University of Pennsylvania students, staff gather in support of Israel
PHILADELPHIA - Hundreds of students and staff from the University of Pennsylvania gathered Tuesday in a show of support for Israel.
The rally comes just days after an unprecedented surprise assault from Hamas against the country, leaving hundreds dead and thousands more maimed.
Maya Brawer-Cohen, a University of Penn senior, lived in Israel for two years while in middle school. She said a friend she met there who served in the Israeli armed forces was killed in combat on Saturday.
"You see those names on lists and never think that you’ll know anyone on it so when I saw his name and his family post it was devastating," Brawer-Cohen told FOX 29.
South Jersey Jewish community comes together amid barbaric Hamas attack on Israel
Members of the Jewish community in Cherry Hill gathered Tuesday at Beth Shalom Synagogue to stand in solidarity with Israel. A historic and horrific assault by Hamas has left hundreds of innocent Israeli's dead and more severely injured.
A local rabbi and campus Chaplin led the crowd in prayer while turned to the east, they also sang Israel's national anthem. Noah Rubin, a Penn junior and co-president of a campus group supporting Israel, told the crowd of Hamas's barbarism and asked for their support.
"I think it was very powerful, very moving that so many people here today came together to talk about what's going on in Israel to show their support," Rubin said.
Nagi Latefa was born in Gaza and still has family living in the wartorn region that he described as "a living hell." Latefa, who now resides in Allentown and was educated at Temple and Villanova, said his cousin was killed in a recent air strike.
"My mother is in her mid-80s, she cannot walk, she gets scared every night, the bombing, the airplanes, lack of water, lack of electricity, it's a living hell," Latefa said.