DALLAS — Tuesday night, 7,000 miles away from Israel, more than 2,000 Texans showed up to Temple Emanu-El in Dallas to pledge their support for Israel as that nation's war with Hamas escalates.
"The state of Israel, it's part of all of us" a Jewish man cried after the service.
The speakers at the event were just as emotional.
"We are doing everything we can from here to help," Aya Margalit sobbed.
Margalit is an Israeli school teacher who recently moved to Dallas from Israel, where she lived two miles outside of the Gaza strip.
Tuesday, she told the crowd at temple what her 11-year-old students back in Israel messaged her as Hamas attacked: "They’re here! They’re coming! They’re breaking the windows! They’re shooting the door! Help us! Help!" she shared through tears. "And there was nothing we could do."
The more than 2,000 attendees at Temple Emanu-El on Tuesday night prayed together. Not all were Jewish, but many were.
"My mother and father-in-law were holocaust survivors," said Kenny Goldberg, chairman of the Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission. "And my wife said today she’s happy they’re not here to see what’s happening right now."
The Dallas event, strongly in support of Israel, featured Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, Senator Ted Cruz and Livia Link Raviv, the Consul General of Israel to the Southwest, in attendance.
"This is not about politics, this is not about territory," Link-Raviv said. "This is about the murder of Jews simply because they are Jews."
The 90-minute service featured one main message: Israel has tremendous support 7,000 miles away, and at least 2,000 people here in North Texas pledge to make that support public.
"Stand publicly and make it clear," said Igor Alterman, President Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas. "That you stand with Israel. That you stand with the Jewish community. We need your voices now."