In a CNN interview, Rep.-elect Adam Hamawy (D-New Jersey) repeatedly refused to call Iran an “adversary” of the United States. More on Hamawy’s CNN interview can be found here: “Incoming Rep. Adam Hamawy Refuses to Label Iran a US ‘Adversary’ in Contentious Interview,” by Corey Walker, Algemeiner, November 11, 2026:
Hamawy also criticized the consequences of the conflict for American security, arguing that the United States had become less safe, placed its troops at greater risk and damaged relationships with international allies.
So, according to Hamawy, America will be safer if it allows Iran to acquire nuclear weapons? He doesn’t explain.
When Brown asked whether he considered Israel an adversary instead, Hamawy again declined to offer a straightforward classification of either country.
“I want America to succeed, and so I want America to be at peace. I want America to have as many friends and allies around the world as possible,” he said….
America wants to be at peace. But if Iran is hellbent on developing weapons of mass destruction and the means — long-range ballistic missiles with thermonuclear warheads — to deliver them, knowing the fanatical hatred the Islamic Republic’s leaders have for America, Washington has to assume that once acquired, those nuclear weapons will be used, and not just on Israel. As for Hamawy’s pious wish — “I want America to have as many friends and allies around the world as possible” — he does not explain how America can win the true, not feigned, friendship of Muslim states whose peoples are convinced that non-Muslims are the “most vile of created beings” and furthermore, they know that, as Muhammad said, “Islam is to dominate and not to be dominated.” It’s too bad that Pamela Brown did not ask Hamawy about both statements; it would have been fun to watch him try to explain them away before an audience of millions on CNN.
Asked whether he would support ending any American funding for Israeli military resources or equipment, he answered “Correct.”…
As it happens, Benjamin Netanyahu also agrees that American funding for Israel’s military should stop. And so does President Trump. They differ not on the principle of ending such aid, but on the timing. Netanyahu wants a slow tapering off of such aid, over the next ten years, Trump has declared such aid will be halted by the end of the year.
His foreign-policy positions have already attracted controversy during the campaign. Hamawy has advocated ending American military assistance to Israel and has faced questions about his past association with Omar Abdel-Rahman, the radical Egyptian cleric known as the Blind Sheikh, who was convicted in connection with a plot to carry out terrorist attacks in New York City.
Hamawy testified as a defense witness during Abdel-Rahman’s 1995 trial and previously described the cleric as a community leader. His association with the cleric became a point of contention during the Democratic primary….
Omar Abdel-Rahman, the Blind Sheikh, was well known for talking in his sermons about the need for Muslims to conduct violent jihad. That did not stop Adam Hamawy either from traveling with him to different out-of-state gatherings, or from appearing as a witness for the defense in Abdel-Rahman’s links-to-terrorism trial.
Hamawy is no stranger to controversy. He caught flack for defending controversial anti-Israel streamer Hasan Piker’s comment that the US “deserved” the Sept. 11 terror attacks, contending that his statements should be viewed “in perspective.” He has also accused Israel of committing a so-called “genocide” in Gaza.
Hamawy campaigned on numerous occasions alongside Hasan Piker, even after he, Piker, had said “America deserved 9/11.” Brown ought to have asked him about that remark, and Hamawy’s decision to nonetheless campaign with Piker at his side. She could also have asked Hamawy about his charge that Israel has been committing “genocide” in light of the fact that the IDF has made a tremendous effort, by dropping millions of leaflets, sending millions of text messages, making millions of robocalls, and using the “knock-on-the-roof” technique, to warn civilians away from sites about to be targeted. She might have asked his reaction to the conclusion reached by the West Point professor John Spencer, an expert on urban warfare, that in Gaza “Israel has done more to prevent civilian casualties in war than any military in history.” She might have asked him about the IDF’s role in ensuring that one million children in Gaza were vaccinated against polio and whether that sounded like “genocide” to him.
Finally, Pamela Brown ought to have ended her CNN interview with Adam Hamawy with just a handful of questions about Islam and Muhammad. First, she might have asked him if he believed that Muhammad was the “Perfect Man” (al-insan al-kamil) and the Model of Conduct (uswa hasana). He would, of course, say yes. And then she should ask about Muhammad and little Aisha, who was betrothed to him when she was six, and with whom he had sexual intercourse when she was nine and he was 54. If he denies this, saying something like “no, she was really nineteen” or “no one really knows how old she was,” Pamela Brown can read aloud what Aisha herself said: “The Messenger of Allah married me when I was six, and consummated the marriage with me when I was nine, and I used to play with dolls.”
And Pamela Brown, not done with Hamawy yet, should ask him if he is familiar with Qur’an 3:110, which says that Muslims are “the best of peoples” or with Qur’an 98:6, which describes non-Muslims as “the most vile of created beings.” I can’t imagine how he will explain that away.
Last, Hamawy should be asked what he thinks of two of Muhammad’s celebrated sayings: first, that “I have been made victorious through terror” and second, that “war is deception.”
And that should leave Adam Hamawy in a very bad state indeed. For the rest of us, however, it will be television interviewing at its implacable take-no-prisoners best.
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