Democrat Ties 9/11 To ‘White Supremacy’

Man speaking at podium on stage, projection behind him.

A new New York Democrat is blaming America’s own “capitalism and white supremacy” for 9/11—and she just cruised to a state senate nomination.

Story Snapshot

Aber Kawas won a Queens Democratic state senate primary with about 60% of the vote despite past 9/11 remarks calling the attacks a “manifestation” of capitalism, racism, and white supremacy.^[1]^[4]
In a 2017 podcast, Kawas linked 9/11 to a long “trajectory” of colonialism, saying the United States brought the attacks on itself through capitalism, racism, and Islamophobia.^[2]^[4]
Conservative critics say this frames 9/11 as the fault of America, not the terrorists, and downplays nearly 3,000 murdered Americans as “something a couple people did.”^[2]^[3]^[5]^[8]
The fight over her comments shows how far left-wing racial capitalism and white supremacy theories have moved from campus seminars into real political power in deep-blue districts.^[2]^[6]^[8]

Far-left 9/11 rhetoric lands in the New York State Senate

New York Democrats in a deep-blue Queens district just nominated Aber Kawas, a democratic socialist backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, for the State Senate.^[1]^[4] Reports say she won roughly 60 percent of the vote against Assemblyman Steven Raga, making her the heavy favorite in November.^[1]^[8] That means a candidate who publicly tied 9/11 to “capitalism, racism, and white supremacy” is now poised to help write New York law.^[3]^[5]

The controversy centers on a resurfaced 2017 podcast where Kawas discussed “Islamophobia beyond 9/11.” In that clip, she said “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 that 9/11 was a “manifestation” of this long trajectory.^[2]^[4] Conservative outlets and local officials argue she was blaming America, not al-Qaeda, for the attack.^[4]^[5]

Did Kawas say America “deserved” 9/11?

Fox News reported that Kawas “appearing to suggest that America deserved” 9/11 based on the unearthed video.^[4] Columnists and county leaders echoed that charge, stressing her claim that the United States “brought the 9/11 terror attacks on itself.”^[2]^[5]^[6] They highlight a second quote where she reportedly shrugged off the attack as something a “couple people did,” which they say downplays almost 3,000 lives lost and insults families who still carry the pain.^[2]^[8]^[18]

At the same time, there is no full public transcript showing her saying the attacks were “right,” “good,” or “necessary.” Kawas’s recorded comments focus on 9/11 as a “manifestation” of systems like capitalism and racism, not an explicit moral defense of murder.^[2]^[4] That means critics are reading her structural blame—pointing at America’s economy and history—as moral approval, while her defenders claim she was giving a causal theory, not cheering the terrorists.^[2]^[4]

From academic theory to real political power

Kawas’s language matches ideas popular in certain universities about “racial capitalism” and white supremacy. Scholars in this field argue that modern capitalism and racism grew together, both built on conquest, dispossession, and slavery.^[6]^[7]^[8] They say profit-making and race-making feed each other, creating a global system of Euro or white supremacy that extracts wealth from nonwhite people while locking them into lower status.^[6]^[8] In that world view, events like 9/11 are seen as “blowback” from long histories of colonization.

These theories also claim that Islamophobia, racism, and white supremacy are woven into Western policy, turning Muslims into a racial “other” and making them targets.^[1]^[3] Activists then use this frame to argue that American foreign policy, capitalism, and racism help fuel terror and conflict. When Kawas says 9/11 sits on a “long trajectory” of these systems, she is speaking the language of racial capitalism and white supremacy ideology that is now common in left academic circles.^[2]^[6]^[8]

Why this matters beyond one Queens race

For many conservatives, the problem is not academic debate in a classroom. The concern is that this worldview is now driving real policy from city halls to state capitals. Voters in heavily Democratic districts are electing candidates who see America mainly as a colonial oppressor, whose capitalism and “white supremacy” supposedly cause terror attacks.^[1]^[3]^[4] That mindset makes it easier to blame our own country and harder to stand firmly against those who target American civilians.^[16]^[18]

Who is Aber Kawas? Palestinian-American activist who faced 9/11 remarks controversy wins Queens NY State Senate Democratic Primaryhttps://t.co/LGoS8ymD5o

— Economic Times (@EconomicTimes) June 25, 2026

The fight over Kawas’s remarks also shows how 9/11 still shapes politics. Research on victims’ families found they became more active and more likely to support conservative candidates after the attacks.^[12] They saw 9/11 as a reason to defend the nation, not to blame it. Now, as Trump’s second-term administration focuses on secure borders, strong defense, and respect for the Constitution, clashes like this highlight the stark choice: a country that honors its dead and rejects excuses for terror, or one that keeps searching for ways to say America had it coming.^[14]^[19]