A confrontation in Dearborn, Michigan, has ignited national controversy after Democrat Mayor Abdullah Hammoud told a Christian resident he was ‘not welcome’ in the city for objecting to renaming a street after Arab American journalist Osama Siblani, who has publicly defended designated terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
The exchange occurred during a recent city council meeting when Edward Barham criticized the sign on Warren Avenue, saying it effectively honoured terrorist groups. ‘I feel like having that sign up there is almost like naming a street Hezbollah Street or Hamas Street,’ Barham said. He recalled Hezbollah’s 1983 bombing of US Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 Americans, adding: ‘He talks about how the blood of the martyrs irrigates the land of Palestine. As a Christian, I want to encourage peace. Blessed are the peacemakers.’
Mayor Hammoud interrupted, accusing Barham of spreading anti-Muslim bigotry in past online posts. ‘Although you live here, I want you to know that as mayor, you are not welcome here,’ Hammoud declared. ‘The day you move out of this city will be the day that I launch a parade celebrating the fact that you moved out.’ He called Barham a ‘bigot, racist, and Islamophobe’, suggesting he should close his eyes if offended by the sign.
The remarks, captured on video, quickly went viral. Critics accused Hammoud of intolerance toward dissent, while supporters argued he was standing up to anti-Muslim rhetoric. The sign, approved by Wayne County rather than Dearborn’s city council, was unveiled earlier this month at a ceremony attended by Hammoud, who praised Siblani’s decades of service to the Arab–American community.
Siblani, founder of The Arab American News, has long been a polarizing figure. At a 2022 ‘Nakba Day’ rally, he urged Muslim Americans to ‘fight’ for the Palestinian cause, telling crowds that resistance could include weapons or words. He has described Hamas as ‘freedom fighters’ and once declared that Hezbollah would ‘take care of the job’ by destroying Israel, even threatening to send Israeli Jews ‘back to Poland’. At rallies in Dearborn, he has joined chants of ‘death to Israel’.
Mayor Hammoud has also drawn criticism for his own comments on the Middle East. He has condemned Israel’s operations in Gaza as ‘genocide’ and described the country as a ‘racist apartheid system’. After Hamas’s 7 October 2023 massacre in southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people, Hammoud accused Israel of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in the West Bank.
Dearborn, home to one of the largest Arab–American populations in the United States, has become a flashpoint for political and cultural clashes over Middle East issues. Since the Hamas-led massacres in Israel, the city has seen a surge of protests and demonstrations opposing the Jewish state.
Hammoud’s remarks came as Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani pledged to abandon a widely used definition of antisemitism if elected.
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