According to rahyafte (the missionaries and converts website):The resolution, presented by state Rep. Alabas Farhat and House Floor Leader Abraham Aiyash on Tuesday, urges The Wall Street Journal to retract the piece and apologize to the city of Dearborn. The lawmakers said the op-ed, published on Friday, was “racist and Islamophobic” and incited hatred and division, Associated Press reported on Tuesday.
The op-ed, written by Steven Stalinsky, the executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute, a Washington-based think tank founded by Israeli analysts, linked Dearborn to the Israel-Hamas war and accused the city of being a hub for radicalization and terrorism.
The resolution urged the Journal to issue a public apology to the City of Dearborn. Officials said they increased police presence in the city after the op-ed appeared.
The op-ed sparked outrage and fear in the Dearborn community, which has been vocal in calling for a cease-fire and criticizing the Biden administration’s response to the war. President Joe Biden faced protests and chants of “Hey Biden, what do you say? We won’t vote on Election Day” when he visited the state last week.
More than 27,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza since the start of Israeli attacks on Gaza on October 7. The brutal aerial and ground aggression started after Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood in response to the increased Israeli violence against Palestinians and desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque. Some 1,200 Israeli soldiers and settlers were killed in the operation.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said the city police increased security at places of worship after the op-ed led to an increase in online hate speech targeting the city.
He also said Dearborn High School was briefly locked down on Tuesday after a shell casing was found inside the building, but there were no threats to the school or the community.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer condemned the op-ed as “cruel and ignorant”.
There has been a sharp rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes in the United States since the start of the conflict in West Asia.
