Dearborn, Michigan, is home of the largest Muslim population per capita in the United States. The city was deemed as “America’s Jihad Capital” in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece and controversy has quickly followed. President Joe Biden condemned the article and Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud called it bigoted and Islamophobic, upping the community’s security presence.
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The author, Steven Stalinsky, stood by his article following the criticism, citing national security concerns.
The piece highlights protests in Dearborn where it claims the Muslim-majority population largely supports Hamas and Iran, putting those residents on the opposite side of official U.S. policy in the Middle East conflict.
Some residents of the Michigan city mourn over what America and Israel celebrate. Local mosques in Dearborn hold memorial services for terrorist leaders killed in Gaza. Meanwhile, what America calls the Oct. 7 terror attack, some Imams in Dearborn celebrate it as part of a holy war.
“Open support for Hamas is spreading,” Stalinsky wrote. “Since Oct. 7, similar protests have occurred in major American cities featuring pro-Jihadist imagery, chants and slogans. What’s happening in Dearborn isn’t simply a political problem for Democrats. It’s potentially a national-security issue affecting all Americans. Counterterrorism agencies at all levels should pay close attention.”
Stalinsky is being accused of spreading Islamophobic hate over his word choice. Dearborn Mayor Hammoud said he ramped up the city’s police presence at mosques over the weekend of Feb. 2 in response.
President Biden also reacted on X.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Stalinsky said “nothing in my article was written to instigate any sort of hate. This is a moment for counterterrorism officials to be concerned.”
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, there has been a rise in Islamophobic and antisemitic threats. Counterterrorism officials said they are on high alert and the threat of a terror attack on U.S. soil is “on a whole other level” since the conflict in the Middle East began.
