The most obvious retort to people who forced out New York Times editorial page editor James Bennet for publishing an op-ed by Republican Sen. Tom Cotton was the parade of Times op-eds by dictators and terrorists. Remember "What We, The Taliban, Want"? Now it’s happened again.
The Times ran an op-ed Sunday (on Christmas Eve!) by Hamas’s handpicked Gaza City mayor — prompting outrage on social media from Israel supporters. Gaza City hasn't had an election in 18 years.
The essay by Yahya R. Sarraj was titled “I Am Gaza City’s Mayor. Our Lives and Culture Are in Rubble.” The Times made him sound like a respectable academic, not a Hamas stooge: “Dr. Sarraj is the mayor of Gaza City and a former rector of the University College of Applied Sciences there.” Israel was scorched, and naturally, there was almost no mention of October 7, no mention of hostages held:
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.
Sarraj noted he was appointed (by terrorists): "One of my major goals after the Hamas administration appointed me mayor in 2019 was to improve the city’s seafront and foster the opening of small businesses along it to create jobs."
But the Times allows him to pose as Mr. Nonviolence:
The Gaza Zoo has been destroyed, with many of its animals killed or starved to death, including wolves, hyenas, birds and rare foxes....
Why did the Israeli tanks destroy so many trees, electricity poles, cars and water mains? Why would Israel hit a U.N. school? The obliteration of our way of life in Gaza is indescribable. I still feel I am in a nightmare because I can’t imagine how any sane person could engage in such a horrific campaign of destruction and death....I call on the world’s municipalities — everyone — to pressure world leaders to stop this mindless destruction.
"Mindless destruction" is a more appropriate term for Hamas slaughtering whole families in the kibbutzes and mowing down young people attending a concert for peace. Sarraj concluded by attempting to play on geopolitical naivete: "Why can’t Palestinians be treated equally, like Israelis and all other peoples in the world? Why can’t we live in peace and have open borders and free trade?"
Did the war Hamas brought out of Gaza look like an argument for "open borders"?
The New York Times doesn't care if these articles make sense. They only want to demonstrate the range of opinion they'll publish....where Republicans are too offensive, and Hamas and the Taliban are granted a platform.
