El-Gamal makes NBC’s “People of the Year”

Real estate celebrity Sharif El-Gamal, developer of the Park51 Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan, is one of NBC’s “People of the Year,” joining the ranks of LeBron James, Kim Kardashian, Justin Timberlake, Chilean miner rescuer Brandon Fisher and James Jones, the Florida father who stormed onto a school bus earlier this year to punish his daughter’s bullies. In the network’s annual Thanksgiving special with host Matt Lauer, El-Gamal reiterated that the complex he’s building — and currently seeking funding for — will be “just like a Jewish Community Center or a YMCA.” And despite the outrage that resulted from his insistence on sticking with his plans to construct the center two blocks from Ground Zero, he said, “not once have I held my faith accountable for the horrific events of 9/11.”