The Democrat mayor of Dearborn, who is Muslim, is going viral on social media after publicly telling a Christian resident “you are not welcome” in the city, after the man objected to renaming an intersection to honor an Arab American journalist with a history of praising terror groups.
During a Sept. 9 Dearborn City Council meeting, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud directed the remarks at resident Edward “Ted” Barham, who was objecting to the decision to rename a second local intersection in honor of Osama Siblani, a publisher who has openly supported Hezbollah and Hamas.
In his remarks, Barham called the move “inappropriate” and said it’s like having a street named “Hezbollah Street or Hamas Street.”
After Barham spoke, Hammoud interrupted to respond. The mayor, an outspoken activist who has accused Israel of “genocide” in Gaza, called Barham a racist bigot and Islamophobe, and said Barham should simply not use the renamed streets or “close your eyes while you’re doing it.”
“Although you live here, I want you to know as mayor, you are not welcome here. And the day you move out of the city will be the day that I launch a parade celebrating the fact that you moved out of this city,” Hammoud told Barham.
Hammoud also accused Barham of “posting videos on YouTube, standing in front of my mosque, saying the cruelest of things about Muslims, about the religion of Islam.” (RELATED: Dearborn Heights Unveils The First Arabic-Language Police Patch In America)
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“His name is up there and I spoke at a ceremony celebrating it because he’s done a lot for this community,” the mayor said of Siblani during his tirade at the local Christian.
Siblani, who is the publisher of The Arab American News, has a long record of praising Hezbollah and Hamas.
“Mr. [George W.] Bush believes Hezbollah, Hamas and other Palestinian factions are terrorists, but we believe they are freedom fighters,” Siblani had told the Washington Post in 2003.
“We are the Arabs that are going to lift Palestinians all the way to victory. Whether we are in Michigan, and whether we are in Jenin. Believe me. Everyone should fight within his means,” Siblani said in 2022, according to the Anti-Defamation League. “They will fight with stones. Others will fight with guns. Others will fight with planes, drones. And others will fight with rockets. And others will fight in their voice, and the others will fight with their hands and say free, free Palestine!”
The decision to dedicate the street sign to Siblani was made by Wayne County, not the Dearborn City Council, according to FOX 2 Detroit.
Hammoud was elected to the Arab-majority city in 2021. His office did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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