Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is visiting the United Arab Emirates to “bring new jobs back home,” and her choice in travel companions is drawing attention for all the wrong reasons.
“Day 1 in the UAE: we’re hitting the ground running,” Whitmer posted to X, along with a photo of the governor with about 17 members of her esteemed delegation.
Day 1 in the UAE: we’re hitting the ground running.
Our goal? Bring new jobs back home to create even more good-paying opportunities for Michiganders, and keep Michigan at the forefront of economic growth and innovation. Michigan means business and has what it takes to compete. pic.twitter.com/PlE3YOxkP6
— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) February 13, 2025
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“Our goal? Bring new jobs back home to create even more good-paying opportunities for Michiganders, and keep Michigan at the forefront of economic growth and innovation. Michigan means business and has what it takes to compete,” the post read.
Among the hand-picked guests on Whitmer’s official state trip to the Middle East: terrorist sympathizer and anti-Israel activist Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News.
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“It’s a controversial choice for Whitmer, considered a top contender for the Democratic presidential primary in 2028,” according to the Washington Free Beacon. “Siblani is a vocal critic of Israel and was a leader in the ‘uncommitted’ movement that opposed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over U.S. support for Israel in its war with the terrorist group Hamas.”
Siblani is a big fan of Hezbollah and Hamas, and he’s used the Arab American News, the nation’s largest Arab language newspaper, to organize rallies and other events near Dearborn.
At a “Stand with Lebanon” rally in September, Siblani praised then-Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as a “hero” just days before the terrorist was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
“They want us to be afraid of praising our leaders and martyrs, but today we say to them that our martyrs are heroes and our leaders are great, especially the great Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,” Siblani said, according to his newspaper’s translation.
The Middle East Research Institute that covered the September rally noted chants of “death to Israel” prompted an assurance from Siblani that Hezbollah “will take care of the job.”
Siblani also offered a message to Israel’s Jews led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “We will take you back to Poland.”
Siblani was among Arab-American community leaders consulted by former President Joe Biden’s advisors last year as he worked to justify Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack on Israel.
“I’m for the dialogue, and I believe we owe it to our country and to our community and the people in Gaza, to listen and be heard,” Siblani told the AP.
Why Biden or Whitmer are willing to listen is not clear.
For decades, Siblani has been a cheerleader for terrorist groups, and repeatedly worked to justify their tactics.
“They will fight with stones, others will fight with guns, others will fight with planes, drones, and rockets, others will fight with their voices, and others will fight with their hands and say: ‘Free, free Palestine!’” Siblani a the cheering crowd alongside U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., at the Second Annual Metro Detroit March for Jerusalem Palestine.
“This is the longest occupation in modern time,” Siblani told CBS History teaches us this cannot continue to happen, occupation must go away,” Siblani told CBS News just two days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
“Every time you have a problem that is not addressed properly, organizations, or individuals come in with radical solutions,” Siblani told WJBK the same day. “Yes, Hamas is radically approaching this situation, but that’s a result of oppression for a long period of time. So Hamas wants a Palestine to be independent.”
At a Dearborn rally days later, Siblani suggested “Benjamin Netanyahu and his government” are the real terrorists and defended Hamas.
“We are not going to be intimidated by, stay silent when they say Hamas is a terrorist organization. In fact, it is not a terrorist organization,” he said to a roaring applause.