Aber Kawas, the Muslim daughter of illegal aliens and a socialist who ran in the New York State Senate District 12 election, is under fire after a resurfaced social media clip shows her appearing to suggest that America deserved the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Kawas, a Democratic nominee, made this comment in a 2017 episode of the Asian American Writers' Association podcast, stating that "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 then downplayed the horrific attack, saying "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."
Kawas addressed her comments during a November 2025 interview, downplaying them as out-of-context attacks from the political right, calling them "cherry-picked comments."
She stated that "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 won the election for New York State Senate District 12, which comprises western Queens, including Astoria. The deeply blue district voted for her handily, sending her to Albany in January.
