RSS
Auburn Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl Calls for Release of Hamas Hostage Edan Alexander at NCAA Post-Game Conference
Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl celebrates victory as Auburn Tigers take on Georgia Bulldogs at Neville Arena in Auburn, AL, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo: USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Auburn Tigers men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl advocated for the release of American-Israeli Edan Alexander from Hamas captivity at the start of his post-game conference on Saturday after his team’s win in the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament.
The No. 1-seeded Tigers won the second round of the NCAA tournament by beating No. 9 Creighton 82-70 and advancing to the Sweet Sixteen this weekend. The Auburn University team is one of three No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament that have a Jewish coach. All three of those teams, which include the Duke Blue Devils and Florid Gators, won their first- and second-round games and will advance to round 16.
Pearl has publicly voiced support for Israel in the past and condemned Hamas. On Monday, he reposted a message on X by Israel’s Minister of Defense Israel Katz, who wrote in part that Israel “will not stop until our hostages are released and Hamas is no longer in control of the Gaza Strip and is no longer a threat to Israel and Israelis.”
Pearl began his post-game conference on Saturday by talking about 21-year-old Alexander, a New Jersey native and an American–Israeli dual national who served in the Israeli army. He is one of the 59 hostages still held captive by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip after being abducted on Oct. 7. 2023, during the terrorist group’s deadly rampage in southern Israel. Hamas said it would release Alexander, as well as the dead bodies of four other hostages abducted during the Oct. 7 atrocities, if Israel committed to a ceasefire agreement that would lead to a permanent end to the war, an offer Israel rejected and described as “psychological warfare.”
Before even discussing his team’s victory against the Tigers at the post-game conference, Pearl was calling to “bring the hostages home.”
“I believe it was God’s plan to give us this success … to give us this platform; to give me an opportunity to start this press conference really briefly and remind the world that Edan Alexander is still held hostage in Gaza right now,” said Pearl. “An American held hostage. And there aren’t enough people in this country that know his name. So, I asked the players if it was OK if I started out this press conference and just called out the name of an American. Bring the hostages home.”
Toward the end of the press conference, Pearl was asked by a reporter why he felt the need to talk about the hostages. He responded by again contributing Auburn’s success in part to God and his strong faith as a Jewish American. He also talked about his grandfather immigrating to the United States in 1929 at the age of 11.
“I think what made me say it is — again, it starts with my faith, and it starts with answering the question, ‘Why has God blessed Auburn and this basketball team the way he has all season long?’” he said. “And honestly it’s to, I think, put us in a platform — in this case right now, myself, as a Jewish American who loves his country more than anything else in the world … at the same time, over in Israel, that’s our ancestral homeland for the Jewish people and it’s under attack.”
“It’s under attack. It’s under siege. And all it wants to do is live in peace with its neighbors,” Pearl added about Israel. “And there are some Arab countries that are wanting peace with Israel. But there is a segment of the population in the Middle East that has been doing nothing but attacking Israel for 85 years.”
Pearl then talked about the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and added: “We have Americans who are held hostage in Gaza right now. It’s unacceptable … free the hostages and the killing will stop. And that’s up to Hamas.”
On Saturday night, Pearl reposted a message on X that said the two-state solution – which calls for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel – “is dead” because “time after time, the Arab world rejected coexistence with Israel, every single chance.”
No. 1 Auburn will compete against No. 5 Michigan in the NCAA Sweet 16 on Friday night at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The Michigan team includes Israeli-American star player Danny Wolf, who is being talked about as a first-round pick in the NBA Draft later this year.
The post Auburn Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl Calls for Release of Hamas Hostage Edan Alexander at NCAA Post-Game Conference first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.