Since April 8, drivers on Michigan’s I-275 highway, west of Dearborn, have been passing by messages declaring solidarity with Israel—the result of a new campaign by the Michigan branch of the Zionist Organization of America.
Residents of Motor City and others will see two different billboards along the interstate through April 29, almost until the end of Passover. One reads “Our Votes Count” in bold red lettering, and the other says “Terrorism Isn’t Just Israel’s Problem.” Both include “Americans Stand With Israel” and note ZOA-Michigan as the paid sponsor.
“Despite the extremist rhetoric coming out of Dearborn, most Americans realize that Israel is fighting not only for its own survival but is on the front lines of the war against global terrorism,” stated ZOA Michigan’s president Sheldon Freilich. “We expect our governmental representatives to show unequivocal support for Israel as it faces down the growing existential threat from Iran.”
Michigan, home to the largest number of Arab Americans in the United States, is a major swing state in the 2024 presidential elections.
Mort Klein, the longtime national president of the ZOA, called an attack on Israel “an attack on America.”
He said that “the U.S. and Israel and the West are in this together; they are all threatened by the radical Islamic Republic of Iran, whose goal is to establish an Islamic caliphate throughout the world. Israel is on the front line. The rest of the civilized world is next.”
