DEARBORN, Mich. –
Dearborn, Mich., is ramping up its police presence in response to fallout from an opinion piece that described the town, which has the nation’s highest Muslim inhabitants per capita, as “America’s jihad capital.”
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud tweeted that metropolis police elevated safety at locations of worship and main infrastructure factors as a “direct end result” of a Wall Avenue Journal opinion piece titled, “Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital.”
Hammoud posted on the X platform, previously often known as Twitter, that the merchandise revealed Friday “led to an alarming enhance in bigoted and Islamophobic rhetoric on-line focusing on the town of Dearborn.”
Steven Stalinsky, government director of the Center East Media Analysis Institute, who authored the opinion piece within the Wall Avenue Journal, mentioned in an interview with The Related Press that he needed to attract consideration to protests in Michigan and elsewhere throughout the U.S. during which folks have expressed assist for Hamas for the reason that begin of the struggle with Israel.
Greater than 27,000 Palestinians, principally ladies and minors, have been killed in Gaza since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, in accordance with the Well being Ministry within the Hamas-ruled territory. Hamas killed greater than 1,200 folks and kidnapped about 250 extra, principally civilians, within the assault.
“Nothing in my article was written to instigate any form of hate,” Stalinsky mentioned. “It is a second for counterterrorism officers to be involved.”
The Wall Avenue Journal didn’t instantly reply Sunday to requests for remark left by The Related Press through e mail and voicemail. An e mail despatched to a Dearborn spokeswoman additionally was not instantly returned Sunday.
In a tweet referencing Dearborn on Saturday, U.S. President Joe Biden condemned “hate in all types.”
“People know that blaming a gaggle of individuals primarily based on the phrases of a small few is unsuitable,” Biden’s put up learn. “That is precisely what can result in Islamophobia and anti-Arab hate, and it should not occur to the residents of Dearborn — or any American city.”
