Photo: David Rodriguez Munoz (left) and Kirthmon F. Dozier ~ USA TODAY NETWORK
MICHIGAN, Nov. 1, 2023 ~ As violence continues to explode between Israel and Gaza, the U.S. is seeing a sharp increase in antisemitic and Islamaphobic threats, including in Michigan.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an international Jewish group, reported a 388% rise in antisemitic acts, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has seen about 800 reports of Islamophobia since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently saying his department has responded to an increase in threats against Jewish and Arab Americans. This trend is especially noticeable in the suburban Detroit cities of Southfield and Dearborn, which have large Jewish and Muslim populations respectively.
PODCAST:
Nov. 1, 2023 ~ Jack Keane, retired general and Fox News senior strategic analyst, talks with Guy Gordon, Lloyd Jackson, and Jamie Edmonds about FBI Director Christopher Wray warning that the threat of a terror attack on the U.S. might be rising.
(CONTINUED) State Attorney General Dana Nessel said her office has received an increase in hate crime reports from the ADL and CAIR, and encourages anyone who experienced a hate crime or has information on one to contact the AG’s Hate Crimes Unit.
Within a week of the conflict starting, Farmington Hills resident Carl Mintz was arrested for making threats against Palestinian people in Dearborn, later followed by the fatal stabbing of Detroit-area synagogue leader Samantha Woll, though the Detroit Police Department has found no evidence of antisemitism as a motive for the crime. Outside of Michigan, an Illinois landlord is accused of fatally stabbing his six-year-old, Muslim tenant in an apparent hate crime. Cornell University also responded to violent threats made against Jewish students.
As of Wednesday afternoon, about 8,800 people in Gaza have been killed by Israeli airstrikes, with the Hamas attack on Oct 7. killing about 1,400 people in Israel.
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