PENSACOLA, Fla. (WKRG) — A woman serving as an Israeli Emissary to Pensacola returned Wednesday from a march and rally in Washington D.C. that attracted nearly 300,000 people to the nation’s capital.

Mia Slonimski was there to show solidarity with other Israelis and Jewish people. She moved from Israel to Pensacola just five days before the war started.

She came here as an Israeli Emissary. It’s an outreach program that promotes increased connections to Israel and Jewish heritage around the world.

She lost 10 of her friends in the Oct. 7 attacks and the battles since then.

“All they wanted was peace and love in this world,” Slonimski said. “That’s what they were all about, and they were just taken like that for pure hatred and no other reason.”

She talked to WKRG News 5 Wednesday about why it was important to be in D.C. for the march.

“I see the world and the antisemitism that goes up and just the way that the world doesn’t see the horror and terror that we’re going through because of Hamas, and I wanted to support my country,” Slonimski said.

She will serve as an Israeli Emissary for about two years in Pensacola, and then she plans to go back home to Tel Aviv.

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