The State Department is standing by an adviser to the federal agency who spoke at an anti-Israel rally that saw chants of "Death to Israel," praise for slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and calls for Jews to be returned "back to Poland."
Dearborn, Mich., mayor Abdullah Hammoud (D.), a member of the State Department’s Assembly of Local Leaders, spoke on Sept. 25 at a "Stand with Lebanon" rally in Dearborn to decry U.S. support for Israel against Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. Hammoud, who has emerged as a leading critic of Israel following October 7, touted his support for the anti-Israel divestment movement, and said, "We cannot condone any president that uplifts any administration that bombs every school decimating children to smithereens."
Elected Dearborn mayor in 2021, Hammoud was introduced as the "greatest mayor in the United States" by Arab-American activist Osama Siblani. Siblani, whom the Harris campaign has met with to gain the support of Michigan’s Muslim voters, hailed Hezbollah’s Nasrallah during his speech as a "hero" and said of Israelis: "We will take you back to Poland."
Chants of "death to Israel" broke out during Siblani’s remarks, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute. Siblani responded, "Believe me, they will take care of the job," an apparent reference to Hezbollah’s planned attack on Israel. Two days after the rally, Israeli forces assassinated Nasrallah in Beirut. Hammoud embraced Siblani as he took the stage, but did not address Siblani’s praise for Nasrallah or the "death to Israel" chants.
That could be of concern because of Hammoud’s involvement in a State Department panel that provides a venue for local officials "to share their views or concerns with foreign policy topics directly with the Department." The agency does not appear to be taking any disciplinary action towards Hammoud.
"Mayor Hammoud is a member of the State Department’s Assembly of Local Leaders (ALL), as are 20 other local and state officials from around the country," a State Department spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon. "The Department of State has been consistently clear about the United States’ unwavering support to Israel’s security and our rejection of anti-Semitic rhetoric wherever it occurs. We defer to Mayor Hammoud and the City of Dearborn to speak to specifics around the event in question."
The State Department appointed Hammoud to the post on Oct. 18, ignoring the Democrat’s history of anti-Israel sentiments and his criticism of the Biden administration’s support for Israel. Hammoud called Hamas’s attack on Israel "inevitable" because of Israel’s "decades of illegal military occupation and imprisonment of Gaza." A day before his appointment to the State Department panel, Hammoud pushed Hamas’s false propaganda that Israel—"emboldened by a green light from the Biden administration"—killed hundreds of Palestinians in the bombing of Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza.
Hammoud has been embraced by some national media outlets over his public criticism of the administration’s alliance with Israel. The New York Times published an essay from Hammoud in February in which he proclaimed his city "feels betrayed" by the U.S. government’s support for what he called "genocide in Gaza."
Dearborn, the largest Muslim-majority city in the country, has emerged as a hotbed of anti-Israel sentiment in the wake of Oct. 7, leading one Wall Street Journal contributor to dub the city "America’s jihad capital." In April, rallygoers at an event outside Dearborn city hall openly chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America."
Hammoud’s office did not respond to a request for comment.