Thune, Noem call for Hamas elimination, support for Israel

Prayer vigil held in Sioux Falls following Oct. 7 massacre

South Dakota Sen. John Thune vowed that the United States will stand with Israel as it pursues “the bad guys” who attacked it Oct. 7 in the largest mass killing of Jews since the Holocaust.

More than 1,300 people were killed in the terror attack by Hamas, a group that has vowed to destroy Israel.

“Men, women and children murdered, slaughtered,” Rabbi Mendel Alperowitz said.

Thune and Alperowitz were among several political and religious leaders who spoke Sunday at a prayer vigil at the El Riad Shrine in downtown Sioux Falls. As they spoke, Israeli forces were massing outside of Gaza, the Palestinian-controlled territory from which Hamas launched its attack. Thune said the attack, which targeted civilians, can’t be explained away or excused.

“This isn’t a time for moral equivocation. This is a time for moral clarity,” Thune said.

Amid closure threat, community unites to save country school