DEARBORN, Mich. — Dearborn, Michigan, is increasing its police presence in response to the fallout from an op-ed describing the city, which has the highest per capita Muslim population in the country, as “the jihad capital of America.”
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud tweeted Friday that city police have increased security at places of worship and key infrastructure points as a “direct result” of an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal titled “Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital.”
Hammoud posted on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, that the item published Friday “led to an alarming increase in bigoted and Islamophobic rhetoric online targeting the city of Dearborn.”
Steven Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute and author of the Wall Street Journal op-ed, said in an interview with The Associated Press that he wanted to draw attention to protests in Michigan and elsewhere in the U.S. in which people have have expressed their support for Hamas since the start of the war with Israel.
More than 27,000 Palestinians, mostly women and minors, have been killed in Gaza since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, according to the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-ruled territory. Hamas killed more than 1,200 people in the attack and kidnapped another 250, mostly civilians.
“Nothing in my article was written to incite any kind of hatred,” Stalinsky said. “This is a moment when counterterrorism officials should be concerned.”
The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond Sunday to requests for comment left by The Associated Press via email and voicemail. An email sent to a Dearborn spokeswoman was also not immediately returned Sunday.
In a tweet referencing Dearborn on Saturday, President Joe Biden condemned “hate in all forms.”
“Americans know it is wrong to blame a group of people based on the words of a small number of people,” Biden’s message read. “That is exactly what can lead to Islamophobia and anti-Arab hatred, and it should not happen to the residents of Dearborn – or any American city.”