Biden Slams Anti-Arab Hate After Media Opinion Piece

The mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, criticized an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal as “bigoted” and “Islamophobic,” prompting President Joe Biden to condemn anti-Arab sentiments on Sunday.

With the heading “Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital,” the Wall Street Journal ran an article on Friday that said religious leaders and politicians in the city of Dearborn were sympathetic to the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas and extremism.

Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud was among those who voiced their disapproval of the piece, along with a number of American legislators and rights activists from groups, including the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The mayor said on Saturday that the police presence in the city would be increased at houses of worship and other public buildings. Dearborn, a bordering suburb of Detroit with a population of around 110,000, had no reports of disturbance as of Sunday afternoon.

Biden stated on the social networking site X that it was unfair to condemn a group of people based on the words of a small few. (This is from the same president who has painted all of MAGA as a threat to America.)

The president expressed his belief that the citizens of Dearborn, or any American municipality, should not have to endure what might lead to Islamophobia and anti-Arab prejudice.

With a population of around 54% Arab American, the city is among the most Arab American towns in the United States, according to census data.

Joe Biden has been the target of anti-war sentiment and rallies in Dearborn and throughout the nation due to his administration’s backing of Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Rights activists in the United States have cited an increase in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bigotry, and antisemitism since the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East in October.

Two incidences that sparked concern over anti-Palestinian sentiment were the November shooting in Vermont that killed three students of Palestinian heritage and the October stabbing death of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy in Illinois.