The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is putting its weight behind Ammar Campa-Najjar‘s campaign for the 50th District in California to spearhead their Red-to-Blue campaign to turn Republican districts into Democratic domains. As a figurehead for the Democratic party, Campa-Najjar is deeply disturbing as his grandfather, a man he has described as ”a hero”, was one of the masterminds who took part in the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes and a German police officer at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The DCCC program provides candidates access to additional fundraising, training and strategy. They added 31-year old Campa-Najjar, a former Obama administration official, to its Red to Blue program, which seeks to flip 33 Republican districts across the United States on Nov. 3 and increase the Democrats’ current House majority.
Campa-Najjar lost his in his first attempt in 2018 by 3.4 %. Earlier this month Politico reported that a poll conducted by J. Wallin Opinion Research on behalf of the conservative-leaning Deputy Sheriff’s Association of San Diego County showed Campa-Najjar with 42 % compared to his opponent, former Rep. Darrell Issa who was reported to have 39 % of the vote.
DCCC support is substantial. On Wednesday, The Hill reported that the DCCC made a $960,000 ad buy in the Philadelphia broadcast market, where two of their “Red to Blue” candidates are trying to flip seats.
DCCC Chairwoman Cheri Bustos described Campa-Najjar as the son of a working-class mother” and “ the first Latino-Arab American to run for Congress.”His website states that Campa-Najjar was born in California and raised in San Diego by his mother who is described as both “Christian” and “Catholic.” His bio does not mention his father but an investigative article by the Clarion Project identified him as Yasser Mohammad Yousef al-Najjar, the Palestinian Authority’s ambassador to Norway appointed in 2005 who was accused by his own people of corruption. More significantly, Yasser Al-Najjar’s father, the potential congressman’s grandfather, was Muhammad Yusuf al-Najjar also known as Abu Youssef, a member of the Palestinian terrorist organization Black September headed by Yasser Arafat. Abu Youssef was one of the masterminds who took part in the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes and a German police officer at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Though the congressional candidate claims to have rejected his grandfather’s legacy and has been endorsed by the Jewish community in his district, he has also referred to his terrorist grandfather as a “legend” and a “public servant” on social media.
“It’s back breaking work being my dad, and being his son requires broad shoulders,” he posted in 2015 on Instagram (since removed). “For me, it’s dealing with the pressure of being his son. In the eyes of many, Yasser Mohammad Alnajjar is the son of a legend, and a hero in his own right…I have two generations of public servants running through my veins.”
Campa-Najjar also claimed to have a personal connection with Yasser Arafat. In another Mothers’ Day Instagram post that has also been removed, he wrote to his Mexican-American mother, “You’ve always been there for me: as a baby throwing cookies at your head from a car seat, as a toddler who never believed in diapers, cursed and spat at Yasser Arafat’s wife for trying to feed me soup.”
