Welcome to Dearborn: Capital of Jihad in America

The Mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, announced that the city's police are intensifying their presence at places of worship and key infrastructure sites following an opinion piece published by the Wall Street Journal, which he described as "bigoted" and "anti-Islam." The newspaper published the article on Friday titled "Welcome to Dearborn, Capital of Jihad in America." The mayor and human rights defenders from the American-Islamic Relations Council and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee condemned the article as anti-Arab and racist, as it suggests that the city's residents, including religious and political leaders, support the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and extremism. Mayor Abdullah Hamoud characterized the Wall Street Journal article, written by the executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute, Steven Stalinsky, as "reckless, bigoted, and anti-Islam." He added, "New measures will be in effect immediately, with the Dearborn police intensifying their presence at all places of worship and key infrastructure sites. This is a direct result of the inflammatory opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, which has led to a troubling increase in bigoted and anti-Islamic rhetoric on social media targeting the city of Dearborn." Human rights advocates have noted a rise in anti-Islam sentiment, bias against Palestinians, and anti-Semitism in the United States since the outbreak of the war in the Middle East in October.