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Israel flexes its muscle as an up-and-coming sports host as 2023 European Athletics Under-20 Championships open in Jerusalem
(JTA) — The Israeli Athletics Association is preparing to host almost 2,000 athletes and officials from 48 countries for the 2023 European Athletics Under-20 Championships.
The biannual track and field competition, which features 44 different events, will be hosted at Jerusalem’s Givat Ram Stadium. Putting on such a tournament is no small feat, but Israel — and, increasingly, its capital city — has become a go-to host for a number of international competitions.
In 2019, the Women’s European Lacrosse Championship took place in Netanya. In 2021, Jerusalem hosted the men’s and women’s Flag Football World Championships. The European Athletics competition begins Monday, and later this month, Israel will also co-host the Men’s European Volleyball Championship in Tel Aviv. Next year it’s water polo, and in 2025, baseball.
Ami Baran, the president of the Israeli Athletics Association, said Israel hosting so many tournaments has broken a sort of glass ceiling in terms of Israel’s standing in the world, both politically and in sports.
“It’s very, very important,” Baran told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “I think us hosting these kinds of tournaments sends a message throughout Europe that Israel is on the map.”
Baran said the trend is even more pronounced when it comes to Jerusalem, which is a flashpoint in Israeli-Palestinian politics.
“People are not politically worried anymore about having it [here], especially if we’re doing it in Jerusalem,” he continued. “Jerusalem is a place where things are happening. It’s a controversial area, where a lot of Europeans in the European Union have always sort of been hesitant. But here you get full support — total support of Israel, and Jerusalem.”
Israel hosted the European Athletics Under-18 Championship last year, which Baran said was a success. The Jerusalem government supported the effort, pouring 50 million shekels (about $13.5 million) into renovations for the Givat Ram Stadium.
Then for the U20 tournament this year, Romania was set to host until concerns emerged about its stadium size. One night, Baran got a late-night phone call from the head of European Athletics.
“He asked me, Ami, can you save Europe and do the tournament again in Israel for the under 20s?” Baran recounted.
Baran quickly got in touch with Jerusalem’s deputy mayor who oversees sports, who called up the mayor. The answer was yes. Baran said the city and Israel’s ministry of sport and culture helped finance the undertaking — which included arranging hotel rooms for the visitors, plus bringing in media production teams and Olympic-quality announcers.
David Wiseman, who tracks Israeli sports for his popular Facebook page Follow Team Israel, said he’s observed a considerable uptick in Israel’s participation and hosting of European and international tournaments. For one thing, Israel’s own sense of its place in global politics and sports has changed, he said.
“First and foremost, there may have been a cringe factor previously, where to prevent making waves, Israel didn’t even nominate to host events,” Wiseman told JTA. “Now that’s not the case. They’re putting their hand up. And not only putting their hand up, they’re winning the bids.”
Wiseman added that Israel’s success in international competitions has also likely increased its status as a host, and has generated more buzz among Israeli sports fans. In the past couple months alone, Israel finished third in the FIFA U20 World Cup and seventh in the World Lacrosse Championships.
“I think they’re more successful, and because they’re more successful, there’s a greater hometown sort of vibe and interest,” Wiseman said. “They wouldn’t want to host an event here if no one turned up.”
Baran said 3,500 tickets have already been sold for next week’s track and field competition.
Israel has also recently played host to global sports stars Novak Djokovic and Lionel Messi, as the Tel Aviv Open returned last year for the first time since 1996 and the powerhouse French soccer team Paris Saint-Germain played a Champions League match against Maccabi Haifa.
Israel’s involvement in global sporting events can sometimes be rocky. The U20 World Cup this year was originally set to be hosted by Indonesia, before being moved to Argentina because of the former’s objection to Israel’s participation. And this spring, an Israeli rugby team was removed from a tournament in South Africa. This year’s democracy protests in Israel — some of which took place at the Knesset, just blocks from Givat Ram — have landed on front pages around the world, potentially undercutting the appetite to plan events in the country.
But by and large, insiders say, Israel’s status as a member and host of international tournaments remains on the rise.
“It’s really important that we realize that everything is moving forward,” Baran said. “More tournaments will bring more recognition to Israel, and I think bring more recognition to our people in Israel who can see more sports.”
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The post Israel flexes its muscle as an up-and-coming sports host as 2023 European Athletics Under-20 Championships open in Jerusalem appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire
Explosions send smoke into the air in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing said on Friday that while the Palestinian terrorist group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations it could revert to insisting on a full package deal to end the conflict.
Hamas has previously offered to release all the hostages held in Gaza and conclude a permanent ceasefire agreement, and Israel has refused, Abu Ubaida added in a televised speech.
Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have hosted more than 10 days of talks on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce in the war.
Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on a call he had with Pope Leo on Friday that Israel‘s efforts to secure a hostage release deal and 60-day ceasefire “have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas.”
As part of the potential deal, 10 hostages held in Gaza would be returned along with the bodies of 18 others, spread out over 60 days. In exchange, Israel would release a number of detained Palestinians.
“If the enemy remains obstinate and evades this round as it has done every time before, we cannot guarantee a return to partial deals or the proposal of the 10 captives,” said Abu Ubaida.
Disputes remain over maps of Israeli army withdrawals, aid delivery mechanisms into Gaza, and guarantees that any eventual truce would lead to ending the war, said two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters on Friday.
The officials said the talks have not reached a breakthrough on the issues under discussion.
Hamas says any agreement must lead to ending the war, while Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and its leaders expelled from Gaza.
Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Over 250 hostages were kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.
Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
The post Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel
People hold images of the victims of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas
Iran on Friday marked the 31st anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires by slamming Argentina for what it called “baseless” accusations over Tehran’s alleged role in the terrorist attack and accusing Israel of politicizing the atrocity to influence the investigation and judicial process.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the anniversary of Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.
“While completely rejecting the accusations against Iranian citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns attempts by certain Argentine factions to pressure the judiciary into issuing baseless charges and politically motivated rulings,” the statement read.
“Reaffirming that the charges against its citizens are unfounded, the Islamic Republic of Iran insists on restoring their reputation and calls for an end to this staged legal proceeding,” it continued.
Last month, a federal judge in Argentina ordered the trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of orchestrating the attack in Buenos Aires.
The ten suspects set to stand trial include former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, all of whom are subject to international arrest warrants issued by Argentina for their alleged roles in the terrorist attack.
In its statement on Friday, Iran also accused Israel of influencing the investigation to advance a political campaign against the Islamist regime in Tehran, claiming the case has been used to serve Israeli interests and hinder efforts to uncover the truth.
“From the outset, elements and entities linked to the Zionist regime [Israel] exploited this suspicious explosion, pushing the investigation down a false and misleading path, among whose consequences was to disrupt the long‑standing relations between the people of Iran and Argentina,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
“Clear, undeniable evidence now shows the Zionist regime and its affiliates exerting influence on the Argentine judiciary to frame Iranian nationals,” the statement continued.
In April, lead prosecutor Sebastián Basso — who took over the case after the 2015 murder of his predecessor, Alberto Nisman — requested that federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issue national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his alleged involvement in the attack.
Since 2006, Argentine authorities have sought the arrest of eight Iranians — including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in 2017 — yet more than three decades after the deadly bombing, all suspects remain still at large.
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, released a statement commemorating the 31st anniversary of the bombing.
“It was a brutal attack on Argentina, its democracy, and its rule of law,” the group said. “At DAIA, we continue to demand truth and justice — because impunity is painful, and memory is a commitment to both the present and the future.”
31 años del atentado a la AMIA – DAIA. 31 años sin justicia.
El 18 de julio de 1994, un atentado terrorista dejó 85 personas muertas y más de 300 heridas. Fue un ataque brutal contra la Argentina, su democracia y su Estado de derecho.
Desde la DAIA, seguimos exigiendo verdad y… pic.twitter.com/kV2ReGNTIk
— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) July 18, 2025
Despite Argentina’s longstanding belief that Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group carried out the devastating attack at Iran’s request, the 1994 bombing has never been claimed or officially solved.
Meanwhile, Tehran has consistently denied any involvement and refused to arrest or extradite any suspects.
To this day, the decades-long investigation into the terrorist attack has been plagued by allegations of witness tampering, evidence manipulation, cover-ups, and annulled trials.
In 2006, former prosecutor Nisman formally charged Iran for orchestrating the attack and Hezbollah for carrying it out.
Nine years later, he accused former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — currently under house arrest on corruption charges — of attempting to cover up the crime and block efforts to extradite the suspects behind the AMIA atrocity in return for Iranian oil.
Nisman was killed later that year, and to this day, both his case and murder remain unresolved and under ongoing investigation.
The alleged cover-up was reportedly formalized through the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between Kirchner’s government and Iranian authorities, with the stated goal of cooperating to investigate the AMIA bombing.
The post Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns
Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, attends an interview with Reuters in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements, has been implicated in a wide-ranging network of illegal financial activities in Jordan and abroad, according to a new investigative report.
Investigations conducted by Jordanian authorities — along with evidence gathered from seized materials — revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood raised tens of millions of Jordanian dinars through various illegal activities, the Jordan news agency (Petra) reported this week.
With operations intensifying over the past eight years, the report showed that the group’s complex financial network was funded through various sources, including illegal donations, profits from investments in Jordan and abroad, and monthly fees paid by members inside and outside the country.
The report also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken advantage of the war in Gaza to raise donations illegally.
Out of all donations meant for Gaza, the group provided no information on where the funds came from, how much was collected, or how they were distributed, and failed to work with any international or relief organizations to manage the transfers properly.
Rather, the investigations revealed that the Islamist network used illicit financial mechanisms to transfer funds abroad.
According to Jordanian authorities, the group gathered more than JD 30 million (around $42 million) over recent years.
With funds transferred to several Arab, regional, and foreign countries, part of the money was allegedly used to finance domestic political campaigns in 2024, as well as illegal activities and cells.
In April, Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets after members of the Islamist movement were found to be linked to a sabotage plot.
The movement’s political arm in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, became the largest political grouping in parliament after elections last September, although most seats are still held by supporters of the government.
Opponents of the group, which is banned in most Arab countries, label it a terrorist organization. However, the movement claims it renounced violence decades ago and now promotes its Islamist agenda through peaceful means.
The post Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns first appeared on Algemeiner.com.