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Hamas releases propaganda video showing Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander
Hamas’ military wing released a propaganda video Saturday showing an Israeli American hostage.
It was the first video of its kind shared in months.
The undated video, posted on the secure messaging service Telegram, shows 20-year-old Edan Alexander. The message says Alexander has been held captive by Hamas for more than 420 days. If true, the video would have been taken this past week.
In the video – speaking in a mixture of Hebrew and English – Alexander speaks to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying “you have neglected us.”
He also addressed President-elect Donald Trump, asking him to use his “influence and the full power of the United States to negotiate for our freedom.”
In a statement via the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters, Alexander’s mother Yael Alexander said her son “represents all the living hostages who cannot make their voices heard, and this voice needs to reverberate and shake everyone!”
Alexander grew up in New Jersey and was a soldier in the Israeli military when Hamas militants attacked on the morning of Oct. 7, 2023. The then 19-year-old was able to send a quick message to his mother amid the intense fighting around his base near the Gaza border.
He told her that despite having shrapnel embedded in his helmet from the explosions, he had managed to get to a protected area. After 7 a.m., his family lost contact, the Associated Press reported.
“He told me even though things were already getting dangerous around him. That was the last time I heard my son’s voice. I cannot describe the pain of not knowing where your child is or how is he,” Yael Alexander told CBS New York in October.
When a week-long ceasefire last November brought the release of 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners, some of the freed hostages said they had seen Alexander in captivity. Varda Ben Baruch, his grandmother, told the AP that the hostages told her Alexander kept his cool, encouraging them that everyone would be released soon.
Alexander’s father Adi Alexander told “CBS Mornings” in September that they are pushing Israeli and American leaders for a ceasefire deal.
“We hope he’s holding up and we’re coming for him,” Adi Alexander said. “He needs to survive.”
Adi and Yael Alexander met with President Biden and Trump in Washington earlier this month and pleaded with them to work together to bring all the hostages home in a single deal, according to the AP.
More than 250 people were kidnapped and 1,200 killed when Hamas militants burst across the border and carried out a bloody attack on southern Israeli communities. Israel’s subsequent war against Hamas has since killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Saturday that he has spoken with Alexander’s family after the release of the “brutal psychological warfare video.”
“The Prime Minister said in the conversation that he felt very well the agony going through Edan and the hostages and their families, and promised that Israel is working with determination and in every way to return them home, along with all the hostages who are in the hands of the enemy,” the statement said.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters said in a statement that the video is “definite proof that despite all the rumors – there are living hostages and they are suffering greatly.”
“One year after the first and only deal, it’s clear to everyone: returning the hostages is only possible through a deal,” the group said. “After more than 420 days of continuous abuse, starvation and darkness, the urgency of bringing home all 101 hostages cannot be overstated.”
Case: 1:25-cv-13323 Document #: 49 Filed: 11/05/25 Page 1 of 4 PageID #:838
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION
)
PABLO MORENO GONZALEZ, FELIPE AGUSTIN ZAMACONA, and a class of similarly ) situated people,
V.
Plaintiffs,
Case No. 25 C 13323
KRISTI NOEM, Secretary of the U.S. Department ) of Homeland Security, in her official capacity; ) TODD LYONS, Acting Director, U.S. Immigration ) and Customs Enforcement, in his official capacity; ) MARCOS CHARLES, Acting Executive Associate ) Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations, in his official capacity; SAMUEL OLSON, Interim Chicago Field Office Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in his official capacity; ) GREGORY BOVINO, Commander-at-Large, U.S. ) Customs and Border Protection, in his official capacity; U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ) ENFORCEMENT; U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION; and the DEPARTMENT) OF HOMELAND SECURITY,
)
)
)
Judge Robert W. Gettleman
Defendants.
TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER
This matter came before the court on plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order. On November 4, 2025, the court heard argument and considered the written filings by both sides, along with testimony presented by plaintiffs. Based on the record currently before it, the court finds that plaintiffs and members of the putative class have suffered, and are likely to suffer, irreparable harm absent the temporary relief granted herein, that they are likely to prevail on the merits of their claims, that the balance of the equities tips in their favor, and that the public
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The 34-year-old democratic socialist’s team includes familiar faces for New Yorkers. He must now navigate New York’s notoriously provincial politics.
Zohran Mamdani wins NYC mayor’s race
Mamdani, 34, will be NYC’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor.
NEW YORK − In his first hours as New York City’s mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani has signaled his intention to reassure a nervous political establishment that he is bringing experienced operators into his administration.
On the morning of Nov. 5, the 34-year-old democratic socialist announced a progressive-but-mainstream transition team to execute his affordability-focused agenda.
“The poetry of campaigning may have come to a close last night at 9, but the beautiful prose of governing has only just begun,” Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens, told reporters in front of the Unisphere, a towering steel globe built for the 1964 World’s Fair.
That line itself could be interpreted as an olive branch: it was a reference to former Gov. Mario Cuomo’s famous observation that politicians “campaign in poetry” but they “govern in prose.” Mamdani just defeated Cuomo’s son Andrew, another former governor, in the mayoral race.
“The hard work of improving New Yorkers’ lives starts now,” Mamdani added.
An experienced team
Mamdani, who won the mayor’s race less than 24 hours earlier, takes over City Hall on New Year’s Day. His transition team includes familiar faces for New Yorkers.
Elana Leopold, a political strategist who served under former Mayor Bill de Blasio in several senior positions, will lead the team as executive director.
The four transition co-chairs include Lina Khan, the head of the Biden administration’s Federal Trade Commission; Maria Torres-Springer, former first deputy mayor under current Mayor Eric Adams; Grace Bonilla, president and CEO of United Way of New York City and a former de Blasio administration appointee; and Melanie Hartzog, de Blasio’s deputy mayor for health and human services and, before that, his management and budget office director.
De Blasio endorsed Mamdani, but Adams endorsed Cuomo.
Before Mamdani even won the race for mayor, he faced threats by the Trump administration to strip the city of even more federal funding. On election night, Mamdani called President Donald Trump out directly, saying he would protect New Yorkers as their mayor. Mamdani has said he would work with Trump to ease cost of living.
“Despite the headwinds the city we face as a city and as a country, the mayor-elect has truly rekindled something very powerful: Our shared faith in New York’s capacity to do big things and to dream boldly,” Torres-Springer said.
Earlier this year, Torres-Springer and other top city officials resigned from the current Adams administration. President Trump’s Justice Department dropped federal corruption charges in exchange for helping in the administration’s immigration crackdown, in an alleged quid pro quo Adams has denied. The scandal rocked Adams’ City Hall and contributed to his downfall as a one-term mayor.
During the campaign, Mamdani sought to reassure voters that, despite his young age and little experience in the state Legislature, he could manage the city’s $116 billion budget serving 8.5 million New Yorkers. He will also oversee a police department larger than many countries’ entire militaries.
Notably, he said he would keep current Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch in charge of the NYPD. Tisch’s super-wealthy father James donated heavily to previous Republican mayoral candidate such as Rudy Giuliani. Her cousin Laurie Tisch donated $150,000 to an effort to defeat Mamdani.
Mamdani has also been advised by Patrick Gaspard, a former aide to Barack Obama who previously led the liberal Center for American Progress think tank.
During the Democratic primary in June, Mamdani cross-endorsed with city Comptroller Brad Lander, a Brooklyn Democrat seen as a seasoned city politician. Lander’s support proved key in Mamdani’s primary win to defeat Andrew Cuomo, the former three-term governor saddled by a record of scandals.
On Nov. 4, Mamdani defeated Cuomo, running as an independent, a second time. Billionaires spent heavily against Mamdani’s candidacy.
“What we saw last night was New Yorkers not just electing a new mayor, but clearly rejecting a politics where outsized corporate power and money too often end up dictating our politics,” said Khan, an antitrust legal scholar who resigned from the FTC when Trump took office.
On Nov. 6, Mamdani continues his path to City Hall by flying to Puerto Rico, his spokesperson Dora Pekec said. While this sounds like vacation after a grueling campaign, he is Somos, New York Democrats’ unofficial annual power-brokering summit.
Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
Democratic candidate for governor Abigail Spanberger gives remarks during a rally on Saturday in Norfolk, Virginia.
Shaban Athuman/VPM News
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Shaban Athuman/VPM News
Democrat Abigail Spanberger will be Virginia’s next governor, according to a race call by the Associated Press.
Spanberger, who previously served three terms in the U.S. House, defeated her Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. She’ll be Virginia’s first woman governor.
The contest received national attention as one of the first major tests of voter sentiment in response to the Trump administration’s policies.
Virginia is home to around 320,000 federal workers and hundreds of thousands of federal contractors. On the campaign trail, Spanberger argued that federal layoffs, cutbacks by President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tariffs, and the federal shutdown were an attack on the Virginia economy — and pitched herself as a way for voters to push back.
“We need a governor who will recognize the hardship of this moment, advocate for Virginians, and make clear that not only are we watching people be challenged in their livelihoods and in their businesses and in communities, but Virginia’s economy is under attack,” Spanberger said at a stop on a campaign bus tour late last month.
That message resonated with Haley Morgan Wright, a voter whose husband is a federal employee currently working without pay during the federal shutdown. She wants Spanberger to use her platform as governor to uplift the stories of civil servants like him.
“He cares about his country, he wants to serve his country and has opted to do it in this way,” she said after casting a ballot in the Northern Virginia exurbs. “He’s not superfluous.”
Spanberger was backed by national Democrats
National Democrats had looked to Spanberger and Virginia Democrats for a boost heading into the 2026 midterms. Former President Barack Obama had campaigned for her and the party backed her in what was one of just two governor’s races this year.
Voters cast their ballots at Huguenot High School on Tuesday in Richmond, Virginia.
Ryan M. Kelly/VPM News
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Ryan M. Kelly/VPM News
“The DNC has been spending a lot of money and a lot of time in Virginia,” said DNC Vice Chair Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta at a meeting for party volunteers in Northern Virginia. “Because we know that what you all do and the momentum that is going to come out of your victories is going lead to us flipping the House of Representatives in 2026.”
In 2021, Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe with 50.6% of the vote to 48.7%. Virginia governors are limited to one four-year term.
Spanberger, who served in the CIA before running for Congress in 2018, has cultivated a reputation as a pragmatic centrist. The theme of her run for governor was “affordability” — speaking to Virginians’ concerns about rising costs of housing, utility bills, pharmaceutical drugs, and the economic uncertainty she blamed on Trump’s tariffs and federal layoffs.
Earle-Sears, meanwhile, portrayed herself as an example of the American dream — a Jamaican immigrant who became a U.S. Marine and small business owner.
She accused Spanberger of backing policies on transgender rights that she said are a threat to girls’ safety in school bathrooms and locker rooms.
“Love is not having my daughter having to be forced to undress in a locker room with a man. That’s not love,” Earle-Sears said at a rally in late October. “Love is making sure that our girl children have opportunities in sports and are not forced to play against biological males.”
Earle-Sears’ stance on transgender students in girls’ bathrooms sounded good to Elizabeth Drake, a voter who said she works with youth at a church in Loudoun County.
“I feel like we’re actually going back and setting ourselves back a lot by endangering women,” she said. “I’m not saying that that doesn’t mean we can have alternative spaces for people, but the women’s locker rooms, women’s bathrooms, women’s safe homes are not it.”
Winsome Earle-Sears, currently Virginia’s lieutenant governor, in the Virginia General Assembly last month.
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The race was jolted by late-breaking events
She also attacked Spanberger for supporting Biden administration policies. She vowed to continue business-friendly polices of outgoing Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. While she backed Trump’s policies, Trump did not endorse her.
Several developments impacted the final weeks of the race. The federal shutdown shadowed the final month of early voting, with both campaigns blaming the other party for the stalemate.
Virginia lawmakers began considering a plan to redistrict the state’s congressional districts to favor Democratic candidates in the 2026 midterm elections, as President Trump pushes Republicans in other states to move to favor their candidates. That could be an issue facing the next Virginia governor.
Former President Barack Obama campaigned for Spanberger over the weekend.
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And Republicans seized on revelations of text messages by Democratic candidate for attorney general, Jay Jones, in which he described the hypothetical shooting of a Republican lawmaker. Spanberger denounced the messages though Earle-Sears faulted her for not calling on Jones to drop out of the race.
Jones was in a tight race Tuesday against Republican incumbent Jason Miyares for the attorney general’s office.
Margaret Barthel covers Virginia politics for WAMU.
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