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Protestors
rally
for a
ceasefire
in Gaza
outside
a UAW
union
hall
during a
visit by
US
President
Joe
Biden in
Warren,
Michigan,
US, Feb.
1, 2024.
(Reuters) |
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Dearborn
ramps up
police
patrol
after
‘bigoted’
WSJ
op-ed as
Biden
condemns
anti-Arab
hate
4–6
minutes
By
Wendell
Bryant
tellususa.com
DEARBORN
HEIGHTS,
MI - The
mayor of
Dearborn
has
ordered
more
police
officers
onto the
streets,
ramping
up law
enforcement
presence
across
places
of
worship
and
significant
infrastructure
points
this
weekend
following
an
opinion
piece
published
in the
Wall
Street
Journal
that
called
the
Michigan
city the
“jihad
capital”
of the
US.
And on
Sunday,
Joe
Biden
weighed
in,
denouncing
anti-Arab
hate
and,
without
referring
specifically
to the
newspaper,
saying,
“It
shouldn’t
happen
to the
residents
of
Dearborn
– or any
American
town.”
The
newspaper
published
the
piece on
Friday
with the
headline:
Welcome
to
Dearborn,
America’s
Jihad
Capital.
Dearborn
mayor
Abdullah
Hammoud
reacted
sharply,
calling
the
piece
“bigoted”
and
“Islamophobic”
in an
online
post.
“Effective
immediately
–
Dearborn
police
will
ramp up
its
presence
across
all
places
of
worship
and
major
infrastructure
points.
This is
a direct
result
of the
inflammatory
@WSJ
opinion
piece
that has
led to
an
alarming
increase
in
bigoted
and
Islamophobic
rhetoric
online
targeting
the city
of
Dearborn,”
Hammoud
posted
on
Twitter/X
on
Saturday
afternoon.
Effective
immediately,
Dearborn
police
will
ramp up
their
presence
across
all
places
of
worship
and
significant
infrastructure
points.
This is
a direct
result
of the
inflammatory
@WSJ
opinion
piece
that has
led to
an
alarming
increase
in
bigoted
and
Islamophobic
rhetoric
online —
Abdullah
H.
Hammoud
(@AHammoudMI)
February
3, 2024
Rights
advocates
from the
Council
on
American-Islamic
Relations
(Cair)
and the
Arab
American
Anti-Discrimination
Committee
condemned
the
article
in the
financial
newspaper
owned by
the
Murdoch
family
News
Corp
empire.
They
criticized
it as an
anti-Arab
and
racist
slant
for
suggesting
the
city’s
residents,
including
religious
leaders
and
politicians,
supported
Hamas
and
extremism.
“Reckless.
Bigoted.
Islamophobic”,
Dearborn
mayor
Abdullah
Hammoud
said
about
the WSJ
piece
written
by
Steven
Stalinsky,
executive
director
of the
Middle
East
Media
Research
Institute.
WSJ did
not
respond
to a
request
for
comment.
Stalinsky
said he
stood by
his
piece.
The
mayor
told the
Detroit
Free
Press
newspaper
on
Saturday
night:
“This is
more
than
irresponsible
journalism.
Publishing
such
inflammatory
writing
puts
Dearborn
residents
at
increased
risk for
harm.”
On
Sunday,
the US
president
posted a
message
on X:
“Americans
know
that
blaming
a group
of
people
based on
the
words of
a small
few is
wrong.
That’s
exactly
what can
lead to
Islamophobia
and
anti-Arab
hate,
and it
shouldn’t
happen
to the
residents
of
Dearborn
– or any
American
town. We
must
continue
to
condemn
hate in
all
forms.”
Americans
know
that
blaming
a group
of
people
based on
the
words of
a small
few is
wrong.
That’s
precisely
what can
lead to
Islamophobia
and
anti-Arab
hate,
and it
shouldn’t
happen
to the
residents
of
Dearborn
– or any
American
town.
We must
continue
to
condemn
hate in
all
forms. —
President
Biden
(@POTUS)
February
4, 2024
Meanwhile,
the
local
Wayne
county
commissioner,
David
Knezek,
made a
Facebook
post
saying
he was
“deeply
disturbed.”
“Rather
than
uplift
the
WSJ’s
divisive
and
dangerous
language,
I wanted
to
remind
people
of the
beautiful
and
wonderful
city
that I
and
countless
others
know the
City of
Dearborn
to be,”
Knezek
said.
Rights
advocates
had
noted a
rise in
Islamophobia,
anti-Palestinian
bias,
and
antisemitism
in the
US since
the
eruption
of war
in the
Middle
East in
October
when
Hamas
led an
attack
out of
Gaza
into
southern
Israel
that
killed
more
than
1,200
people
and took
around
240
people
hostage,
some
remaining
captive
inside
Gaza as
the
latest
ceasefire
talks
fail to
reach
agreement.
Israel
launched
a
ferocious
and
ongoing
military
air and
ground
in
response
to the
attack,
which
has
killed
more
than
27,000
people
in Gaza,
according
to the
local
health
ministry.
Nearly
all of
Gaza’s
2.3m
population
is
displaced.
The
densely
populated
enclave
also
faces
starvation.
The US
Department
of
Justice
has
warned
Americans
about
the
escalation
of
anti-Arab
and
antisemitic
hate
speech
and
physical
violence
taking
place
across
the
nation
since
October
7.
Among
anti-Palestinian
incidents
that
raised
alarm
were a
November
shooting
in
Vermont
of three
students
of
Palestinian
descent
and the
fatal
stabbing
of a
six-year-old
Palestinian
American
in
Illinois
in
October.
Reuters
contributed
reporting
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