Welcome home, Edan
As the Middle East tensions erupt, there’s good news in Tenafly
(Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Cheers and tears filled the streets of Tenafly last Thursday afternoon, June 19, as 21-year-old Edan Alexander returned home to a hero’s welcome after spending 584 days in Gaza as a captive of Hamas.
He had been held by the terrorist group ever since he was taken hostage when Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023. Several hundred people from the borough in which he grew up and where he graduated from high school, as well as well-wishers from other parts of New Jersey near and far, braved the rain and humidity to cheer his long-prayed-for homecoming.
Almost from the start of Edan’s captivity, Tenafly had posted a large sign at a major intersection calling attention to his plight and demanding his release.
Edan sat at an open window on the passenger side of the front seat of the black SUV that carried him through the borough. As his large police motorcade moved slowly into the center of Tenafly, people waved Israeli flags, shouted “Am Yisrael Chai” (“The people of Israel shall live”), “Baruch Haba” (“Blessed be the one who has arrived”), and “God Bless You, Edan,” along with “Welcome home” and simply “Edan!”
Many in the crowd — who probably didn’t even know each other — shook hands, exchanged high-fives, danced, and cheered together as Edan waved back to them from his open window.
Most people, when questioned, said that as much as Edan’s return was cause for celebration, the deepest celebration can come only when all the remaining hostages have been rescued or released. There are 53 hostages still being held by Hamas, 30 of whom reportedly are dead.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-5th Dist.) echoed that sentiment in the statement he released welcoming “my constituent, Edan Alexander,” home. In it, he said that while this was “a huge day worthy of great celebration across our state…, Edan’s return is a reminder that we must not rest until every last hostage is reunited with their families and loved ones. That includes the return of the remains of the two Americans who were brutally murdered at the hands of Hamas — Omer Neutra and Itay Chen.”
The motorcade did not stop so that Eden or anyone else could greet the crowd formally, but no one, it seemed, was troubled by that. Said one, “Give the guy a break. After what he’s been through, he deserves some private time. You know that sooner or later, someone’s going to drag him out and put him in front of a crowd.”
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