Another radical far-left candidate backed by socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is under fire after a resurfaced social media clip shows her appearing to suggest that America deserved the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Aber Kawas is the Muslim daughter of illegal aliens who is now the Democratic nominee for the New York State Senate District 12. Like Mamdani, Kawas is a socialist.
“The system of capitalism and racism and White supremacy… and Islamophobia have all been used to colonize lands, to take resources from other people and so this is a long trajectory, and we’re just seeing the manifestations of that continuation with 9/11,” she said in a 2017 episode of the Asian American Writers’ Association podcast titled “Islamophobia beyond 9/11 with Aber Kawas.”
She then downplayed the horrific attack.
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“The idea we have to apologize for a terror attack that a couple of people did and then there is no apology or reparations for genocides and for slavery… is something I find reprehensible,” she said.
The radical candidate addressed her comments during a November 2025 interview, downplaying them as out-of-context attacks from the political right, calling them “cherry-picked comments.”
“I’ve always been outspoken about the wrongful scapegoating of Muslim Americans, both before and after 9/11, and in this interview I was speaking about the harmful notion that Muslims should have to apologize for an act of violence they have nothing to do with,” Kawas told Fox News Digital Thursday morning.
“Our resounding victory this week shows that the people of Queens simply don’t buy into this kind of desperate, Islamophobic smear, and want leaders in office who aren’t afraid to call out bigotry, racism, and double standards.”
Kawas, who describes herself as a Palestinian American and Muslim community activist, made Gaza a central issue of her campaign. She said in her victory speech that “another world is possible,” and that is “a world where Gaza is free to live.”
She has also reportedly been affiliated with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which has previously been designated as a terrorist organization in some U.S. states and other countries.
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Her father, Jordanian national Abdelkareem Kawas, came to the United States on a tourist visa in 1989 and never left, according to the New York Post. He was later deported after a conviction for real estate fraud and a prison stint.
Kawas made this story central to her campaign and portrayed it on the trail as cruel persecution by immigration authorities of her father.
New York State Senate District 12 comprises western Queens, including Astoria.
It is a deeply blue district, and Kawas was vying for the seat against Democratic Assemblyman Steven Raga, whom she defeated handily. Incumbent State Sen. Michael Gianaris is stepping down when his term ends.
In a district that is deeply blue, Kawas is likely to stroll to victory in November, which will send her to Albany come January.