A white Christian resident of Dearborn, Michigan, was accused of being an Islamophobe and told to get out by the city’s Muslim mayor in a tense moment at a city council meeting last week.
Resident Ted Barham was critical of the honoring of Osama Siblani, the publisher of Arab American News, who has expressed sympathy with radical jihadist groups and has been honored with signs in the largely Muslim Detroit suburb.
During the meeting, Barham stepped to the podium and identified himself as “Ted Barham, Dearborn resident,” before expressing his concerns over the signs at two intersections paying tribute to a man whom he described as being a “promoter of Hezbollah and Hamas,” before quoting examples of Siblani’s objectionable views.
Dearborn, Michigan just unveiled a street sign to honor Arab leader Osama Siblani who previously praised Hezbollah pic.twitter.com/IavdUj6Sif
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 10, 2025
“He talks about how the blood of the martyrs irrigates the land of Palestine … whether we are in Michigan and whether we are in Yemen. Believe me, everyone should fight within his means. They will fight with stones, others will fight with guns, others fight with planes, drones, and rockets,” Barham said, according to Fox News.
The resident said that the signs honoring Siblani were akin to renaming a road as “Hezbollah Street or Hamas Street,” saying that they are “provocative” and telling the council members that, being a Christian, he wants to encourage peace, quoting Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud to a resident: “You do not belong in this city, Islamophobe! Get out!”
The resident opposed naming a street, in Dearborn, after pro-jihad Osama Siblani pic.twitter.com/hGTuTD4FFI
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) September 16, 2025
That didn’t sit well with the city’s Democrat Mayor Abdullah H. Hammoud, who, instead of addressing the concern that some residents might find the signs to be offensive, reacted by attacking Barham, calling him names and telling him that he’s “not welcome” in the city, a rant that shocked many of those who were in attendance.
“The best suggestion I have for you is to not drive on Warren Avenue or to close your eyes while you’re doing it. 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, going on to smear Barham as “a bigot, and you are racist, and you’re an Islamophobe.”
“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 added.
The Lebanese-born Siblani has a history of expressing anti-Israel and pro-jihadi sentiment including defending the Hamas terror organization and according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) which tracks radical Islamic activity, he appeared at a September 2024 rally where members of the crowd were chanting “death to Israel,” telling them that Hezbollah terrorists would “take care of the job,” and vowing to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “We are going to take you back to Poland,” the site of Auschwitz, the notorious WWII Nazi death camp.
Dearborn boasts the highest percentage of Muslim residents of any U.S. city and is known to be a hotbed of pro-terrorist sentiment, having been dubbed as “America’s jihad capital” in a February 2024 Wall Street Journal op-ed.
‘Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital’ pic.twitter.com/DhZINp9qXE
— IamLegend (@DarkSideAdvcate) February 3, 2024
During a 2022 “Nakba Day rally,” Siblani declared that the Muslim community in Dearborn will “lift Palestinians all the way to victory” while encouraging supporters to “fight.”
“We are the Arabs who are going to lift Palestinians all the way to victory, whether we are in Michigan and whether we are in Jenin,” he said. “Believe me, everyone should fight within his means. They will fight with stones, others will fight with guns, others will fight with planes, drones, and rockets, others will fight with their voices, and others will fight with their hands and say: ‘Free, free Palestine!'”
“This is a man who has publicly advocated for Israelis to be targeted with ‘stones, guns, planes, drones, and rockets.’ Local leaders have a duty to promote the safety and welfare of all residents, yet by celebrating someone who incites violence, Wayne County has done the exact opposite,” Combat Antisemitism Movement CEO Sacha Roytman told the Washington Free Beacon.
“The growing normalization of such toxic rhetoric undermines the security of Jewish Americans, who are already facing unprecedented levels of antisemitic hostility,” Roytman added.
Dearborn is represented by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the bomb-throwing “Squad” member and Hamas mouthpiece who has been formally censured by the U.S. House of Representatives for her antisemitic rhetoric.
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