Four-time NASCAR Whelen Euro Series (EuroNASCAR) Champion Alon Day, an Israeli, told Newsmax on Friday that he has faith in his government to do the best it can to bring hostages that have been in Gaza since they were seized on Oct. 7, some of whom are his friends.
He explained on "Newsline" that he has lived in one of the kibbutzes that were attacked by Hamas and has "friends that are hostages in Gaza and I think that's a terrible thing."
He added that he does not know about the talks underway in Paris, but he knows he wants his friends returned safely.
"They are already 140 days in Gaza, and every day there is like a complete year," Day said. "I cannot even think [about] what they're going through. That's why I'm here talking about it."
Day, as an Israeli, is in a rare position in NASCAR, telling Newsmax that in his home country, "you barely have motorsports."
"We just now started to develop motorsports in Israel," he said. "So my whole life I [got] used to racing in Europe, and then and as a race car driver. I love NASCAR. I mean, I love this type of racing. I love driving stock cars and thank God I'm successful driving race cars."
Now Day is in the United States to race, and he said he hopes to reach the cup level.
"Hopefully I will be that Israeli guy, Jewish guy that comes here racing NASCAR," he said. "I want to also raise awareness about antisemitism, about Israel, about the war, about the hostages, about what's going on. That's my place. I think that's the place I can express myself through driving."
But Day pointed out that he's "not a politician" when asked about antisemitism in the nation's college campuses.
"I know I want to talk about racing, and I want to, you know, have a perfect life just racing," he said. "Unfortunately we are sitting here and talking also about this kind of stuff. All I can say to those people is to educate themselves. Some of those don't even know [about] those phrases like from the river to the sea … they don't even know what river they're talking about."
Many also don't know about Israel and what is happening there, said Day. "They're just saying that kind of stuff that hurts the Jewish community," he said.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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