"Will and Grace" star Debra Messing is facing public judgment over her ongoing visit to Gaza with author and editor of The Spectator Douglas Murray.
The actress took a clear stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict when she joined the “March for Israel” in mid-November, an event organized by the Jewish Federations of North America and attended by 290,000 people.
Now, alongside Mr. Murray, as well as author and political commentator Douglas Adams and comedian and writer Lee Kern, Ms. Messing made an appearance in Gaza in parts now under control of the Israeli Defense forces (IDF).
Mr. Kern, a Jewish screenwriter known for his work with Sacha Baron Cohen, also shared a photo of himself and the actress the same day.
“Not only has she been speaking out when others have been silent, she came into a war zone today to see one of the terror tunnels built by Hamas. She is a Queen of our people and she deserves all the love.”
In another post, Ms. Messing is seen bonding with IDF soldiers.
“I want you to know that everyone in the United States is thinking of you and thanking you, and standing by you and praying for you,” she added, urging the soldiers to “stay safe.”
As with all things related to the conflict, the news sparked some intense emotions.
“A highly controlled trip with the IDF and a celebrity is not a tour of Gaza. It's certainly not journalism,” one user wrote, as others left more sarcastic remarks. “Humanitarian aid trucks are blocked, but Debra gets a little press tour,” one commenter noted.
Others questioned the purpose of bringing celebrities to war zones. “Love Douglas's coverage, but I fail to see what benefit it is to anyone to bring Hollywood actresses into terrorist tunnels in a war zone,” one user wrote.
“Wow. 4 years ago, Douglas and Debra would've probably been on opposing sides of any issue,” someone said, referring to Ms. Messing’s political leanings, being a staunch anti-Trumper who left Twitter following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media platform, despite having garnered nearly 700,000 followers.
“If anyone can wake her up, it’s you,” Dave Rubin, a left-winger-turned-conservative commentator, commented on Mr. Murray’s post.
The two Brits who accompanied the actress shared pictures of Hamas’s underground tunnel network that they visited.
“It’s so vast,” he said. “We came walking down … it’s huge—a very steep decline coming into it.”
“Apparently, this tunnel goes on for several kilometers. It’s absolutely a ridiculous amount of effort that’s gone into this,” he noted as he touched the concrete walls of the tunnel, pointing to a pipe of what he believed to be the tunnels’ ventilation system. “This stuff is insane.”
In another video, Mr. Kern filmed himself walking out of the tunnel that he said was built “near a humanitarian crossing that is there to allow aid into Gaza and help their economy via a flow of workers and exports in and out.”