Democrats Chose Candidate Who Links 9/11 To ‘White Supremacy’

New York Democrats nominated a leftist activist for a state Senate seat who once said 9/11 was the manifestation of “white supremacy” and Western colonialism. 

Aber Kawas, a democratic socialist backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, won the nomination for New York’s 12th Senate District with 60% of the vote on Tuesday. Kawas, who has a degree in “Islamic Liberation Theology,” previously faced criticism for her comments on 9/11 that appeared to downplay the terrorist attack and blame it on the policies of the United States. 

“Finding that the system of capitalism and racism, and white supremacy, etc, 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,” she said in 2017 at an Asian American Writers’ Workshop. 

Kawas is expected to win in November to represent the heavily Democratic district located in Queens.

Mamdani-endorsed Aber Kwas won the Democrat Primary tonight for a State Senate seat in New York.

Here she is saying that 9-11 was America’s fault because of our “system of capitalism, racism, white supremacy and islamophobia.” pic.twitter.com/ouSUB44nz3

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 24, 2026

She added during the workshop that she did not appreciate people “asking us to respond about, you know, an attack” because “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.”

“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, etc., is something that I kind of find like reprehensible,” she said. 

Kawas describes herself as the “daughter of Palestinian refugees” and says that her father was deported by ICE. Her platform includes “free” healthcare for illegal immigrants, funding legal services for illegal immigrants, and ending any cooperation between New York law enforcement and ICE.

It was previously reported that she wrote in a now-deleted Tumblr account that a man convicted of providing material support to al Qaeda named Fahad Hashmi was one of her “imprisoned heroes.” 

“Therefore 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,” she wrote, according to posts saved by Drew Pavlou. “Their lives are a sources of inspiration to us for they are living martyrs, teaching us lessons in patience, sacrifice, and integrity. We must strive to keep them in our remembrance and work for their sake, continuing on with the freedom we have, that has unjustly been taken awat [sic] from them.”

Mamdani-backed democratic socialists swept their primary elections on Tuesday, defeating candidates backed by the Democrat Party establishment.