Tenafly, New Jersey, residents eagerly rallied in celebration in the streets today as they watched Israeli-American Edan Alexander being released in Israel after being held in captivity in Gaza by Hamas since Oct. 7, 2023 for 583 days.
Tenafly is Alexander’s hometown.
At 19 years old, Alexander was among the 251 people who were kidnapped when Hamas terrorists stormed an Israeli military base in the attack that ignited a war that’s still ongoing 19 months later.
While Hamas continues to hold 58 hostages in Gaza, others have been freed in cease-fire agreements or other deals.
“Nobody knew which way this was gonna go, so this is a very joyous occasion today,” Kathy Padula, 60, told The Epoch Times from the rally on May 12.
Padula, a Tenafly elementary school educator, was among 700 people who gathered at the Tenafly Historic Railroad Station on Piedmont Avenue from 5 a.m. until 2 p.m. to show their support for Alexander, who is now 21 years old.
She felt drawn to drop by the gathering after seeing helicopters overhead during recess.
“My heart told me to make a stop and just be here,” Padula said.
Speakers blared Israeli music as Alexander’s supporters, who lined the streets, held posters of his face and watched the televised images of his release on a giant screen in a parking lot outside the Angelique Cafe, where everyone watched together. Members of the crowd embraced each other and waved Israeli flags.
Alexander’s parents had traveled to Israel to greet their son as he left southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, flanked by a Red Cross representative.
“I want to tell him how much our community has been supporting him,” Alon Ben Avraham, 21, told The Epoch Times. “The community was praying every single day for him. There was not a single day where someone was not thinking about Adan. He needs to know that.”
Ben Avraham’s family owns the Angelique Cafe adjacent to the Tenafly Historic Railroad Station, where supporters gathered.
“There’s not a day that has gone by in Tenafly without seeing his face on a poster or hearing his name,” he added.
Hamas had released a video in November 2024, more than a year after his abduction, in which Alexander cried and pleaded for help.
Lisa Sugarman, 40, who joined a weekly gathering at the town square every Friday to demand the release of the remaining hostages, attended today’s rally as well.
“It’s a miracle,” Sugarman told The Epoch Times on May 12. “We needed to see it to believe it, and we all saw it together. We stood with one another in unity in Tenafly to be there for Edan and his family. I’m sure they felt our love.”
Although Alexander is originally from Tenafly, a suburb of New York City, he relocated to Israel in 2022 to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) after graduating from Tenafly High School.
Adam Handman, 61, who works as a salesman and lives in Tenafly, has two 21-year-old step-daughters who were in the same graduating class as Alexander at Tenafly High School.
“They were watching his situation closely,” Handman told The Epoch Times. “It was tough on them. They are twins, and two years of not knowing was very agonizing for them and for everyone in the community. Tenafly is a tight-knit community.”
