Michigan activists called for the death of the United States of America and Israel at a Friday al-Quds Day rally in Dearborn, the Middle East Media Research Institute revealed in a report on Sunday.
In a video now deleted from the community news outlet Dearborn.org, an activist identified by MEMRI and Dearborn.org as Tarek Bazzi explained that Quds Day protest protests are anti-American rather than just focusing on Israel because of the funding that the US provides to Israel.
Michigan Activist Tarek Bazzi in Pro-Palestine Rally: Martyrdom Must Be Sought After; Israel Is Absolute Evil, There Is No Way to Deal with It Peacefully; “From the River to the Sea” Means the Annihilation of the Zionist Regime [Archival] pic.twitter.com/Buinw0J8dE
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) April 9, 2024
“This is why [former supreme leader] Imam [Ruhollah] Khomeini, who declared the International al-Quds Day, this is why he would say to pour all of your chants and all of your shouts upon the head of America,” said Bazzi.The crowd, led by a male activist, chanted “Death to America!”Bazzi then quoted Malcolm X as saying “We live in one of the rottenest countries that has ever existed on this Earth.”
"It's not Genocide Joe [US President Joe Biden] that has to go, it is the entire system that has to go. Any system that would allow such atrocities and devilry to happen and would support it – such a system does not deserve to exist on God’s earth,” said the Dearborn activist. “So when these fools ask us if Israel has the right to exist, the chant ‘Death to Israel’ has become the most logical chant shouted across the world today.”The crowd responded to the speaker by chanting “Death to Israel.”MEMRI claimed that Bazzi is affiliated with the Michigan-based Hadi Institute. Another speaker at the event, imam Usama Abdulghani, is the spiritual leader of the institute. Abdulghani, according to his website, was born in Washington and religiously educated at the Qum Islamic Seminary in Iran.
At the Quds Day rally
At the Friday Quds Day rally, Abdulghani said that the deceased Khomeini had “recognized that Israel is an evil settler colonialist project. He realized it was a cancer, and he established this day.”“Israel before this, brothers and sisters, was a sacred cow. Nobody could criticize Israel,” said Abdulghani.“Everybody was terrified of being antisemitic. Everybody was afraid of them, but now the people of conscience very openly criticize Israel. They recognize Israel for what it is. Israel is ISIS, they are Nazis, they are fascists, they are racists. The people of the world now know this.”At another point in the rally, demonstrators declared “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”Photographs published by Dearborn.org show activists with yellow signs that included statements like “The Zionist entity has no right to exist,” and “From the river to the sea, expel all occupiers.”Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud on social media on Monday condemned the statements as unacceptable, inflammatory, and violent, but did not specify what was said or who had said it.“Dearborn is a city of proud Americans; the hateful rhetoric heard on Friday does not reflect the opinion of the members of this community,” said Hammoud. “The Dearborn community stands for peace and justice for all people. We are proud to call this city and this country home.”The American Jewish Committee said Monday that the chants calling for the death of America and Israel at the Dearborn rally should alarm all Americans.“While American democracy values freedom of speech, we must recognize that those fueling hatred against Israel also threaten America’s democracy,” said AJC on X, formerly Twitter.Recent weeks have seen other calls for the destruction of the United States by pro-Palestinian activists. Anti-Israel protesters rallied against Biden on March 29 at the Democrat’s New York City Radio City Music Hall fundraiser.“Down with the USA,” chanted protesters in a video taken by independent journalist Brendan Gutenschwager.“[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu you will pay. [Izzadin] al-Qassam [Brigades] is on the way.”