On April 5, Muslims rallied in Dearborn, Mich., to acknowledge the end of Ramadan and celebrate Al-Quds Day. Former Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomenei declared Al-Quds Day to be observed on the last day of Ramadan.
Al-Quds means "The Holy" in Arabic, which is what the Arabs call Jerusalem. The meaning is clear: Jerusalem is Arab and always will be.
The Israelis beg to differ, of course. But in Dearborn that day, the Arab community chose an incendiary speaker to say a few words. Tarek Bazzi, a Michigan-based activist associated with the Hadi Institute, doesn't like America very much.
"Imam Khomeini, who declared the International Al-Quds Day, this is why he would say to pour all of your chants and all of your shouts upon the head of America,"
"It’s not just Genocide Joe that has to go," Bazzi said. "It is the entire system that has to go. Any system that would allow such atrocities and such devilry to happen and would support it – such a system does not deserve to exist on God’s Earth."
And that's when the "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" chants started up.
Michigan Republicans are demanding a DOJ investigation into the matter. “To quickly dismiss these gatherings as people simply exercising their First Amendment rights is not only a dereliction of your duty, but a failure to recognize them as a tinderbox of violence,” the quintet wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland in a letter obtained by The New York Post. “We implore the Department of Justice to take swift and decisive action to investigate and prosecute the people leading these violent threats against the safety of the American people.”
It's not going to happen, of course. "Islamophobia!" they'll scream. But the language used by Bazzi would be considered a terrorist threat if something similar was uttered by a conservative group.
Democrats from across the country condemned the "Death to America chants. Even Joe Biden, who had condemned a Wall Street Journal op-ed that referred to Dearborn as "America's Jihad Capital," spoke against the violent rhetoric.
But one Democrat was noticeably silent. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer failed to issue a statement of any kind on the anti-American chants for more than a week.
USA Today's Ingrid Jacques wrote a scathing editorial about the lack of condemnation by Whitmer.
Why has Whitmer been silent about highly publicized comments made in her state − comments so clearly beyond the pale that even the White House has condemned them? Whitmer's office did not respond to my request for comment on her stance.
In February, Whitmer had no problem weighing in soon after The Wall Street Journal ran an opinion column with a headline that alleged Dearborn is “America’s Jihad Capital.”
She, along with President Joe Biden, were quick to condemn the opinion piece as Islamophobic and hateful.
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Whitmer finally responded to Fox News's query about not condemning the hateful rhetoric. It was a ludicrous version of "My dog ate my homework."
A Whitmer spokesperson said the statement had previously been "prepared and provided to media upon request," however, the text did not appear to have been printed in any outlets and was also notably absent from the governor's social media accounts. Fox News Digital asked Whitmer's office last week to weigh in on the chants but did not receive a comment at that time.
Whitmer has national ambitions after being on Biden's shortlist for VP in 2020. She will no doubt be a candidate for president in 2028. Someone might want to whisper in her ear that not condemning a "Death to America" chant immediately, especially when it happens in your state, is not conducive to victory.
