Detroit Lion Alex Anzalone pleaded with President Joe Biden to help get his parents home from Israel.
The linebacker tagged the president on X — in a post that has since been deleted — writing, “Please get my parents home.”
According to The Detroit News, the NFL player’s parents arrived in the embattled nation on 2 October in a tour group through their church — the First Baptist Church Naples. The timing of the trip couldn’t have been worse, as now the tour group is trying to leave the war-torn region.
Pastor Alan Brumback said the group was in “high spirits” on Monday as they were still in Israel. He said they were talking to “congressmen, senators” to see “what are our options” to leave early. He said a few people in the group have been able to leave.
The pastor previously said that the group has a flight scheduled to leave Tel Aviv on Thursday.
“It’s hard,” Mr Anzalone told the outlet. “(It’s) really all I’ve been thinking about.”
The NFL player’s post also included a clip of Florida Congressman Byron Donalds, who represents Naples, speaking on CNN about the tour group.
He said he had 53 constituents stuck in Israel, who are “panicked, trying to find their way to get back to America.” He added, “We need to provide every assistance possible to Israel to get Americans back.”
He continued, “And, listen, let me be very clear with Hamas. Touch an American’s head and see what happens to you. That’s my position. That needs to be the position of the president of the United States right now.”
