Israel at War: Week 99
One fact many people may not know about the Detroit area is that the suburb of Dearborn, MI has 350,000 Muslim Arabs, making it one of the largest concentrations of Muslims outside of the Middle East. On August 29-31, 2025 a major convention met in downtown Detroit under the theme of “The People’s Conference for Palestine: Gaza is the Compass.”
Sunday morning, August 31, my Jewish friend and I went to stand for Israel outside the venue and when we got there we found a lone man with a poster which read, #Bring Them Home NOW!” Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 4:12 that a “threefold cord is not quickly broken.” At that time we forged a threefold cord. We watched as dozens of people went into the conference, young and old, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, but they united around their hatred of Israel.
We encountered cursing, taunts, lies hurled in our faces, and intimidation. One detailed pickup truck drove by us flying a Palestinian flag, and with a “Jerusalem: The Capital of Palestine,” message central on his truck. The driver gave us dirty looks and cursed us.
Our confrontations began when a Muslim woman attired in her dress and hijab said to us, “Don’t you [expletive] men have anything better to do? You [expletive], I am going to report you to the police.” The single man supporting Israel we met had been at the convention center since 7:30AM and we arrived at 9:30AM. As I walked down to meet him, I was delighted to see his sign and his sweatshirt, which said “Detroit Stands With Israel.” He was equally pleased to see us, speaking into the phone he said, “they are good guys, they are with us!”
The conference had US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib speaking, and also two known convicted terrorists, and one of the sessions dealing with the topic, “Documenting Genocide: Gaza Before and After October 2023,” indicative of the reality of Gaza today: it’s a hotbed of terrorism and terrorists.
At The Friends of Israel we oppose and stand against anti-Semitism. We do it, when it’s “in season and out of season.” As our new friend said, “We cannot stand by and be silent. We have to stand up!” We did that. The attendees heard us, loud and clear!
