Osama Siblani, the founder and publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News, has filed a defamation lawsuit against former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers, his campaign, the group Together for Michigan, state Rep. Karen Whitsett and a slate of unnamed defendants, accusing them of branding him a terrorist sympathizer and anti-Jewish during this year's Michigan Senate race.
The 19-page complaint was filed by Detroit attorney James P. Allen Sr. in Wayne County Circuit Court on Wednesday, according to Deadline Detroit. The lawsuit names Rogers, his campaign, Together for Michigan and Whitsett directly, and also lists 20 unidentified John Doe defendants tied to political committees, ad agencies and consulting work, as reported by The Arab American News. Court confirmation assigning a case number was still pending at the time the lawsuit was announced, that outlet noted.
At the center of the dispute is an October 27 post on X in which Rogers wrote that Siblani had told Jewish Americans they should go back to Poland, a claim detailed in the lawsuit itself. The complaint says Siblani never demanded that Jewish Americans return to Poland and insists his remark was directed solely at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom the lawsuit describes as an accused war criminal.
Suit Disputes October 7 and Fundraising Claims
The lawsuit also pushes back on claims tied to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, stating that Siblani did not justify the attacks, did not endorse the killing of civilians and did not defend terrorists. Siblani has said publicly that claims he justified the attacks or supported terrorism were lies, and that he believes the accusations were calculated and designed to manipulate voters.
A separate thread in the complaint challenges messaging that allegedly portrayed Siblani as personally providing, or directing a group to provide, hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed's campaign. The lawsuit says Siblani did not have a group contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to El-Sayed's campaign, and Siblani has said claims that he personally contributed that sum were lies.
The Arab American News reported that the complaint does not separately detail a specific statement or publication attributed to Whitsett, leaving her alleged role in the broader case less defined than the allegations against Rogers and his campaign.
Damages Left to a Jury, Comment Requests Unanswered
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants spread falsehoods about Siblani across publications, campaign commercials and social media. It seeks a jury trial along with compensatory and exemplary damages, without specifying a dollar figure, asking instead that the amount be determined by a jury; the same report notes the filing also seeks attorney fees.
Siblani has said the First Amendment does not shield someone who knowingly spreads defamatory falsehoods, and has accused individuals and organizations of trying to deceive Michigan voters with false allegations. Rogers's campaign and Whitsett did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Deadline Detroit sent by email on Friday.
A Publisher With Decades in Dearborn Media
Siblani was born in Lebanon and emigrated to Detroit in 1976, later building the Arab American News into a prominent voice for the region's Arab American community; he was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in 2013 and has said he has devoted more than 42 years to journalism, public service, civil rights work and fighting discrimination and injustice.
The lawsuit lands amid a contentious backdrop in the Michigan Senate race, where outside spending shaped how El-Sayed was portrayed to Jewish voters. The United Democracy Project, AIPAC's super PAC, told Jewish Insider it had spent nearly $100,000 on direct-mail ads opposing El-Sayed, with a spokesperson saying the mailers were sent to 130,000 Jewish voters across the state. The Washington Free Beacon separately reported that Siblani had called Hamas and Hezbollah freedom fighters in past interviews and that a Dearborn fundraiser he organized for El-Sayed brought in $350,000 for the campaign, characterizations that are now central to the dispute Siblani's lawsuit seeks to unwind.
