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Families behind a recent display of stickers featuring an assault rifle and the words “F*** Zionism, Free Palestine” at a Michigan elementary school portrayed themselves as victims during a press conference on Tuesday.
The Arab American Civil Rights League organized the press conference in response to community backlash over the April 28 incident at Beverly Elementary School’s Multicultural Night.
Two Palestinian-American families had staffed a booth at the school’s annual diversity celebration. Birmingham Public Schools Superintendent Embekka Roberson condemned the materials. The district does “not tolerate intimidation, bullying, threats, discrimination or antisemitism,” she wrote.
Birmingham, Michigan – parents at Beverly Elementary School decided it would be a good idea to distribute these antisemitic, pro-violence stickers at the school’s cultural night to promote “diversity”.
One of the mothers involved in the event is local realtor Laila Balboul. pic.twitter.com/12vnbny6KD
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) April 29, 2026
ACRL Executive Director Huda Berri Harajli, Founder and Board Chairman Nabih Ayad, and attorney Amer Zahr spoke for the group on Tuesday. They maintained the offending items arrived accidentally in a bulk purchase of approximately 100 ordered online. Speakers focused primarily on the treatment of the families rather than whether the content belonged at an elementary school.
The central argument came from Zahr, who teaches law at the University of Detroit Mercy and sits on the Dearborn Public Schools board. He asserted that “Free Palestine” should be viewed as cultural expression rather than merely political advocacy.
“If a Black person says ‘Black Lives Matter,’ that might be political, but that’s part of their culture too. If an Arab person says ‘Free Palestine,’ it might be political, but it’s part of our culture too. If a Jewish person says ‘Never Again,’ that’s part of their culture, but that’s political,” Zahr said.
Zahr has previously drawn criticism for his public statements. At a 2017 Dearborn rally, he declared: “We stand with every resistance against Israel and every resistance against the occupation, whether it’s called Hamas, whether it’s called Hezbollah.”
As ArabCon in Dearborn last September, he asked his panel “Do you condemn October 7th?” The crowd laughed. According to reporting on the exchange, San Francisco State University Professor Rabab Abdulhadi answered: “I condemn Israel and the United States, and all oppression and imperial wars. And I never ever condemn Palestinian resistance.”
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