Osama Siblani has praised Hezbollah leaders as ‘heroes’ and ‘martyrs’
One of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D.) guests on an official state trip to the Middle East this week is an anti-Israel activist who hailed the leader of Hezbollah as a “hero” and recently called for Jews to be sent “back to Poland.”
Whitmer took 17 local officials, businessmen, community leaders, and the head of the Michigan National Guard on a trip to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to strengthen economic ties to the region. A press release and photos from the first day of the trip show that one of Whitmer’s hand-picked guests was Osama Siblani, the publisher of the Arab American News.
It’s a controversial choice for Whitmer, considered a top contender for the Democratic presidential primary in 2028. Siblani is a vocal critic of Israel and was a leader in the “uncommitted” movement that opposed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over U.S. support for Israel in its war with the terrorist group Hamas. And Siblani has gone far beyond simple criticism of the Jewish state.
Siblani has for years defended and praised Hamas and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terrorist groups. At a rally in Dearborn he organized on Sept. 25, Siblani hailed then-Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as a “hero.”
“They want us to be afraid of praising our leaders and martyrs, but today we say to them that our martyrs are heroes and our leaders are great, especially the great Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,” Siblani said of the Hezbollah leader who was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike days later.
After chants of “death to Israel” broke out during Siblani’s speech, Siblani responded, “Believe me, they will take care of the job,” an apparent reference to Hezbollah, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.
And he issued a message to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Jews: “We will take you back to Poland.”
In 2022, Siblani urged Arabs to “fight within [their] means” against Israel, whether with “stones,” “guns,” or “their hands.” He has bragged that he refused to condemn Hamas during a conference call with Biden White House officials in 2021.
Siblani’s rhetoric should be no secret to Whitmer, who will leave office next year. The Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish groups have condemned Siblani’s remarks over the years and blasted the White House and Biden campaign last year for sending officials to meet with Siblani in Dearborn in hopes of gaining his political support.
Whitmer may like to stay in Siblani’s good graces, given his influence within Michigan’s large Arab and Muslim community and her apparent presidential ambitions. Siblani has published Arab American News, the largest Arab-language newspaper in the country, since 1984 and frequently hosts rallies and other events in Dearborn, one of the nation’s largest Muslim-majority cities.
Democrats consider Michigan part of its “Blue Wall” path to winning the electoral college, making the state’s Arab and Muslim vote key to victory. But Whitmer’s coziness with a terrorist sympathizer may not play well in other battleground states.
Whitmer has catered to Siblani throughout her tenure. In 2022, she met with Siblani at his newspaper’s office after he publicly criticized her for visiting Israel. “Governor Whitmer will hear from us soon on her wrong and offensive trip to Israel as its army brutally killing [sic] innocent Palestinians including children while carpet bombing Gaza,” Siblani said.
He published photos after their one-on-one meeting and said Whitmer accepted his invitation to visit Arab countries.
It’s unclear who paid for Siblani’s attendance on the trip.
Whitmer’s other guests on the Middle Eastern trip include Maj. Gen. Paul D. Rogers, the adjutant general of the Michigan National Guard, and a variety of city and county officials from around Michigan.
Several other attendees have been highly critical of Israel, including Wayne County executive Warren Evans and deputy county executive Assad Turfe. Last year, Evans and Turfe were spotted in the front row at anti-Semitic preacher Louis Farrakhan’s speech in Detroit, where the Nation of Islam leader claimed that the United States is “enslaved” to Jews.
Whitmer’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
