A Southern California town was presented this summer with a most unusual proposal: a “twinning relationship” with war-torn Gaza City. Otherwise known as a sister city agreement, the proposed deal would require recognizing and establishing diplomatic ties with a foreign terrorist organization.
In June, Gaza City Mayor Yahya Sarraj sent a letter to the City of Irvine, California, proposing an “exchange and economic collaboration” months after the Hamas-controlled government in Gaza was toppled and forced underground. Yet, it was one of Irvine’s own 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 twin-city program with Gaza.
The proposal raises serious questions about what could have attracted 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 offer also comes after months of tense public hearings at Irvine City Hall that centered around the Israel-Hamas war and featured masked agitators spouting antisemitic hate speech.
Amid sun-drenched public parks and sprawling college campuses, the City of Irvine cuts a sharp contrast with Gaza City, a territory largely reduced to ruins in recent months of fighting. To the mostly affluent Orange County residents who call Irvine home, Gaza City may 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 antisemitic indoctrination, where locals cheered the arrival of bloodied hostages and dismembered corpses on October 7.
Despite these differences, Mayor Sarraj emailed his counterpart in Irvine, Mayor Farrah Khan, with an ambitious plan that includes cultural and academic exchanges, trade partnerships, “joint tourism campaigns,” and even initiatives in “environmental conservation.” The undated letter, which Sarraj’s office confirmed was sent June 10, bears the Palestinian mayor’s signature and a stamped seal from the Municipality of Gaza.
SARRAJ IS anything but a simple 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 terrorist group Islamic Jihad to fire rockets from a municipal building on August 7, 2022, resulting in a misfire that killed two Palestinian civilians.
After Israel began operating in Gaza on the heels of the October 7 massacre, critics assailed The New York Times for printing an opinion piece from Sarraj decrying 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.”
Proposal has been unanswered
So far, Sarraj’s proposal to Mayor Khan has gone unanswered, according to a spokesperson identified in the Hamas appointee’s letter. Khan did not reply to emails asking if her office intended to accept Hamas’s proposal. However, the twinning initiative may not have originated from Gaza, but from Irvine’s own Vice Mayor Larry Agran.
A political fixture in Irvine, Agran has served off and on as a city council member and mayor since 1978. He is a longtime advocate for the “trickle up” theory of public policy, or using municipal politics to impact global affairs, a strategy that has been criticized for infringing on the federal government’s foreign policy prerogatives.
“Maybe someday, it would actually be possible that the City of Irvine has a sister city relationship with Gaza City,” Agran said during a city council hearing on January 24. He was interrupted by cheers from anti-Israel protesters, before adding “ – and Tel Aviv, as well.”
“I am not certain, but I would assume that Larry Agran’s suggestion during the council meeting opened up the door to the possibilities [of a sister city agreement],” City Council member Tammy Kim (D) wrote in an email.
When asked about the sister-city deal, City Council member Kathleen Treseder (D) would not speculate as to whether Agran’s invitation prompted Gaza City’s proposal. However, she suggested another possibility.
“To my shame and embarrassment, news about Mayor Khan and Vice Mayor Agran’s encouragement of antisemitism and hate speech in our council meetings has spread widely, even internationally,” Treseder said in an email.
She was referring to months of public hearings surrounding a so-called ceasefire resolution related to the Israel-Hamas war.
The bill brought masked agitators who clamored for months inside Irvine City Hall, brandishing bloodied baby effigies and disrupting council proceedings with chants and outbursts.
In council hearings that stretched into early morning hours, anti-Israel activists accused New York Jews of operating an underground child sex ring and referred to Israel as a “refuge for pedophiles.” Others echoed antisemitic tropes about Israelis stealing the organs of dead Palestinians, and some speakers promised to harass city council members in their homes unless they approved the resolution.
Kim and Treseder, who voted against Irvine’s ceasefire bill in February, both agreed that the twinning relationship was not in the interests of Irvine residents.
“Our city should not be cementing relationships 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 staff to travel to Gaza as part of a sister city relationship,” he explained.
In reality, Sarraj’s twin city ambitions were dead on arrival.
“The municipality employees and the mayor are finding it increasingly challenging to work from the municipality building or out in the streets,” Sarraj’s spokesperson admitted.
That’s quite the understatement. With Hamas’s top leaders slain or on the run and government services reduced to hijacking and hoarding humanitarian aid there isn’t a standing government in Gaza City with which to negotiate a sister city arrangement.
If Khan and Agran insist on a union with Gaza, they should contact the IDF, which controls large parts of Gaza City, to hash out a deal.
The writer is director of MEF Action, an advocacy project of the Middle East Forum.