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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.
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Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students
Haredi Jewish men look at the scene of an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Israel, on Nov. 23, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Israel’s military said it would issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students following a Supreme Court ruling mandating their conscription and amid growing pressure from reservists stretched by extended deployments.
The Supreme Court ruling last year overturned a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox students, a policy established when the community comprised a far smaller segment of the population than the 13 percent it represents today.
Military service is compulsory for most Israeli Jews from the age of 18, lasting 24-32 months, with additional reserve duty in subsequent years. Members of Israel’s 21 percent Arab population are mostly exempt, though some do serve.
A statement by the military spokesperson confirmed the orders on Sunday just as local media reported legislative efforts by two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to craft a compromise.
The exemption issue has grown more contentious as Israel’s armed forces in recent years have faced strains from simultaneous engagements with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Iran.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Netanyahu’s brittle coalition have voiced concerns that integrating seminary students into military units alongside secular Israelis, including women, could jeopardize their religious identity.
The military statement promised to ensure conditions that respect the ultra-Orthodox way of life and to develop additional programs to support their integration into the military. It said the notices would go out this month.
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Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a “grave mistake” that he said would benefit the terrorist group Hamas.
Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel’s military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his “next steps” but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition.
Smotrich’s comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.
“… the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas,” Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as “logistical support for the enemy during wartime”.
The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to U.N. estimates.
Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.
PRESSURE
Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.
The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.
The post Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
Australian police have charged a man in connection with an alleged arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a series of incidents targeting the nation’s Jewish community.
There were no injuries to the 20 people inside the East Melbourne Synagogue, who fled from the fire on Friday night. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in the capital of Victoria state.
Australia has experienced several antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023.
Counter-terrorism detectives late on Saturday arrested the 34-year-old resident of Sydney, capital of neighboring New South Wales, charging him with offenses including criminal damage by fire, police said.
“The man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and set it on fire before fleeing the scene,” police said in a statement.
The suspect, whom the authorities declined to identify, was remanded in custody after his case was heard at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Sunday and no application was made for bail, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
Authorities are investigating whether the synagogue fire was linked to a disturbance on Friday night at an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne, in which one person was arrested for hindering police.
The restaurant was extensively damaged, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for Australia’s Jews.
It said the fire at the synagogue, one of Melbourne’s oldest, was set as those inside sat down to Sabbath dinner.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog went on X to “condemn outright the vile arson attack targeting Jews in Melbourne’s historic and oldest synagogue on the Sabbath, and on an Israeli restaurant where people had come to enjoy a meal together”.
“This is not the first such attack in Australia in recent months. But it must be the last,” Herzog said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incidents as “severe hate crimes” that he viewed “with utmost gravity.” “The State of Israel will continue to stand alongside the Australian Jewish community,” Netanyahu said on X.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese late on Saturday described the alleged arson, which comes seven months after another synagogue in Melbourne was targeted by arsonists, as shocking and said those responsible should face the law’s full force.
“My Government will provide all necessary support toward this effort,” Albanese posted on X.
Homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles in Australia have been targeted by antisemitic vandalism and arson. The incidents included a fake plan by organized crime to attack a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives in order to divert police resources, police said in March.
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