NYT features imam who says “May Allah eradicate” the “sick and repulsive Zionist regime”
(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Over the weekend, The New York Times ran a splashy profile of an Arab American activist in Michigan detailing Muslim voters’ anger over President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
But it doesn’t tell readers that some of the people profiled in the article, titled “How Joe Biden Will Lose Michigan,” have praised Hamas or called for the destruction of Israel, offering a glimpse into the true nature of their opposition to the Biden administration’s callous support for the Jewish state.
Activists featured in the video essay include:
Amer Saar, an activist from Dearborn, Michigan, told the Times that the U.S. is “actively funding” the genocide in Gaza. What they didn’t say: Saar, a former surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), said at a Dearborn rally in December 2017, “I’m not a racist. I …[s] Any resistance to Israel and any resistance to the occupation… whether it’s called Hamas or Hezbollah.” In a December 2021 Facebook video, Saar urged Muslims and Arabs to “stop accusing us of anti-Semitism.” Imran Salha, an imam at the Islamic Center of Detroit, told the Times that he would only vote for Biden on a ballot signed in “blood” because Biden funded the “genocide” in Gaza. What wasn’t said: According to the Washington Free Beacon, Salha said at a pro-Palestinian rally in Detroit a few days after Hamas’ invasion of Israel that Muslims have “a fire in their hearts that will keep the state burning until its destruction.” In a sermon at the Islamic Center of Detroit in May 2023, Salha referred to the “sick and abhorrent Zionist regime” and prayed that “Allah will eradicate them from existence.” Wisam Sharafeddine, whom the Times identified as a Dearborn Public Schools employee, told the paper he would not vote for Biden. “As far as I know, there is no one who is voting for Biden.” What they didn’t say: He has called for the “elimination” of Israel in social media posts and sided with Hamas over the Jewish state. “Given the genocide and the massacres of thousands, Israel should be eliminated more than Hamas,” Sharafeddine wrote in April. In February, he said, “Hamas should not negotiate with terrorists.” Doctor Nidal Gebour argued to the Times that “Americans should not vote for a president who supports genocide.” What they didn’t say: Gebour is co-founder of the anti-Israel group Physicians Against Genocide, and was scheduled to hold a protest against the Jewish state inside the United States Holocaust Museum in December. The museum said the protest was “a misuse of the history of the Holocaust and a profound insult to the memory of the survivors and victims.”
Biden, who beat former President Donald Trump in Michigan by 150,000 votes in 2020, has trailed Republican Trump by a narrow margin in recent opinion polls, according to FiveThirtyEight. And the New York Times says anti-Biden sentiment in Michigan’s sizable Arab and Muslim American communities is “more than enough” to tilt the battleground state against Biden. “This enclave may choose the next president of the United States,” the New York Times narrator says.
Seeking to ease his declining approval rating in Michigan, Biden sent White House and campaign officials to Dearborn to meet with Arab American leaders who have voiced support for Hamas.
The Biden campaign met with Arab American News publisher Osama Siblani earlier this year, who has called Hamas and the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah “freedom fighters.” According to the Free Beacon, Siblani urged Arab countries to “fight” Israel with “stones” and “guns” in 2022. In a story reporting on Biden’s relationship with Arab and Muslim voters, the Times quoted Siblani multiple times, without mentioning his sympathetic views toward terrorist organizations.
The Times did not respond to a request for comment.