Dearborn — Backlash over comments Dearborn's mayor made earlier this month, telling a resident he wasn't "welcome" in the city, continues to echo on the campaign trail, social media and in media reports, prompting one community leader to defend himself.

During the public comment portion of a Sept. 9 Dearborn City Council meeting, Tom Barham, a resident, said he objected to street signs on Warren Avenue in the city recently being renamed to honor Osama Siblani, 70, a longtime Arab American leader in the city who was born in Lebanon and founded the Dearborn-based Arab American News in 1984.

Barham said Siblani supported Hezbollah and Hamas, and could be "inciting violence" in Michigan. The two groups are considered anti-Israel terrorist groups by the U.S. government.

"He talks about how

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