Dearborn, Michigan’s Mayor Abdullah Hammoud announced on Saturday that the city, situated just outside Detroit, will increase police presence around places of worship and critical infrastructure in response to what he deemed an “inflammatory” op-ed from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
The move is effective immediately, with the mayor expressing concern about the op-ed’s impact on fostering bigoted and Islamophobic rhetoric online targeting Dearborn.
The controversial WSJ op-ed, titled “Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital,” alleges local enthusiasm for jihad against Israel and the West in a city with a predominantly Arab American population.
Michigan Mayor (Credits: Detroit Free Press)
President Biden’s recent visit to Michigan on Thursday faced local frustrations regarding his handling of the situation in Gaza amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
A protest against Biden’s visit took place in Dearborn, with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressing concerns about the president’s schedule, stating that officials are in regular contact with Muslim and Arab American leaders.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group, reported an “unprecedented” increase in complaints of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias in the month following Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel last October. CAIR received 1,283 complaints, marking a 216 percent increase compared to the previous year.
The organization attributed this surge in bigotry to the Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian rhetoric used to justify violence against Palestinians and silence advocates of Palestinian human rights in the United States.
