Mamdani-endorsed terrorist supporter is a fellow protege of Linda Sarsour and a Siraj Wahhaj fan

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani lent his endorsement to a Democratic Socialists of America-backed New York state assembly candidate who has expressed support for convicted terrorists and who, like Mamdani, is a protégé of controversial activist Linda Sarsour and a fan of radical imam Siraj Wahhaj.

Aber Kawas — a Palestinian-American and longtime Muslim activist who has made controversial statements about terrorism and 9/11 — recently sought the endorsement of the NYC DSA for her run in the 34th Assembly District in Queens, and she reportedly received a majority backing in a vote by the DSA’s Electoral Working Group last week after a member of the Mamdani campaign conveyed that she had his support.

Mamdani, a member of the DSA, leaned heavily on the backing of the socialist group and of Muslim activist groups to win both the Democratic primary in June and the general election earlier in November. Kawas made it clear on her personal Instagram page this month that she had assisted with Mamdani’s successful campaign, including posting a picture of the two of them together.

A Just the News review previously found that Mamdani embraced a nearly decade-long association with Sarsour, a high-profile anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian activist, as he rose from an activist to New York State assemblyman and now the Democratic Party-backed winner to be mayor of America’s largest city. Sarsour’s commentary and views on Israel have stirred years of controversy and accusations of anti-Semitism, an allegation she denies.

Kawas had a since-deleted Twitter account under the name “Zapatista Hijabi”, and a search of the archived tweets and of Sarsour’s own tagging of the now-defunct account shows Sarsour heaping praise on Kawas while Kawas returned compliments. Kawas also called Sarsour “my girl” in a June 2013 post on Instagram.

Online biographies and social media postings show Kawas also worked with and for the Arab American Association of New York (AAANY) for years, overlapping with the timeframe in which Sarsour was the group’s executive director.

Mamdani had spoken at imam Siraj Wahhaj's Brooklyn mosque in October and praised him on X as “one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders and a pillar of the Bed-Stuy community for nearly half a century.”

The imam has a long history of incendiary commentary and appeared as a character witness for Egyptian Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman – commonly known as the “Blind Sheikh” – who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in 1995 for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other plots to bomb major NYC landmarks.

Wahhaj and Mamdani praised each other during the remarks at the Brooklyn mosque in October.

Kawas said in a June 2013 post on Instagram: “The Legend Himself [winky face] Imam Siraj Wahaj in the hizzouse. Ooozing with Inspiration.”

Kawas did not respond to a request for comment sent to her through her personal Instagram. Mamdani did not respond to a request for comment sent through his campaign. Sarsour did not respond to a request for comment sent to her through her MPower Change group. Wahhaj did not respond to a request for comment sent to him through his mosque.

Mamdani backs Kawas in bid for DSA endorsement

It was reported by the New York Daily News early this week that “Mamdani’s support for Palestinian-American activist Aber Kawas — conveyed during a closed-door Democratic Socialists of America meeting last Wednesday — marks the first time the incoming mayor has put his thumb on the scale in a local race since his own Nov. 4 election win.”

Sources relayed to the outlet that Mamdani transition team political adviser Sam McCann told the DSA members at the meeting that the mayor-elect supported Kawas. “[Mamdani] told me that while he has tremendous respect for everyone in this race, he has said that he will support Aber in whatever she pursues,” McCann reportedly said.

“We have to actually run a Palestinian Arab in this race because we need to draw the fire of the Israeli lobby, and we have to beat them,” Kawas political adviser Joe Stanton reportedly said at the DSA meeting. “We did it with Zohran, and people have started realizing that they don’t run things.”

The outlet reported that “after Mamdani chimed in, the DSA’s Electoral Working Group endorsed Kawas, voting for her […] by a 69%-18% margin.”

It was also reported by Politico that the “sign-off” from Mamdani “helped her secure the endorsement” from the DSA.

The Queens connection

Kawas posted earlier in November on Instagram about her “Canvass Highlights in Queens from last week” as she celebrated Mamdani’s win. She said she attended “another canvass … organized by” the Muslim Democratic Club of New York — also a group where Mamdani had been a board member and where Sarsour had been the co-founder and president as well. She said she was “finishing off with the last Mamdani Mayoral Campaign shift for our district with my DSA peeps before heading off to wait for the results.”

“Moments/movements like this are not about one figure or election, they are about the people who find hope in fighting for a more dignified life,” Kawas said. “I was blessed to be among so many of them and will carry that energy into what’s coming next InshaAllah [Allah willing].”

Kawas also posted a picture of herself and other supporters with Mamdani on Instagram earlier this month.

“Zohran’s historic win last week was not a spontaneous moment; it was built over years of sustained community organizing,” Kawas said. “For me, this moment began in 2017 when Father Khader El-Yateem launched his aspirational run in the 43rd District’s Democratic primary race for a new City Council representative. While volunteering for this campaign, I met Zohran.”

Sarsour helped run El Yateem’s unsuccessful race and Mamdani also played a key leadership role in it.

Kawas added earlier this month: “Even though El-Yateem lost the race, he inspired a massive political movement in Bay Ridge, pushing a new generation of political perspectives to run unapologetically with uncompromising platforms. This included Zohran and myself, who met up over a cup of coffee later that year to discuss centering Palestine in electoral politics — it’s what brought us together years after that to build the Not on Our Dime Campaign.”

“If we don’t have candidates who will fight for Palestine — we need to run them. If we’re afraid they will get detracted by a corrupt political system — we need to build a base of support, on every level, that will hold them down,” Kawas said, adding, “For Gaza — for the workers — for the suffering — let’s keep on going. From Bay Ridge to Astoria from Albany to City Hall. Yalla [Let’s Go]!”

The Kawas-Sarsour connection

Kawas is listed as working at the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR) project starting in July of last year. The group says that its “mandate is to support Muslim and all other client [sic], communities, and movements in the New York City area and beyond that are targeted by local, state, or federal government agencies under the guise of national security and counterterrorism.”

The CLEAR online biography for Kawas says that “after witnessing the effects of unjust War on Terror policies targeting close friends and family members, Aber has been organizing with the Arab and Muslim communities in New York City around issues such as police surveillance, racial profiling, and immigrant rights.” The biography says that she “previously served as the NYC Advocacy Specialist with the Campaign to Take on Hate under the National Network of Arab American Communities” and that “before that, she served as Advocacy Director at the Arab American Association of NY” — the group that had been run by Sarsour.

Kawas also repeatedly posted about her support for and involvement in the AAANY in Instagram posts between 2015 and 2017. Kawas was labeled a “Youth Lead Organizer” for the AAANY in a 2017 video.

The AAANY also tagged the since-deleted Kawas Twitter account multiple times.

“@ZapatistaHijabi speaking at #BlackLivesMatter w/ … @ArabAmericanNY at #BarclaysCenter #ThisStopsToday,” the group tweeted in December 2014.

The AAANY also said in November 2015 that “@ZapatistaHijabi [is] repping and joining the #FightFor15 #solidarity.”

Sarsour was also effusive in her praise for Kawas on Twitter, although much of what Kawas may have said in response was not archived before the Kawas Twitter account was deleted.

Sarsour: "Here comes the revolution"

“As some sisters walk by, the wind softly says, ‘It's her. Here comes the revolution.’ That's u … @ZapatistaHijabi,” Sarsour tweeted in September 2013.

Sarsour tweeted in November 2013 about Kawas and others that “so many of my inspirations are younger than me” and that with the “spiciness, talent, cuteness, dedication of … @ZapatistaHijabi - what u need with me?”Sarsour told her followers to follow “NYC civil rights activists” including Kawas in a February 2014 tweet.

She called Kawas one of the “#EmpoweredMuslimWomen” in March 2014. Tagging the accounts of Kawas and others, she tweeted that month that “[I] love you guys very much.”

“@ZapatistaHijabi remember all the nights we stayed up tweeting re: #endnypdspying more 2 come,” Sarsour tweeted in April 2014.

Sarsour also tweeted that month that “[I] miss you all [heart]” and tagged Kawas and others. She also tweeted that “[I] “look forward 2 seeing … @ZapatistaHijabi” soon.

Kawas appeared to use her since-deleted account to tweet in response to Sarsour: “Back at you. A reunion was necessary.”

Sarsour also tweeted in November 2014, “Thanks 4 sharing @ZapatistaHijabi - Why Muslims Need to Get Out the Vote … #MuslimVote #RockTheVote #MuslimVotesMatter.”

Sarsour was sharing a since-deleted blogpost by Kawas for the Muslim American Society.

“@ZapatistaHijabi declaring #BlackLivesMatter at an action today. #ThisStopsToday #11days #ericgarner,” Sarsour tweeted in December 2014, sharing a photo of Kawas. She also tweeted: “Thank you … @ZapatistaHijabi for your leadership on behalf of our community. #BlackLivesMatter.”

Sarsour tagged Kawas and others in a March 2015 tweet about “#FierceWomen #InternationalWomensDay.” She also said that she saw Kawas and others “as leaders, not my competition. They inspire me to be better. They r our now!”

“Proud of our young leaders,” Sarsour tweeted in June 2015. “@ZapatistaHijabi to testify on behalf of @ArabAmericanNY in support of #RightToKnowAct. #changetheNYPD.”

Sarsour tagged Kawas in an August 2015 tweet about attending the Islamic Society of North America’s convention in NYC.

Kawas shared a picture of herself with Sarsour in August 2015 at a protest, saying, “What this week felt like in image. #FreeMuhammadAllan” — a Palestinian detained by the Israeli government, which claimed he was a member of the terrorist Islamic Jihad.

Other online biographies for Kawas also note that she has worked with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in New York. Kawas shared a CAIR “Know Your Rights” brochure on Instagram in January 2014. CAIR, which has a close affiliation with Sarsour and repeatedly has her appear at events as a lecturer or keynote speaker, also poured money into Mamdani’s mayoral race this year, according to campaign finance records.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR this week as being “foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations.” CAIR has denied the label and sued the Texas government.

Kawas shows sympathy for Holy Land Five and al-Qaeda — and seems to blame U.S. for 9/11

Kawas referred to convicted al-Qaeda financier Fahad Hashmi as an “imprisoned hero” in a since-deleted Tumblr post from 2015 first unearthed by social media influencer Drew Pavlou.

“A federal judge in New York City on Wednesday sentenced a 30-year-old Pakistan-born American, Syed Fahad Hashmi, to 15 years in prison. Hashmi had earlier pleaded guilty to providing material support to a terrorist organization,” Voice of America reported in 2010. “Syed Fahad Hashmi had pleaded guilty in April to one count of giving what prosecutors described as military gear to al-Qaeda operatives in London. The 15-year sentence had been negotiated between U.S. prosecutors and defense attorneys and, in court in April, Hashmi admitted his guilt.”

Kawas — just as Mamdani had done in his own past rap lyrics — also showed sympathy in the Tumblr post for the “the Holy Land Five”, who had been convicted by the Justice Department for supporting the terrorist group Hamas.

Kawas said of Hashmi, the Holy Land Five, and others: “Sometimes it strikes me how little of a degree of separation we all have to these imprisoned heroes. … Each day they are locked up is a day that our hearts cannot be at ease. We cannot rest until each and everyone is free. Their lives are a source of inspiration to us for they are living martyrs, teaching us lessons in patience, sacrifice, and integrity.’’

She also shared since-deleted fundraising pages for those linked to the Holy Land Foundation.

The Justice Department announced an indictment in 2004 against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) and seven of its senior leaders “for providing and conspiring to provide material support to Hamas." In 2001, the U.S. government listed HLF as Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT). Five of the Holy Land Foundation’s leaders — later referred to as "The Holy Land Five" — were convicted in 2008, and sentenced to decades in prison in 2009.

Mamdani released a heavily auto-tuned electronic rap track titled “Salaam” in March 2017 which remains on his SoundCloud page. The song was first unearthed by social media poster Canary Mission, among others who have pointed out that Mamdani sang about the Holy Land Five — with praise — and that Mamdani sent his "love" to them. He tweeted in March 2017 that the song was “about being Muslim in America today.”

"By targeting a synagogue ... I intended to create chaos and send a message of intimidation and coercion to the Jewish population of New York City, warning them to stop mistreating Muslims,” Farhani admitted in 2012 according to ABC New York.

Kawas also made controversial statements about Islamic terrorism and 9/11 in a February 2017 video posted by the Asian American Writers Workshop and titled “Islamophobia Beyond 9/11 with Aber Kawas.” In the video, Kawas was listed as a leader at the Sarsour-led AAANY.

The Usual Suspects: Islamophobia, colonialism, capitalism, white supremacy

“Islamophobia is something that we start to talk about in the framework of 9/11, the timeframe of 9/11, but Islamophobia is a part of a very, very long historical systematic process, right? And this process has a lot to do with colonialism,” Kawas said, then lamenting the Spanish reconquest of lands seized by Islamic empires. “I started to study Andalusia and this idea that with, like, European conquest of this, like, Muslim civilization in Europe, then leading to colonialism in the Americas.”

Kawas added: "The system of capitalism and racism and white supremacy, et cetera, have all — and Islamophobia — have all been used, you know, to colonize lands, right, to take resources from other people, and so this is, like, a long trajectory. And we're just seeing the manifestations of that continuation, right, with 9/11."

"When people are asking us to respond about, you know, an attack, when if you look back historically, right, you know, a lot of us come from lands that were colonized, lands where wars are being waged, right, and a lot of times because of U.S. policy or the policies in Europe,” Kawas also said. "The idea that we have to apologize for, like, a terror attack that, like, a couple people did, and then there is no apologies or reparations for genocides and for slavery, um, et cetera, is something that I kind of find, like, reprehensible.”

It remains to be seen whether Mamdani’s controversial endorsement of Kawas will be enough to land her a seat in the New York State Assembly — the same job Mamdani had on his path to leading New York City.