DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) – Dearborn, Michigan, is reducing its police presence in the aftermath of an opinion piece that described the city, which has the highest per capita Muslim population in the nation, as the “jihad capital of America.” It is being strengthened.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said Friday that the city's police department is closing down places of worship and major infrastructure points “as a direct result” of a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “Welcome to Dearborn, America's Jihad Capital.” He tweeted that security had been strengthened.
Hammoud said the article, published Friday, “represents an alarming increase in bigoted and Islamophobic rhetoric targeting the City of Dearborn online,” posted on the X Platform (formerly known as Twitter). did.
Stephen Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle East Media Institute, who contributed this opinion piece to the Wall Street Journal, said in an interview with The Associated Press that he wants to draw attention to the protests happening in Michigan and across the country. Stated. Since the start of his war with Israel, he has expressed support for Hamas.
More than 27,000 Palestinians, most of them women and minors, have been killed in Gaza since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, according to the Hamas-controlled territory's health ministry. Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and kidnapped another 250, mostly civilians, in the attack.
“My article does not contain any content that incites hatred,” Stalinsky said. “This is a worrying time for counterterrorism officials.”
The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond to requests for comment left by email and voicemail by The Associated Press on Sunday. An email sent to a Dearborn spokesperson was not immediately returned Sunday.
President Joe Biden condemned “hate in all its forms” in a tweet Saturday that referenced Dearborn.
“Americans know it is wrong to condemn a group of people based on the words of a few,” Biden's post said. “That's exactly what could lead to Islamophobia and anti-Arab hatred, and that should never happen in Dearborn residents or in any city in America.”
