Meeting Edan Alexander with California’s District 32 Candidate Dory Benami

It was one year ago yesterday, on May 12th, 2025, that American-Israeli Edan Alexander was released after surviving 584 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza after being kidnapped on October 7, 2023 from southern Israel. I met Edan this past October in Tel-Aviv with my dear friend and Candidate for California’s district 32 Dory Benami. As Dory and I were sitting on Dizengoff street having pizza with his wife Laura and their daughter something remarkable happened. I suddenly looked up, pointed, and said, “That’s Edan Alexander.” Edan grew up in New Jersey and moved to Israel at 18 to serve in the IDF’s Golani Brigade. He was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and held in Gaza for 584 days before being freed this May. He was the last known living American hostage.

As someone who went to every hostage rally in NYC and met with countless families this was a very emotional moment for me. I met Edan’s father at an Event in New Jersey while he was still in captivity and his mother at the “Israel Hayom” conference in NYC when he was released.

My dear friend Dory Benami is an Israeli born American, a husband, a father, a small business owner, and a Democrat running for Congress in California’s 32nd District. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley, built his life in Los Angeles, and worked across law, film, trade, and business before entering politics. His campaign comes from a personal place. After October 7, while his wife was pregnant with their daughter, he felt that silence was no longer an option. He saw antisemitism rising, Israel being isolated, and too many people in American politics treating Jewish identity as something to be managed, softened, or apologized for. Benami decided to run as himself: pro-Israel, pro-America, pro-law enforcement, pro-immigrant, and rooted in the belief that Democrats need to return to common sense and speak to normal people again.

Benami is not running as a polished insider or a party machine candidate. He is running as someone who knows what it means to be an immigrant, to build a business, to raise a family, and to worry about the direction of the country. His campaign focuses on safer neighborhoods, lower costs, better schools, serious border policy, support for small businesses, and a Democratic Party that can be both compassionate and firm. Meeting Edan Alexander in Tel Aviv connected many of the themes of Benami’s campaign: Jewish survival, American strength, family, freedom, and the bond between the United States and Israel. For Benami, this race is not about chasing a title. It is about bringing a grounded, Israeli American, San Fernando Valley voice to Congress at a time when too many voters feel politically homeless.

During captivity, Edan was kept in tunnels and safe houses, starved, beaten, and cut off from the world. Yet today he walks free — proud, calm, and determined to return to service in Golani. To quote my dear friend Dory, “That moment reminded me what binds Israel and the United States — courage, resilience, and moral clarity. The will to stand for what’s right even when it’s hard.” As we parted ways with Edan, we embraced him and thanked him for his strength and resilience and wished him much success on the road ahead.