Auburn Tigers’ male basketball coach Bruce Pearl made a passionate plea for the return of American hostage Edan Alexander from Hamas captivity to Gaza.
Tigers No. 1 won an 82-70 victory against Creighton N ° 9 on Saturday and Pearl began his post-match media availability by speaking of Alexandre. The 21-year-old Israeli-American soldier is one of the 59 hostages still in Gaza. It is believed that more than half of the hostages are held by Hamas terrorists.
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Former President Donald Trump has a photo of Edan Alexander on October 7, 2024 in New York. (Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images)
Hamas said that it would release Alexander and the bodies of four hostages that have been held there since its October 7, 2023, a terrorist attack if Israel met with a cease-fire agreement.
“I am asked for a lot how this basketball program has become so competitive in the past eight years,” said Pearl. “But for me, I believe that it was God’s plan to give us this success, a success beyond what we deserve. To give us this platform. To give us the opportunity to start this conference briefly and to remind the world that Edan Alexander is still held hostage in Gaza at the moment. An American hostage and not enough people in this country.”
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Yael Alexander, the mother of hostage Edan Alexander, speaks during a rally in Central Park on the 100th day since the terrorist attack on October 7 of Hamas, on January 14, 2024, in New York. (Alexi Rosenfeld / Getty Images)
We asked Pearl why he felt the need to talk about hostages.
“October 7 was the worst day since the Holocaust for the Jewish people, and they say they want to do it again and again. We have American hostages in Gaza at the moment, and it is unacceptable,” Pearl said. “And President Trump called him and said that if they release the hostages, the murder would stop. Release the hostages, and the murder will stop, and it is in Hamas.”
Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl shouts towards his players in the second round of the NCAA tournament against Creighton, on Saturday March 22, 2025, in Lexington, Kentucky. (AP photo / Brynn Anderson)
Pearl has expressed his support for Israel in the past and has regularly condemned Hamas for its actions and anti-Israeli agitators who apparently support the group.
