A Michigan activist courted by Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign to shore up support from Muslim voters in the battleground state hailed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as a "hero" at a rally last week, days before the terrorist was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike.
Osama Siblani, the publisher of the Arab American News, saluted Nasrallah at a "Stand with Lebanon" rally in Dearborn on Sept. 25, according to video of the event. "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," said Siblani, according to his newspaper's translation of his speech.
Two days later, Israeli forces assassinated Nasrallah in an airstrike on Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut. In his 32 years as head of the Iran-backed militia, Nasrallah oversaw numerous terrorist attacks on the Jewish state, leading to the deaths of hundreds of Americans. Harris called Nasrallah a "terrorist with American blood on his hands."
But Harris's campaign, like the Biden campaign before it, has met with Siblani despite his past praise for groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Harris campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez visited the activist in Dearborn on Aug. 15 as part of the campaign's "outreach" to Michigan's Arab and Muslim voters, many of whom have vowed to stay home in November because of the administration's handling of the Israel-Hamas war. According to Siblani, Rodriguez solicited his views on the Israel-Hamas war and stated that "the killing has to stop" in Gaza.
The Harris team met with Siblani even after the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish groups voiced concerns over Siblani's history of anti-Israel and pro-terrorist rhetoric. He has referred to Hezbollah and Hamas as "freedom fighters" and urged Arabs at a 2022 rally in Dearborn to attack Israel with "stones" or "guns." He bragged in 2021 that he refused to condemn Hamas during a conference call with officials from the Biden-Harris White House.
On Tuesday, the Iranian military fired hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for the Nasrallah assassination. The assault was about twice as large as Iran's April attack on Israel in response to the assassination of Iranian general Reza Zahedi, a Pentagon spokesman said. Siblani defended Tehran's "right to defend itself" after the April attack.
Harris has used a variety of tactics to woo Arab and Muslim voters, a bloc that has historically voted for Democrats. Her campaign has pushed pro-Gaza advertisements to Facebook users in Michigan, which has the largest proportion of Arab and Muslim voters in the country. She has directed more than 900 ads to residents in Dearborn, the city with the country's largest proportionally Muslim population.
Anti-Israel activists have expressed optimism that Harris will take a harder stance toward Israel than has President Joe Biden. After launching her campaign in July, Harris rankled Israeli officials by proclaiming she "will not be silent" about suffering in Gaza. She met with Layla Elabed and Abbas Alawieh, leaders of the Uncommitted National Movement, which has pressured Democratic leaders to withdraw support for Israel.
The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment.