Auburn men’s basketball head coach Bruce Pearl has been very vocal with his account on X, formerly known as Twitter, in support of Israel after it was attacked by the terrorist group Hamas on Saturday.

Pearl, who is Jewish and a co-founder of the Jewish Coaches Association, commented on and re-posted a tweet from the Black Lives Matter Chicago group that stated “I stand with Palestine” and showed a picture of a paratrooper. The image was largely interpreted online to be supporting Hamas. The Israeli death toll from the attack is believed to be over 1,000 according to statements from government authorities.

The tweet was later deleted. The Black Lives Matter group posted the following response.

Pearl has tweeted consistently throughout the days following the attack. He has reposted tweets showing the grave and horrific aftermath and death toll of the attacks.

Pearl has been an adamant, loud and public supporter of Israel throughout his life and long before the attacks began over the weekend. Pearl has said his Jewish faith is made stronger because of his connection is Israel, where over 6 million Jews live in the Jewish state. Pearl took the Auburn basketball team to Israel before the 2022-23 season. This year, Pearl organized a program to take the Arizona and Kansas State teams to Israel. Pearl was not able to make the trip himself this summer.

President Joe Biden spoke Tuesday about the attack. He stated Hamas’s purpose is to kill Jews.

“More than 1,000 civilians slaughtered — not just killed, slaughtered — in Israel,” Biden said. “Among them, at least 14 American citizens killed. Parents butchered using their bodies to try to protect their children. Stomach-turning reports of being — babies being killed. Entire families slain. Young people massacred while attending a musical festival to celebrate peace — to celebrate peace. Women raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies. Families hid their fear for hours and hours, desperately trying to keep their children quiet to avoid drawing attention. And thousands of wounded, alive but carrying with them the bullet holes and the shrapnel wounds and the memory of what they endured. You all know these traumas never go away.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]