Is Hamas looking for a sister city pact with a California city? – opinion

A Southern California town was presented this summer with a most unusual proposal: a “twinning relationship” with the war-torn city of Gaza. Otherwise known as a sister city agreement, the proposed agreement would require the recognition and establishment of diplomatic ties with a foreign terrorist organization.

In June, Gaza City Mayor Yahya Sarraj sent a letter to Irvine, Calif., proposing “economic exchange and collaboration” months after the Hamas-controlled government in Gaza was toppled and forced underground. However, it was one of Irvine’s senior elected officials – and not Gaza’s mayor – who initially proposed linking the two cities.

If accepted, Irvine would become the first municipality in the United States to participate in a two-city program with Gaza.

The proposal raises serious questions about what might have drawn members of a US-designated terrorist group to seek a partnership with a city ranked among the top three places in North America to raise a family. The bid also comes after months of tense public hearings at Irvine City Hall that centered around the Israel-Hamas war and featured masked agitators delivering anti-Semitic hate speech.

Amid sunny public parks and sprawling college campuses, the city of Irvine stands in stark contrast to Gaza City, a territory largely reduced to rubble in recent months of fighting. For the mostly wealthy residents of Orange County who call Irvine home, Gaza City might as well be in another galaxy. Separated by 7,500 miles, Irvine is the safest city of its size in the United States, while Gaza is a breeding ground for anti-Semitic indoctrination, where locals cheered the arrival of bloodied hostages and dismembered corpses. October 7.

Police officers clash with pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) on May 15, 2024 in Irvine, California. (credit: Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)

Despite these differences, Mayor Sarraj emailed his Irvine counterpart, Mayor Farrah Khan, with an ambitious plan that includes cultural and academic exchanges, business partnerships, “joint tourism campaigns” and even “environmental conservation” initiatives . The undated letter, which Sarraj’s office confirmed was sent on June 10, bears the signature of the Palestinian mayor and a stamped seal from the Gaza Municipality.

SARRAJ IS anything but a mere civil servant. In a move criticized inside the Palestinian territories as anti-democratic, Hamas installed him as mayor in 2019. Israeli authorities blamed Sarraj for allowing the Islamic Jihad terrorist group to fire rockets from a municipal building on the 7 August 2022, which resulted in a river that killed two Palestinian civilians.

After Israel began operating in Gaza following the October 7 massacre, critics lashed out The New York Times for printing an op-ed from Sarraj condemning the “mindless destruction” of his city, with one commentator questioning the legality of providing “material assistance” to a “senior official of a foreign terrorist organization.”

The proposal was not answered

So far, Sarraj’s proposal to Mayor Khan has gone unanswered, according to a spokesman identified in the Hamas appointee’s letter. Khan did not respond to emails asking if her office planned to accept the Hamas proposal. However, the twinning initiative may not come from Gaza, but from Irvine Deputy Mayor Larry Agran.

A political fixture in Irvine, Agran has served on the city council and as mayor since 1978. He is a longtime proponent of the “trickle down” theory of public policy, or the use of municipal policy to impact global affairs, a strategy that has been criticized for infringing on the foreign policy prerogatives of the federal government.

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“Maybe one day, it might actually be possible for the city of Irvine to have a sister city relationship with the city of Gaza,” Agran said during a Jan. 24 city council hearing. He was interrupted by cheers from anti-Israel protesters, before adding: “- and Tel Avivalso.”

“I’m not sure, but I would assume Larry Agran’s suggestion during the council meeting opened the door to the possibility (of a sister city agreement),” City Council member Tammy Kim (D) wrote in an email.

Asked about the sister city deal, City Councilwoman Kathleen Treseder (D) would not speculate whether Agran’s invitation prompted the Gaza City proposal. However, she suggested another possibility.

“To my shame and embarrassment, news of Mayor Khan and Deputy Mayor Agran’s encouragement of anti-Semitism and hate speech at our council meetings has spread widely, even internationally,” Treseder said in an e – email.

She was referring to months of public hearings surrounding a so-called cease-fire resolution related to the Israel-Hamas war.

The bill brought masked agitators who ranted for months inside Irvine City Hall, brandishing effigies of bloody babies and disrupting council proceedings with chants and outbursts.

In council hearings that stretched into the early hours of the morning, anti-Israel activists accused New York Jews of operating an underground child sex ring and referred to Israel as a “haven for pedophiles “. Others echoed anti-Semitic tropes about Israelis stealing the organs of dead Palestinians, and some speakers vowed to harass city council members in their homes if they did not pass the resolution.

Kim and Treseder, who voted against Irvine’s cease-fire law in February, both agreed that twinning was not in the best interest of Irvine residents.

“Our city should not foster relations with terrorists,” Treseder said, adding that “it physically disgusts me to receive direct communications from a Hamas operative.”

“I cannot in good conscience ask any of our employees to travel to Gaza as part of a sister city relationship,” he explained.

In reality, Sarraj’s twin city ambitions were dead on arrival.

“Municipal employees and the mayor find it increasingly difficult to work from the municipal building or on the street,” Sarraj’s spokesman admitted.

That’s an understatement. With top Hamas leaders killed or on the run and government services reduced to diverting and hoarding humanitarian aid, there is no permanent government in Gaza City with which to negotiate a sister city arrangement.

If Khan and Agran insist on a union with aerateshould contact the IDF, which controls large parts of Gaza City, to reach an agreement.

The writer is director of MEF Action, an advocacy project of the Middle East Forum.