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Michigan City intensifies security presence after being described as "America's jihad capital" in an article

Michigan City intensifies security presence after being described as "America's jihad capital" in an article

By Mounira Magdy

Published: February 5, 2024

My city, Dearborn, Michigan, is intensifying police presence in response to the repercussions of an opinion piece that described the city, which has the highest Muslim population in the country, as the "Jihad Capital in America."

Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said in a post on social media platform X that "the city police have increased security at places of worship and key infrastructure points as a 'direct result' of the Wall Street Journal opinion piece titled 'Welcome to Dearborn, the American Jihad Capital.'"

Hammoud added, saying that "the article published on Friday led to a worrying increase in Islamophobic extremist rhetoric online targeting the city of Dearborn."

Stephen Stalinsky, Executive Director of the Middle East Media Research Institute, who authored the opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, told the Associated Press in an interview that he wanted to draw attention to protests in Michigan and elsewhere across the United States that expressed support for Hamas since the war with Israel began.

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 Gaza Ministry of Health. Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and abducted about 250 others, most of them civilians, in the attack.

Stalinsky said, "Nothing in my article was written to incite any kind of hatred." "This is a moment when counterterrorism officials should be concerned."

The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond on Sunday to requests for comment left by the Associated Press via email and voicemail. An email to a Dearborn spokesperson also was not returned on Sunday.

In a tweet referring to Dearborn on Saturday, U.S. President Joe Biden condemned "hate in all forms."

He said, "Americans know that blaming a group of people based on a few small words is wrong," "This is exactly what can lead to Islamophobia and anti-Arab hatred, and that should not happen to the residents of Dearborn—or any American town."

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