“America Is a Terrorist State”
What is it about Dearborn? Concern over southern Michigan’s support for terrorism does not go unnoticed by U.S. counterterrorism authorities, declares Steven Stalinsky in the WSJ.
A 2001 Michigan State Police assessment submitted to the Justice Department after 9/11 called Dearborn “a major financial support center” and a “recruiting area and potential support base” for international terror groups, including possible sleeper cells. The assessment noted that most of the 28 State Department-identified terror groups were represented in Michigan. Many current or onetime Dearborn residents have been convicted of terror-related crimes in recent years.
Thousands marched in support of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, shouting, “America is a terrorist state.” Mr. Stalinskey reports how protesters, many with kaffiyehs covering their faces, also shouted “Intifada, intifada,” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
More Ominously
Almost immediately after the brutality of October 7th, people were celebrating the horrific events of that day in pro-Hamas rallies and marches throughout Dearborn. The celebrants whooped it up even before Israel began its ground offensive on Gaza. Continues Mr. Stalinsky:
A local headline describing an Oct. 10 event at the Ford Performing Arts Center read “Michigan rally cheers Hamas attack.” Imam Imran Salha of Dearborn’s Islamic Center of Detroit told the crowd that Israel’s past actions have put “fire in our hearts that will burn that state”—Israel— “until its demise.” In May 2023, Mr. Salha had urged his congregation to say “amen” in agreement with his prayer that Allah “eradicate from existence” the “sick, disgusting Zionist regime.”
In October 2022, according to the Washington Free Beacon, (Salha’s) organization received $150,000 in funding from the Homeland Security Department’s nonprofit security grants program.
On October 14th, another rally was held at the Henry Ford Centennial Library. Imam Usama Abdulghani did not hold back his support for Hamas’s terrorist attack.
The American-born, Iranian-educated Shiite Islamic scholar called Oct. 7 “one of the days of God” and a “miracle come true.” He described the attackers as “honorable.” He said they were “lions” defending “the entire nation of Muhammad the messenger.”
Ahmad Musa Jibril is perhaps the most influential English-speaking jihadi sheikh. From his home in Dearborn he promotes holy war to his tens of thousands of followers on Twitter and Telegram. On Oct. 7, the day Hamas slaughtered 1,200 Israelis and took almost 200 hostage, a Twitter account bearing his name retweeted a post that said, “The hearts haven’t been overjoyed like this in so long.” This account also posted a tweet imploring Allah to “purify the land from the aggression of the apes, swines, and hypocrites.” He later recorded a video calling on Muslims in the West to start normalizing the term “jihad” by using it frequently “on your social media, and in the mosques.” He has called President Biden a “senile pharaoh.”
Mr. Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute, warns that Dearborn transcends a political problem for Democrats.
It’s potentially a national security issue affecting all Americans. Counterterrorism agencies at all levels should pay close attention.
