Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Grandson Of Munich Olympics Terrorist Wins Democrat Endorsement For House Seat

WASHINGTON (JTA) — California Democrats have endorsed the grandson of an architect of the Munich Massacre for a congressional seat.

Ammar Campa-Najjar, a Palestinian American, won the state party convention’s endorsement last weekend for the June primary in the 50th District, an inland district west of San Diego. Campa-Najjar has forged ties with his local Jewish community.

Duncan Hunter, a Republican, now holds the seat.

Campa-Najjar’s grandfather was Muhammad Yusuf al-Najjar, a mastermind of the terrorist murder of 11 Israeli Olympic athletes and coaches at the 1972 Games in Germany. Al-Najjar was assassinated a year later by Israeli commandos.

Haaretz recently reported on Campa-Najjar’s candidacy, saying he rejected his grandfather’s terrorism. Campa-Najjar, who lived for a time as a youth in the Gaza Strip, has said his “goal is for our generation to be better than our predecessors, and find a way to end this conflict.”

Haaretz quoted two local rabbis who spoke of Campa-Najjar’s commitment to Israel’s security, which he does not see as mutually exclusive with Palestinian rights.

Campa-Najjar emphasizes income inequality in his messaging. He is an admirer of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., whose 2016 run for the Democratic nomination made him the first Jewish candidate to win major-party nominating contests.

Hunter, under federal investigation for alleged financial improprieties, is also facing a slew of challengers in the Republican primary.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.