DEARBORN, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Michigan’s Democratic heavyweights rolled into Dearborn on October 29th, grinning for photos and shaking hands at the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC) banquet – an event chaired by Osama Siblani, a man who told Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, that “we are going to take you back to Poland.”
Headlining the event were Michigan’s Lieutenant Governor and gubernatorial candidate Garlin Gilchrist II, along with U.S. Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed – both eager to win over Arab-American voters. What went unmentioned, however, was Siblani’s long history of praising Hamas and Hezbollah while spreading anti-Israel rhetoric.
A tale of two narratives.
According to Arab American News, the paper Siblani owns, the banquet was a celebration of unity and civic empowerment. In his keynote remarks, Siblani said, “We are not the problem – we are the solution,” calling for greater Arab-American political engagement across Michigan and beyond.
Gilchrist, who was photographed seated at a table sponsored by Arab American News, praised AAPAC for advancing Arab-American civic participation and strengthening Michigan’s political fabric, saying the state’s history, present and future “is more prosperous because of the Arab-American community.”
But national outlets like the Washington Free Beacon saw something different: top Democrats cozying up to a man whose track record includes antisemitic outbursts and open sympathy for terrorist groups.
Bad optics for the party of “inclusion.”
For a party that prides itself on tolerance and diversity, sharing a stage with someone who told Jews to be sent “back to Poland” is raising eyebrows, especially as antisemitic incidents spike across the U.S.
Both Gilchrist and El-Sayed have accused Israel of “genocide” in Gaza and have publicly vowed to reject donations from the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee.)
For Michigan Democrats, it seems the line between political outreach and moral compromise is getting harder to see and easier to cross – with the AAPAC banquet underscoring growing divisions within the Democratic Party over Israel and Middle East policy.
