Pro-Israel gathering draws 100 supporters to downtown Alexandria

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - As promised, a peaceful gathering on Sunday, November 19, at the Fulton Mini-park in downtown Alexandria calling for people to speak out against Hamas and the brutality inflicted on civilians when militants bombed and shot people in the streets of Southern Israel.

Waiving Israeli flags and banners, they asked Americans to stand with Israel. Many also had signs displaying the names and faces of the more than 200 hostages Hamas kidnapped from Israel earlier this month. They are calling for the release of those hostages.

Wayne Taylor organized the event and said that despite a small timeframe, the event was a success.

“So, we had 10 minutes of silence,” explained Taylor. “I was worried because I didn’t know if we were going to get 10 minutes of silence in. We had several people who had shofars to blow, and we had other noises, sounds and yells and whistles as a way to sound our support for Israel.”

Sunday’s gathering comes as the Israel Hamas War enters its seventh week and amid allegations Hamas committed sexual violence crimes as part of its October 7 attacks. Alexandre Slatkin also attended the gathering. Slatkin said Israel shares our western values, adding that it is important to remember Hamas is a terrorist organization and must be treated as such.

“Innocent people died and yes we feel very badly about that for both sides,” said Slatkin. “You have to fight evil, when you fight evil there is always some innocent people die because of it.”

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