Dearborn, a city in Michigan, U.S., has been pressured to beef up safety measures after it was labeled “America’s jihad capital” in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
The city, with simply over 100,000 residents and the nation’s highest Muslim inhabitants per capita, grew to become the goal of on-line hate and misogyny for the reason that publication of the opinion piece.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud on Friday tweeted that metropolis police elevated safety at locations of worship and main infrastructure factors as a “direct result” of the Wall Street Journal piece titled, “Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital.”
Hammoud posted on the X platform, previously often known as Twitter, that the merchandise printed Friday “led to an alarming increase in bigoted and Islamophobic rhetoric online targeting the city of Dearborn.”
Steven Stalinsky, govt director of the Middle East Media Research Institute, who authored the opinion piece, claimed in an interview with The Associated Press that he wished to attract consideration to pro-Palestinian protests in Michigan and elsewhere throughout the U.S.
Nearly 27,500 Palestinians, principally ladies and minors, have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its warfare on Oct. 7, in response to the Gazan Health Ministry.
“Nothing in my article was written to instigate any sort of hate,” Stalinsky claimed. “This is a moment for counterterrorism officials to be concerned.”
The Wall Street Journal didn’t instantly reply Sunday to requests for remark left by The Associated 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, President Joe Biden condemned “hate in all forms.”
“Americans know that blaming a group of people based on the words of a small few is wrong,” Biden’s publish learn.
“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.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com