Aber Kawas: Profile, Bio, Age, Boyfriend and Family

Who is Aber Kawas?

Aber Kawas is a Palestinian-American community organizer from Brooklyn, New York, known for more than a decade of work around immigrant rights, police surveillance, racial profiling and Islamophobia in the United States. (AAWW)

She first came to prominence as a youth organizer with the Arab American Association of New York (AAANY) and later as a visible voice in movements against post-9/11 “War on Terror” policies. (AAWW)

In 2025, she moved from movement organizing into electoral politics, emerging as a candidate for New York State Assembly District 34, based in western Queens. Her prospective candidacy has already attracted strong support from parts of the left, including New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, but has also drawn intense criticism from conservative media over her past comments and affiliations. (Wikipedia)

Early Life and Education

Public information about Kawas’s early childhood is limited, but multiple profiles describe her as:

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York
Of Palestinian descent (fearlesscities.sched.com)

Her family’s experience with U.S. immigration and deportation enforcement — particularly the deportation of her father — is highlighted in the documentary An Act of Worship. Kawas has said that the trauma of watching immigration laws tear families apart pushed her toward activism and public advocacy. (CAAM Home)

Education

Kawas is a graduate of The City College of New York (CUNY), where she completed a degree in International Studies with a concentration in Latin American Studies in 2014. (fearlesscities.sched.com)

During her college years, she:

Was active in Muslim student and community organizations, including the Muslim Students’ Association and Muslim American Society. (newageislam.com)
Began connecting issues facing Arab and Muslim communities with broader struggles in Latin America and other regions, something she’s said shaped her global, solidarity-based political outlook. (ICNY)

Early Activism and Community Organizing

By around 2010, while still quite young, Kawas had already begun organizing with Arab and Muslim communities across New York City. (AAWW)

Work with CAIR, Urban Justice Center and AAANY

Over the next several years she held various roles in civil-rights and community organizations, including:

Intern at CAIR-New York (Council on American-Islamic Relations)
Intern with the Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center
Fellow and then Youth Lead Organizer at the Arab American Association of New York, where she helped register more than 800 voters in one campaign with the Verrazano Bridge Coalition (ICNY)

Her organizing has consistently focused on:

Fighting immigration enforcement abuses and deportations
Challenging police surveillance and racial profiling of Muslim communities
Building civic participation, especially voter registration and youth leadership (ICNY)

In 2018 she was recognized in the MPower 100 list of Muslim social-justice leaders for this work, with profiles emphasizing her organizing around immigration, surveillance and racial justice. (Medium)

Take On Hate and National Advocacy

Kawas later served as New York City Advocacy Specialist with the Campaign to Take on Hate, part of the National Network for Arab American Communities. (CLEAR)

In that role she:

Advocated against post-9/11 laws such as the Patriot Act and programs like NSEERS (National Security Entry-Exit Registration System), highlighting their impact on Muslim and immigrant communities (CAAM Home)
Organized public education around Islamophobia, surveillance and civil liberties

Her activism and personal story were featured in An Act of Worship, which portrays Muslim Americans navigating the legacy of the “War on Terror.” (CAAM Home)

Professional Career: From AAANY to CUNY CLEAR

Over time, Kawas’s work expanded from neighborhood-level organizing into more formal leadership positions.

Advocacy Director, Arab American Association of New York

Kawas served as Advocacy Director at AAANY, a major Brooklyn-based organization that provides social services while also engaging in policy advocacy on immigration and civil-rights issues. (CLEAR)

In this capacity, she:

Coordinated campaigns against NYPD and federal surveillance programs
Worked on public-education efforts about racial profiling and Islamophobia
Helped connect local Arab and Muslim communities with broader citywide coalitions on racial and immigrant justice (AAWW)

Associate Director of Partnerships, CUNY CLEAR

In July 2024, Kawas joined the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR) project at CUNY School of Law as Associate Director of Partnerships. (CLEAR)

CLEAR provides:

Legal support and “know your rights” trainings for communities targeted by national-security and counterterrorism operations
Partnerships with grassroots organizations to challenge policing and surveillance

Kawas’s role centers on connecting movements, community groups and CLEAR’s legal work, aiming to “bring support and resources to movements that challenge injustice and fight for accountability.” (CLEAR)

Other Affiliations

Public profiles also list Kawas as serving on the Board of Exec at the Muslim Renaissance Group, and as a speaker and trainer for the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. (LinkedIn)

Move into Electoral Politics: New York State Assembly District 34

District 34 Context

New York’s 34th Assembly District covers parts of Queens, including Jackson Heights, Elmhurst and surrounding neighborhoods. The seat is currently represented by Jessica González-Rojas, who won re-election in 2024 but has announced she will run for State Senate instead of seeking another Assembly term. (Wikipedia)

As of late 2025:

Brian Romero, González-Rojas’s former chief of staff, has formally declared his candidacy. (Wikipedia)
Aber Kawas is listed as a potential candidate and is actively campaigning for the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) endorsement and broader progressive support. (Wikipedia)

Endorsement from Zohran Mamdani

New York City mayor-elect and current Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani has reportedly signaled strong support for Kawas’s Assembly run, telling DSA members he would back her “in whatever she pursues.” (New York Post)

That early, high-profile backing helped make Kawas one of the most talked-about potential candidates for the 2026 Assembly cycle, particularly within New York’s progressive and socialist circles.

Views and Political Priorities

Much of what is known about Kawas’s issue positions comes from her public speeches, organizing campaigns and writing, rather than a formal legislative record (since she has not yet held elected office).

Key themes include:

1. Civil Liberties and Anti-Surveillance

Kawas has consistently highlighted:

Opposition to mass surveillance of Muslim and immigrant communities
Criticism of NYPD and federal counterterrorism practices she argues criminalize communities of color
The need for accountability and transparency in law-enforcement agencies (CLEAR)

2. Immigration and Deportation

Shaped by her family’s experience and cases she’s worked on, she focuses on:

Ending deportations that break up families
Challenging laws and policies that blend immigration with national-security frameworks
Expanding legal support, social services and pathways to status for immigrants (CAAM Home)

3. Fighting Islamophobia and Racism

Kawas frequently links Islamophobia with:

Systemic racism, white supremacy and colonialism
Economic and foreign-policy structures she argues help produce violence and inequality

Her public statements often emphasize solidarity between Muslim communities and other marginalized groups, including Black, Latinx and immigrant communities more broadly. (AAWW)

4. Palestinian Rights and International Solidarity

Kawas is an outspoken advocate for Palestinian liberation and has participated in events connecting Palestine to gender justice, decolonization and broader liberation movements. (Palestine Solidarity Alliance)

Her critics portray this as evidence of radicalism; her supporters frame it as part of a human-rights-based foreign-policy perspective.

Controversies and Media Scrutiny

As her Assembly bid gained prominence, several controversies have surrounded Aber Kawas, mostly amplified by conservative outlets and commentators.

1. 9/11 Comments

A resurfaced video clip shows Kawas speaking about the September 11, 2001 attacks, capitalism, racism and U.S. foreign policy. In that clip, she argues that:

Systems of capitalism, racism, white supremacy and Islamophobia have been used to colonize lands and exploit resources
9/11 is one “manifestation” of that trajectory
She finds it “reprehensible” that Muslims are expected to apologize for a terror attack committed by “a couple of people” while there is no comparable apology or reparations for historical injustices such as slavery and colonization (New York Post)

Critics, including the New York Post and right-leaning commentators, have described these remarks as downplaying the scale and horror of 9/11 or shifting blame onto U.S. society at large. Supporters argue that Kawas was critiquing double standards and structural violence, not justifying terrorism. (New York Post)

2. Links to CAIR and Other Muslim Organizations

Kawas has been:

An intern or organizer with CAIR-NY
A longtime participant in Muslim student and community organizations, including Muslim American Society and various Palestinian-rights groups (Medium)

Some conservative commentators and organizations have attacked these affiliations, pointing to past accusations that groups like CAIR or MAS have ties to Islamist movements; CAIR and similar organizations, for their part, present themselves as mainstream civil-rights and advocacy groups and reject such characterizations. (New York Post)

3. Highly Partisan Criticism

At least one sharply critical opinion piece in a conservative outlet portrays Kawas as an “Islamist activist” and questions her past writings about Muslim prisoners convicted on terrorism-related charges, claiming she used admiring language toward them. These are allegations and interpretations by the author, not court findings about Kawas herself. (Frontpage Mag)

Because of the heated rhetoric around her, much of the media coverage is highly polarized. Neutral, fact-based reporting on her policy platform and Assembly campaign remains relatively limited as of late 2025; most detailed information comes from her own organizational bios and from explicitly partisan critics or supporters.

Personal Life

Kawas generally keeps detailed personal information private in public bios. Available sources indicate that:

She identifies strongly as a Brooklyn-raised, Palestinian-American, Muslim woman (fearlesscities.sched.com)
She has spoken publicly about her father’s deportation and the emotional impact of immigration enforcement on her family, especially in the context of wedding planning and family milestones. (CAAM Home)

Beyond these elements, there is no widely confirmed information about her exact age, marital status (beyond references in the film), or other private details — and most coverage focuses on her public activism rather than private life.

Top Interesting Facts About Aber Kawas

Featured in An Act of Worship – Kawas’s story is one of the central threads in the documentary film chronicling Muslim American life under two decades of the “War on Terror.” (CAAM Home)
Recognized as an MPower 100 Leader – She was listed among 100 Muslim social-justice leaders building power across the United States. (Medium)
Long-time Brooklyn Organizer – She has been organizing with Arab and Muslim communities in New York City since at least 2010, starting in her late teens/early twenties. (AAWW)
Bridges Latin America and the Middle East in Her Studies – Her academic work focused on parallels between Latin America and the Middle East, informing her global view of empire, race and resistance. (ICNY)
From Youth Organizer to Legal-Movement Connector – Her trajectory runs from youth voter registration drives in Bay Ridge to a partnerships role at CUNY CLEAR, connecting legal advocacy with grassroots movements. (ICNY)
A Polarizing Assembly Candidate – Before even formally appearing on the ballot, she has already become a national flashpoint in debates over Islamophobia, Palestine activism and left politics in New York. (New York Post)

FAQs About Aber Kawas

1. Is Aber Kawas currently a member of the New York State Assembly?

No. As of November 2025, Aber Kawas is not a sitting Assembly member. She is a prospective or announced candidate for Assembly District 34 in Queens for the 2026 election cycle. (Wikipedia)

2. What is her political party?

Kawas is aligned with the Democratic left, seeking support from organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and backed by progressive figures such as Zohran Mamdani. (New York Post)

3. What are her main issues?

Her main issues, based on her public work, include:

Ending discriminatory police surveillance and racial profiling
Protecting immigrant and refugee communities
Fighting Islamophobia and structural racism
Supporting Palestinian rights and broader anti-war, anti-colonial movements (CLEAR)

4. Why is she controversial?

Kawas is controversial primarily because of:

Her strongly worded critiques of U.S. policy and structural racism
Her comments about 9/11, which critics say minimize the attacks while supporters see them as a critique of double standards
Her associations with groups like CAIR and Palestinian-rights organizations that conservative commentators frequently target (New York Post)

5. Where can I follow her work?

You can find more about her through:

Her professional bio at CUNY CLEAR (CLEAR)
Past profiles and interviews in outlets like the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, The Guardian’s Frederick Douglass 200 project, and various conference speaker pages (AAWW)
Her own social media accounts, such as Instagram. (Instagram)