Crowds packed the streets of Tenafly, New Jersey, erupting in cheers and waving flags as Edan Alexander finally came home, nearly 600 days after he was abducted and held captive by Hamas. The hometown celebration marked the end of a harrowing ordeal and the joyous return of a local hero.
With a broad smile and dark sunglasses shielding his eyes, Alexander shared a few words with The New York Post while being driven through Tenafly’s main street. “Great,” he said simply when asked how he felt, adding that it was good to be home.
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Supporters lined the sidewalks, many draped in Israeli flags or holding up hand-painted signs that read, “Welcome home Edan.” The crowd sang and danced to the familiar refrain of “Am Yisrael Chai,” expressing collective pride and relief.
Now 21, Alexander served as a staff sergeant in the Israel Defense Forces. He was one of 251 people taken hostage during Hamas’s brutal October 7, 2023 assault and was the final American hostage to make it out alive.
“We didn’t know if he was alive for a long time and that was very hard to think about,” said Gaia Hamani, 25, of Alpine. Her brother had attended both preschool and high school with Alexander, creating a deep personal connection to his story.
“He left everything. He left the comfort of his home in New Jersey. He didn’t have to go to the army. He volunteered to do that. It takes a lot of courage and strength to do that,” she added, reflecting on the sacrifice Alexander had made.
Hamani recalled how she and her mother kept Alexander’s photo in their wallets throughout his captivity as a constant reminder to daven for him.
“We prayed for him all the time. I always think of him in relation to my brother — to think what he went through, I can’t imagine,” she said, visibly emotional.
Details of Alexander’s treatment while in captivity were harrowing. According to the Kan public broadcaster, he was routinely kept in a cage, bound at his wrists and ankles, and subjected to torture deep in Hamas’s underground tunnels.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu credited Alexander’s release to the IDF’s unrelenting military operations in Gaza, coupled with diplomatic efforts led by President Trump.
The emotional weight of the moment was evident everywhere. Hamani said that as she drove to the welcome-home event and saw children waving Israeli flags, she was overcome and began to cry.
Michal Fox, 51, a psychologist and mother of four from Englewood, said the celebration wasn’t just for Alexander—it was a much-needed moment of unity and healing for the Jewish community as a whole.
“It’s a great way for the community to come together. There are so many bad things that happened but we are going to celebrate him together,” she told The Post.
“It means to everyone that there is hope. There is resilience. He’s the signature child, person for resilience and how we can get through things,” she said, reflecting the crowd’s mood.
Though she had never met the Alexanders, Fox said their pain and triumph felt personal. “I don’t know them,” she said. “I don’t know anyone, but that’s what the Jewish community does. We come together. Their child is our child.”
{Matzav.com}