‘Death to America’ chants in Dearborn draw local condemnation

By Sarah Rahal and Louis Aguilar The Detroit News

8 months ago

FILE - Rep. Abdullah Hammoud, D-Dearborn, speaks during a campaign rally for presidential candi ... — FILE – Rep. Abdullah Hammoud, D-Dearborn, speaks during a campaign rally for presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in Dearborn, Mich., March 7, 2020. Dearborn is ramping up its police presence in response to fallout from an opinion piece that described the city, which has the nation’s highest Muslim population per capita, as “America’s jihad capital.” Hammoud, who is now the mayor of Dearborn, tweeted on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, that city police increased security at places of worship and major infrastructure points as a “direct result” of the Wall Street Journal opinion piece titled, “Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital.” (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

DEARBORN, Mich. — Video that captured chants of “death to America” and “death to Israel” by some attendees of a Dearborn rally on Friday went viral over the weekend, underscoring tensions over U.S. support for Israel’s six-month-long war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

The chants were denounced by Dearborn’s mayor and other locals as they drew national attention Monday. They were initiated by an unidentified person in the crowd and have since become one focus of videos being shared worldwide and reported by international media.

The rally was held on the International Day of Al-Quds, an annual pro-Palestinian event held on the last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan to express support for Palestinians in their decades-old dispute over the creation of a Jewish state.

People gathered in front of the Henry Ford Centennial Library on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn holding Palestinian flags and yellow signs that read “Money for jobs and education not for Israel’s occupation.” They chanted in unison, “Free, Free Palestine” and “End the occupation now.”

The event was organized by Tarek Bazzi, a local activist. He quoted the Black Panther movement and Malcolm X talking about oppressive U.S. actions in other countries and, during Bazzi’s brief pause, a man from the crowd shouted three times in Arabic, “Death to America.” Several in the crowd can be heard echoing his chant in response each time.

The Washington, D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute on Sunday circulated on X transcribed video clips of Bazzi’s speech from a video by Dearborn.org. One clip was viewed 2.6 million times by late Monday, the platform reported.

The video came just two months after MEMRI executive director Steven Stalinsky declared Dearborn “America’s Jihad Capital” in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, a column that drew condemnation, locally and from President Joe Biden.

Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud denounced the chants Monday as unacceptable, saying: “The hateful rhetoric heard on Friday does not reflect the opinion of the members of this community.”

“We reject all inflammatory and violent statements made at the gathering,” Hammoud wrote on X. “The Dearborn community stands for peace and justice for all people. We are proud to call this city and this country home.”

The head of one Jewish community organization who saw the video said he doesn’t believe it reflects the majority opinion of those in attendance. Still, it was “frightening,” said Sam Dubin, interim executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council/AJC in Bloomfield Hills.