Are politicians afraid that denouncing calls to destroy the U.S. will lead to lost votes?
By World Israel News Staff
After a video of demonstrators chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” at a pro-Iranian rally in Michigan sparked outrage, some Democrats condemned the incident – while others preferred to stay tight-lipped regarding the calls to destroy the country.
On Saturday, Muslim residents of Dearborn, Michigan, marked the Iranian-created protest holiday of Quds Day in front of a library by waving Palestinian flags and cheering for the downfall of the country in which they live.
Tarek Bazzi, a local activist, led the crowd in chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” Bazzi also said in a speech that the U.S. “has to go” and quoted Malcolm X, stating that “we live in one of the rottenest countries that has ever existed on this Earth.”
Footage of the event went viral on social media, with many pressuring politicians to speak out against the calls for the U.S. to be destroyed.
When asked by Fox News if President Biden condemned the incident, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre answered “yes.”
She added that “peaceful protests are something that the president has also been very clear that, its important to give folks space to peacefully protest. But any type of violent rhetoric, we are going to denounce.”
But Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Rep. Rashida Tlaib have not publicly condemned the chants.
Notably, Whitmer posted a message about the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr on her X account on Tuesday evening, but has yet to acknowledge the “Death to America” rally.
“Eid Mubarak, Michigan. I hope you and your families had a blessed Ramadan,” Whitmer wrote.
“May you all have a blessed Eid and come together to celebrate all that makes our communities strong and our state even stronger.”
Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, is a vocal critic of Israel and has declined to state whether she will support Biden in his re-election campaign, due to what she claims is his failure to condemn Israel’s military actions in Gaza.