The latest example of how strong diversity makes us comes from Detroit, where a young Yemeni Muslim “comedian” named Abdullah, aka Dulla Mulla, who has nearly three hundred thousand followers on both Instagram and TikTok, went into a kosher store in Detroit and started asking people to say “Free Palestine.” He has since then been criticized both for his intimidation tactics and for antisemitism, but he is sticking to his guns. In today’s environment, it’s a wonder that he hasn’t yet been hailed as a hero by the establishment media, but this story isn’t over.
According to the Jerusalem Post Friday, Dulla Mulla “went to a Jewish-owned kosher store in Detroit, Michigan and harassed Jewish patrons by showing them a picture on his phone of a Palestinian flag and the words ‘Free Palestine’ written on it and recording their reactions for his newest video.” None of the patrons would say it, which young Dulla Mulla took as a sign of their moral failing. On his YouTube page he lamented under the video: “The words ‘Free Palestine’ couldn’t even come out of the Zionist Jews mouth,” along with a broken heart emoji and “Palestine” written in Arabic.
Dulla Mulla didn’t get the response he clearly expected, and complained about all the direct messages (DM) he was getting pointing out that being a self-righteous bully was not a good look: “DM filled with Jews, Anti-Semitic my a**.” He posted an angry follow-up video on Instagram, in which he says: “‘Why are you goin’ to innocent people, and tellin’ ‘em to say ‘Free Palestine”’? Free Palestine? And now you’re mad? You’re mad because I’m going to people and saying, ‘Free Palestine,’ but it’s ok for you to go kill innocent kids and men and women? Bomb a whole block? It’s ok, right? It’s ok? Drinking coffee, you drinkin’ coffee, chillin’, and kids are getting killed. But when I go out and tell people to say ‘Free Palestine,’ now you’re a** is boiling. Everybody’s goin’ crazy. Everybody! You see how it f**kin’ feels! You see how it feels! You guys are claiming that y’all are innocent? And you can’t even say two simple words, ‘Free Palestine’?” And he slams his ballcap on the ground in fury while muttering, “Anti-Semitism!” An angry, angry young man, to be sure.
The social media star’s rage was misplaced. He doesn’t know, or doesn’t care, that Israel goes to immense lengths to avoid civilian casualties, while Palestinian jihad groups stage their attacks on Israel from civilian areas, so that they can use any retaliatory fire for propaganda purposes. Even the UN, which is arguably the most anti-Israel organization on the planet, condemned Hamas’ use of its own people as human shields.
Even worse, Dulla Mulla seems oblivious to how menacing his behavior was. The people in his video were just minding their own business when he appeared, in full victimhood mode, demanding they submit to his intimidation and express support for jihad violence against innocent people.
There was also an unmistakable hint of menace. Dulla Mulla may not have known or cared, but some of the shoppers he approached, that kosher markets have been targets of jihadis more than once. Islamic State–inspired jihadi Amedy Coulibaly murdered four Jews in the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in January 2015. Nor was that an isolated incident. Just last week in Marseille, a Muslim who was known to police tried to enter a Jewish school and a kosher supermarket, armed with a knife. In Paris in October 2020, a kosher restaurant was ransacked and vandalized with swastikas and Dulla Mulla’s favorite slogan, “Free Palestine.” Two months before that in Amsterdam, a Muslim who left a fake bomb at a kosher restaurant was sentenced to eight months in prison. In May 2020, also in Amsterdam, a Muslim migrant from Syria smashed the windows of kosher restaurant that he had also targeted in 2017; the first time, he waved the Palestinian flag as he smashed the eatery’s windows. In July 2018 in Vienna, a Muslim migrant physically assaulted several Jews outside a kosher restaurant.
Nor is this sort of thing happening only in Europe. In December 2018 in Florida, a Muslim was arrested for threatening a synagogue; he had previously broken the window of a kosher store.
With all that and more going on in the world, is it surprising that shoppers at the kosher store in Detroit didn’t buy Dulla Mulla’s victimhood pose and thought his behavior was more than a little threatening?
This incident also raises the inevitable question: If this kind of thing is going on in Michigan today, what will it be like there in ten years? Twenty? Will supporters of the Palestinian jihad content themselves with intimidating Jews? Or will they be beyond all that? Maybe Dulla Mulla could make a new video with his answer.
Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 21 books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book is Rating America’s Presidents: An America-First Look at Who Is Best, Who Is Overrated, and Who Was An Absolute Disaster. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.
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