Amer Zahr, a BDS activist and adjunct law professor at the University of Detroit Mercy, has received a cease-and-desist order for “defamatory statements” from attorneys for Sam Zahr (no relation). The latter is a Lebanese-American franchisee who delayed the opening of his Burgerim restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan, after, as reported by the Detroit Free Press, “his kids were bullied and he received threatening messages from those opposed to the burger chain founded in Israel.”
Insisting that, since the “genesis of the company,” which is now headquartered in California, “was in Israel,” Burgerim was built on “on stolen Palestinian land” and is “connected to Palestinian suffering,” Amer Zahr became “a leading voice urging his community to boycott the business when it opens.”
Meanwhile, Sam Zahr “said he has lost everything after pouring money into the Dearborn location by signing a five-year lease, having the electricity and plumbing installed, purchasing permits and licenses, and paying the franchise fee.”
The professor could learn a thing or two from the businessman, who, despite everything, demonstrated graciousness and wisdom: “God bless this beautiful country that we all came to to make something out of. Not to have this kind of hate and this kind of unprofessionalism and just nonsense.
