But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Adam Hamawy
Democrat · U.S. House, New Jersey District 12
✓Opposes
How this mark works
We track key votes on sending U.S. weapons and money to the government of Israel. A check means every tracked vote they cast came down against sending more, on the side of peace and de-escalation. A question mark means a mixed record: they sided with sending up to half of the time. An X means they voted to send more weapons and money in over half of their tracked votes, even as the way those weapons and dollars were being used became more and more obvious. At exactly half, money this election cycle from a lobbying group we track, or an endorsement from a group that backs sending weapons, makes it an X. Only votes actually cast are counted. Where a candidate has no recorded votes on these bills, the mark comes instead from a reviewed reading of their public record (money from the lobbying groups we track, endorsements, and their own words since January 26, 2024). There an X also covers fully backing the conduct of the war by the government of Israel without significant reservations, and a question mark also covers speaking about Israel without saying clearly where they stand on U.S. weapons and funding. A dash means No Position Found: we found nothing in their own words about Israel, Gaza or the war.
Two reviewers, reading the public record as a whole, agree: In his own words he argues against even Iron Dome and other defensive weapons for Israel and objects to paying for the war with his tax dollars, which taken together says the weapons should stop. Reviewed by hand on 2026-10-01. This candidate has no recorded tracked floor votes.
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Hamawy is the Democratic candidate for New Jersey's 12th District, a trauma surgeon who served as a volunteer at the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis and who won a crowded June 2026 primary to succeed the retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman.
Asked what carried the primary, he told NJ Spotlight News: "I ran on health care, not bombs. Unrigging the economy and abolishing ICE."
His position on U.S. assistance is unusually far-reaching. Appearing on Hasan Piker's livestream show in April 2026, he said, as Jewish Insider reported: “When we talk about the Iron Dome or any kind of defensive weapons, what it is doing is insulating Israel from having to make decisions to make peace, and it really isolates them from having to deal with the consequences”. He went on: “It’s like giving a bully body armor to go bully people some more. We need to be able to have them feel the effects of war, and then they’ll stop and actually have a conversation.” On the same show he said: “I’m paying for this. I’m paying with my own tax dollars”. JTA describes him as "an opponent of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system and a supporter of a complete arms embargo and the right of return for Palestinian refugees". That is the outlet's summary rather than his own words. His campaign platform is reported to call for an immediate and complete end to all U.S. military aid and arms sales to Israel, including missile defence.
In May 2024, while working at the hospital in Khan Younis, he called on the United States to halt arms sales to Israel, citing the civilian casualties and the injuries to children he was treating.
He has faced scrutiny over having provided testimony in the case of a convicted militant cleric. He addressed it directly: NJ Spotlight News reports him saying "of course I condemned his rhetoric and actions," and JTA reports him saying he finds antisemitism "abhorrent."
He has no federal voting record.
The money
Checked the five lobbying groups we track; no direct 2026 support found
2026 support from the five lobbying groups we track
Nothing recorded (as of 2026-07-23) from the five lobbying groups we track; earlier cycles and earmarked donations not yet tracked.
Support-only OpenFEC data. Opposition independent expenditures are excluded.
✓ Endorsed by JVP Action +3 more
JVP ActionJewish Voice for Peace's political arm, which now operates as JVP. It backs candidates who support Palestinian rights and work to end U.S. military funding to the government of Israel.USCPR ActionThe political arm of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. Its endorsed candidates commit to block U.S. weapons transfers and military funding to Israel and to refuse AIPAC money.A New Policy PACA group backing congressional candidates who want a new U.S. policy toward Israel and Palestine grounded in U.S. and international law, including conditions on military aid.Track AIPACA watchdog on AIPAC-linked money. It backs candidates who reject AIPAC support and call for an arms embargo and conditions on aid to the government of Israel.These endorsements come from groups that push to restrict or end U.S. weapons transfers to the government of Israel. Endorsements from these groups are shown for information; they do not decide the mark.
In their words
“I ran on health care, not bombs. Unrigging the economy and abolishing ICE.”
“When we talk about the Iron Dome or any kind of defensive weapons, what it is doing is insulating Israel from having to make decisions to make peace, and it really isolates them from having to deal with the consequences”
“It’s like giving a bully body armor to go bully people some more. We need to be able to have them feel the effects of war, and then they’ll stop and actually have a conversation.”
The notes behind this card: what we looked at, what we found, and where each item came from.
U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel
[Position, 2026-06-03] JTA describes him as "an opponent of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system and a supporter of a complete arms embargo and the right of return for Palestinian refugees". **That is the outlet's characterization, not a quotation of him**, and the card presents it as such.
[Position, 2026, reported] His campaign platform called for an immediate and complete end to all U.S. military aid and arms sales to Israel, explicitly including funding for missile defence systems. His about page was opened; no passage on this subject was taken from it, so the platform position is recorded as reported.
[Position, 2024-05-17, reported] While volunteering as a combat surgeon at the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis, called on the United States to halt arms sales and stop sending weapons to Israel, citing civilian casualties and injuries to children he was treating (Washington Post). The page was not opened.
[Position, 2026-04; reported 2026-04-21] On Hasan Piker's livestream show in mid-April 2026 ("last week", in a report published April 21), as Jewish Insider reported, he said: “When we talk about the Iron Dome or any kind of defensive weapons, what it is doing is insulating Israel from having to make decisions to make peace, and it really isolates them from having to deal with the consequences,” and, in the next quoted passage, “It’s like giving a bully body armor to go bully people some more. We need to be able to have them feel the effects of war, and then they’ll stop and actually have a conversation.” The same report says he supports financial sanctions on Israel. An opinion blog post on the Times of Israel blogs platform, whose own headline applies a label to him, was an earlier source for these remarks and is no longer relied on; under the standing rule of 2026-08-12 this site does not repeat labels.
He has no federal voting record.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
[Position, 2026, as JTA reports] Support for the right of return for Palestinian refugees, per JTA's characterization above. No separate statement located on U.S. humanitarian funding.
Characterization of the conflict
[Position, 2026-04] On the same livestream, per Jewish Insider, he called the U.S. "the villain in this whole story" and said: “I’m paying for this. I’m paying with my own tax dollars”.
[Position, 2026-06-10] NJ Spotlight News: "I ran on health care, not bombs. Unrigging the economy and abolishing ICE," and "Democrats are looking for candidates who will be bold fighters and will call out this rigged system."
His clinical experience in Gaza is the stated basis for his position, as Jewish Insider reports and the Washington Post piece describes.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
Nothing located naming a pro-Israel organisation.
Safety and antisemitism (context)
[2026-05-30 and 2026-06-10] He has faced scrutiny over having provided testimony in the case of a convicted militant cleric (Times of Israel, NJ Spotlight News). **He addressed it directly**, and both his responses are recorded here: NJ Spotlight News's subheading quotes him saying "of course I condemned his rhetoric and actions," and JTA reports that he "finds antisemitism 'abhorrent'."
Recorded because we keep the full record, and under the standing rule of 2026-08-12, which requires describing behaviour rather than repeating labels. The Times of Israel headline applies a label; it is not repeated here. The underlying testimony was not examined and is not characterised.
But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and
funding for the government of Israel. Every claim on this page goes through at least two verification steps.
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