A guest op-ed in the New York Times by Gaza City’s Hamas-appointed mayor, Yahya R. Sarraj, decrying damage to buildings as Israeli forces have worked to free hostages has drawn equal measures of ridicule and disgust.
The essay was released on Christmas Eve and sought to outline examples of destruction in Gaza after Hamas terrorists killed and kidnapped Israeli, American and other civilians on Oct. 7.
It was entitled: “I Am Gaza City’s Mayor. Our Lives and Culture Are in Rubble”
Sarraj wrote of his hurt and pain at the “invasion” causing the destruction of infrastructure in the aftermath of deadly Hamas terrorist attack.
The Israeli invasion has caused the deaths of more than 20,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and destroyed or damaged about half the buildings in the territory. The Israelis have also pulverized something else: Gaza City’s cultural riches and municipal institutions.
The unrelenting destruction of Gaza — its iconic symbols, its beautiful seafront, its libraries and archives and whatever economic prosperity it had — has broken my heart.
He condemned without irony or self awareness the “obliteration of our way of life in Gaza,” and said he felt he was living in a nightmare thanks to the “horrific campaign of destruction and death” but did not call for the release of the hostages which would help end the attacks by Israel.
Instead he portrayed Hamas supporters as victims, something critics were quick to ridicule.
International Legal Forum CEO Arsen Ostrovsky outlined in a simple post on Monday just who appointed the mayor who graced the pages of the NYT, stating:
Others were just as quick to point out the sickening move by the newspaper.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been working since Oct. 7 trying to free the hostages taken by Hamas terrorists.
Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant personally visited the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun 48-hours before the op-ed was published and made no excuses for Israel fighting to free her people, as Breitbart News reported.
Instead he issued a pointed warning to Hezbollah in Lebanon: this could be Beirut.
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