Rubio testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the US has not offered Iran sanctions relief to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — relief is contingent on nuclear concessions only.
• Trump has nominally terminated the Iran war and called for a deal ‘within the next week,’ but the ceasefire is visibly fraying on multiple fronts.

Iran's attack on Kuwait is not a military escalation aimed at a US target — it's a demonstration that Tehran can disrupt its Arab neighbors at will, which increases the pressure on US negotiators to accept Iranian terms before another Gulf state gets hit. The Trump-Netanyahu tension is structurally different from previous US-Israel friction: it's not Congress or the State Department pushing back, it's the President himself — which limits Netanyahu's usual levers for managing the relationship.