Amer Zahr / Getty Images

Voters in Dearborn, Mich., a Muslim-American stronghold outside Detroit, have elected a former Bernie Sanders surrogate who defends the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah to serve on the city’s school board.

Amer Zahr, a Dearborn-based activist, has urged Muslims to "stand with" Hamas and Hezbollah and to stop "condemning anti-Semitism." In September, he lamented Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. "No living Arab leader was more respected among the masses. And Israel murdered him," Zahr said of Nasrallah, who U.S. officials have linked to thousands of American deaths.

Now, Zahr will serve on Dearborn’s seven-member school board, which oversees 20,000 students in the Detroit suburb, home to the largest Arab and Muslim population in the country. He finished second place in a crowded field running for two open seats on the school board, according to Wayne County election results. "I look forward to serving on our School Board! We have a lot of work to do. I promise to make you all proud!" Zahr said Wednesday.

Zahr’s victory could reinforce Dearborn’s reputation as a hotbed of anti-Israel zealotry. One analyst dubbed the town "America’s jihad capital" on account of the numerous imams and city leaders that "side with Hamas against Israel and Iran against the U.S." Chants of "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" have been heard at rallies this year in the Detroit suburb, including an event in September headlined by Dearborn’s mayor.

Zahr frequently organizes anti-Israel events in Dearborn and neighboring cities. At a rally in 2017, Zahr stated that "whether it's called Hamas, whether it's called Hezbollah, we stand with everybody who stands against the Israeli occupation." In 2021, he urged activists who are "condemning anti-Semitism and condemning terrorism" to "stop it!"

Zahr, who served on the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2020, is a prominent backer of the "uncommitted" movement aimed at pressuring President Joe Biden to pull support from Israel in the war against Hamas. Zahr promoted the cause in an interview with the New York Times and said the opposition to Biden created an opportunity to increase Arab- and Muslim-American voters’ political influence.

"If he wins, no one will ever listen to us ever again. If he loses, we’ll probably have more political power than we’ve ever had before," said Zahr, who described himself as a "dues-paying member of the Democratic party." Zahr has also spoken out against Vice President Kamala Harris over the Israel-Hamas war.

Zahr landed an endorsement in the school board race from the Arab American News, a newspaper published by Dearborn community leader Osama Siblani. Like Zahr, Siblani has defended Hamas and Hezbollah while demonizing Israel.

At the rally with Dearborn’s mayor in September, Siblani called Nasrallah a "hero" and said that Israeli Jews would be sent "back to Poland." The Harris campaign, like the Biden campaign before it, has sent campaign officials to Dearborn multiple times to meet with Siblani in an attempt to curry his political support. Jewish groups condemned the campaign for courting Siblani, given his pro-Hamas and anti-Israel statements.

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