Many top Michigan Democrats, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, took part in a huge pro-Israel rally near Detroit after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on the country. None of them attended a rally in nearby Dearborn the next day to show support for Palestinians in Gaza being killed or forced from their homes by the Israeli military’s response. The war has inflamed tensions between Jews and Muslims everywhere, including the Detroit area, which is home to several heavily Jewish suburbs and Dearborn, the city with the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the U.S. The strong pro-Israel stance taken by Michigan’s leading Democrats, though, has offended many Muslim supporters and could affect how they vote next fall in the presidential battleground state.
