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The Jewish Sport Report: Why the Von Erichs, wrestling family in the new movie ‘The Iron Claw,’ were so big in Israel

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(JTA) — Happy Friday, Jewish sports fans!

Before we get into the news, one quick pitch: JTA is hosting an end-of-year online benefit featuring die-hard Philly sports fan (and CNN anchor) Jake Tapper, who will be in conversation with JTA editor-in-chief Philissa Cramer. While they might not have time to discuss the Phillies bullpen, it’s sure to be an exciting evening. If you’d like to support JTA and the work we do, please check out the benefit page here for information and to make a donation. Thank you!

The Israeli angle to ‘The Iron Claw’

From left to right: Mike, Kerry, Fritz and Kevin Von Erich. (Wikimedia Commons and Getty Images; Design by Grace Yagel)

If you’re looking for a movie to see after having your Chinese food on Christmas, you may want to check out “The Iron Claw,” the wrestling movie that hits theaters next Friday.

The film — which has gotten strong reviews so far — features a star-studded cast including Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White (star of “The Bear”) and even the real Jewish wrestler Maxwell Jacob Friedman. The movie tells the tragic story of the Von Erich family, the first family of professional wrestling in Texas.

The Von Erichs weren’t just legends in the Lone Star state. At one time they were a super heavyweight-sized deal in the Jewish state as well.

“Anyone who grew up in Israel in the 1980s would be a major fan of the Von Erich brothers — David, Kevin, Kerry and Mike,” said one Jewish federation CEO. “They were icons in Israel as their faces were seen weekly on televisions across the Middle East on Saturday nights.”

Read more about the Von Erichs and their connections to Israel right here.

Halftime report

TAKING A STAND. When Jewish teenager David Teeger, the captain of South Africa’s under-19 cricket team, won a “rising star” award in October, he dedicated the honor to Israel and its soldiers. After a local Palestinian group filed a complaint, Teeger was briefly suspended from the sport and investigated for hate speech. The judge cleared him of any wrongdoing.

MAGIC CLEATS. Last week, we showed you the Israel-themed cleats Minnesota Vikings kicker Greg Joseph would wear on Sunday as part of the NFL’s “My Cleats, My Cause” program. We didn’t anticipate what would come next: the Vikings won 3-0 on a 36-yard field goal from Joseph.

FAR FROM HOME. The Forward profiles Israeli Ofri Naveh, a freshman forward who was recruited to play basketball at the University of West Virginia. Naveh shares his experience playing in the states while his country is at war.

BALLIN. As the Oakland Athletics prepare to move to Las Vegas, the city has a new independent baseball team to root for: the Oakland Ballers. Meet their new manager: Micah Franklin, a Jewish former big leaguer who also played professionally in Japan and Korea.

CHANGE OF PLANS. Starting in 2024, sportswear giant Puma will no longer sponsor Israel’s national soccer team. The decision was made in 2022 and is unrelated to the ongoing war.

AL IS OUT. Speaking of lineup changes, broadcasting legend Al Michaels is not included in NBC’s NFL Playoffs coverage plan, which reportedly came as a surprise to him. Michaels is tied with Pat Summerall with a record 11 Super Bowl TV broadcasts.

A JEWISH PIRATE. It’s been a slow MLB offseason for most players not named Shohei Ohtani, but one Jewish free agent is officially off the board: slugger Rowdy Tellez has signed a one-year, $3.2 million contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates — which, yes, means Tellez’s salary for the 2024 season is technically higher than Ohtani’s.

Jews in sports to watch this weekend

IN BASKETBALL…

Deni Avdija and the Washington Wizards host the Indiana Pacers tonight at 7 p.m. ET and face the Phoenix Suns Sunday at 8 p.m. ET. Domantas Sabonis (who is converting to Judaism) and the Sacramento Kings host the Utah Jazz tomorrow at 10 p.m. ET. In the G League, Ryan Turell and the Motor City Cruise play the Indiana Mad Ants (fantastic name, by the way) today at 12:30 p.m. ET and the Windy City Bulls Sunday at 6 p.m. ET. And across the pond in the British Women’s Basketball League, former WNBA player Abby Meyers and her London Lions host the Durham Palatinates tomorrow at 8 a.m. ET. Meyers enjoyed her best performance of the season so far last Sunday, dropping 28 points.

IN HOCKEY…

Adam Fox and the first-place New York Rangers host the last-place Anaheim Ducks tonight at 7 p.m. ET. Jason Zucker and the Arizona Coyotes host Luke Kunin and the San Jose Sharks tonight at 9 p.m. ET and Devon Levi’s Buffalo Sabres tomorrow at 8 p.m. ET. Cole Guttman and the Chicago Blackhawks host Quinn Hughes and the Vancouver Canucks Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.

IN FOOTBALL…

Greg Joseph and the Minnesota Vikings face the Cincinnati Bengals Saturday at 1 p.m. ET. On Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, catch Michael Dunn and the Cleveland Browns hosting the Chicago Bears, while A.J. Dillon and the Green Bay Packers host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jake Curhan and the Seattle Seahawks wrap up Week 15 against the Philadelphia Eagles Monday at 8:15 p.m. ET on “Monday Night Football.”

IN SOCCER…

Matt Turner and Nottingham Forest take on Tottenham today at 3 p.m. ET. Nottingham Forest haven’t won a match since Nov. 5, and Tottenham, who are currently fifth in the Premier League standings, are still without Israeli star Manor Solomon, who had knee surgery in October.

A hefty price tag

The news of two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani’s mind-boggling 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers elicited plenty of clever reactions to the historic amount of money involved. This was our favorite:

$700 million is nuts. That’s like almost enough to feed a family of four at the Yankee Stadium Kosher stand

— Max Mannis (@MaxMannis) December 9, 2023


The post The Jewish Sport Report: Why the Von Erichs, wrestling family in the new movie ‘The Iron Claw,’ were so big in Israel appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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New York City Jews Targeted for Most Hate Crimes in March, NYPD Stats Show

Orthodox Jewish man waiting for the train in the New York City subway. Photo: Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect.

Jews in New York City were victims of more hate crimes in March than any other group even as crime across the Five Boroughs fell to “historic” lows, according to statistics issued by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) on Thursday.

39 hate crimes targeted Jews last month, the Algemeiner reviewed data shows, outstripping the combined total of all other groups combined — 28 — and constituting 58 percent of all hate crimes reported to authorities. So far, there have born 85 antisemitic hate crimes in New York City through the first three months of 2025, with the month of February seeing a 100 percent increase in them over the previous year and March seeing no improvement at all.

The data continues a trend that has persisted for several years and concurred with a rise in antisemitic incidents across the US.

Jews represented a disproportionate share of hate crimes perpetrated in New York City in 2024 as well. Of the 641 total hate crimes tallied by the NYPD that year, Jews were victims of 345, which, in addition to being a 7 percent increase over the previous year, amounted to 54 percent of all hate crimes in the city.

As The Algemeiner has previously reported, antisemitic hate crimes have posed a major threat to the quality of life of New York City’s Orthodox Jewish community, which was the target in many of the incidents. In just eight days between the end of October and the beginning of November, three Hasidim, including children, were brutally assaulted in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. In one instance, an Orthodox man was accosted by two assailants, one masked, who “chased and beat him” after he refused to surrender his cellphone in compliance with what appeared to have been an attempted robbery.

In another incident, an African American male smacked a 13-year-old Jewish boy who was commuting to school on his bike in the heavily Jewish neighborhood. Less than a week earlier, an assailant slashed a visibly Jewish man in the face as he was walking in Brooklyn. Days after the week-long antisemitic hate crime spree, three men attempted to rob a Hasidic man after stalking him through the Crown Heights neighborhood.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post New York City Jews Targeted for Most Hate Crimes in March, NYPD Stats Show first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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NYC ‘Dyke March’ Bans Zionists From Participating in Annual Demonstration

(Source: Reuters)

(Source: Reuters)

NYC Dyke March, a public demonstration held by members of the lesbian community in New York City, has banned self-proclaimed “Zionists” from its annual event, citing a desire to stand against the so-called “genocide” occuring in Gaza. 

The group revealed in a statement that their decision to ban Israel supporters from their ranks came after multiple members dropped out of the organization due to differences in “political beliefs and values.” After engaging in discussions with frustrated members, the NYC Dyke March committee agreed to adopt “an explicitly anti-Zionist position.” The organization claims that it will “strengthen our commitment” to fighting against Israel and advocating on behalf of Palestinians. 

Last year, the NYC Dyke March previously came under scrutiny after organizers settled on “genocide” as the theme of its 2024 event. In a statement, decrying “ethnic cleansing, violence, and dehumanization,” the organization compared the ongoing war in Gaza, to the mass slaughters occurring in Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Sudan. 

The organization plans on recycling the same theme for this year’s march, titling it “Dykes Against Genocide.” The group released a statement clarifying that Jews are allowed to attend and condemned the Oct. 7 slaughters as a “senseless loss of life.” After an apparent uproar from its members, the organization deleted the post and wrote that the group “unapologetically stands in support of Palestinian liberation.” In addition, the group affirmed that “anti-Zionism is not antisemitism and any language we put out which is not clearly opposed to a Zionist, imperialist agenda is harmful to us all.”

In the 17 months following the Hamas-led massacre of roughly 1200 people throughout Israel, the NYC Dyke March has produced numerous statements lambasting Israel and declaring “solidarity” with Palestinians amid their so-called “ongoing genocide.” The organization also accused Israel of engaging in supposed “pinkwashing” and “manipulative use of Jewish and queer identities,” with the aim of justifying its war efforts in Gaza. 

Israel offers an expansive set of rights for members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transngender (LGBT) community, including recognition of same-sex marriages. Every year in June, Tel Aviv holds one of the largest LGBT Pride celebrations in the world. Meanwhile, members of the LGBT community are routinely imprisoned or murdered in other parts of the Middle East, including the Palestinian territories. 

The NYC Dyke March’s announcement was met with widespread condemnation. 

“You cannot exclude the majority of Jews and call yourself inclusive,” said the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in a post on X/Twitter, adding that the group “essentially equates Zionism with racism” in their announcement. 

The post NYC ‘Dyke March’ Bans Zionists From Participating in Annual Demonstration first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Trump Administration Planning $510 Million Cut to Brown University Budget, Report Says

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with journalists onboard Air Force One en route to Miami, Florida, U.S., April 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura

The Trump administration reportedly plans to terminate $510 million worth of federal contracts and grants awarded to Brown University, according to media reports.

Brown University’s failure to mount a satisfactory response to the campus antisemitism crisis, as well as its embrace of the diversity, equity, and, inclusion (DEI) movement — perceived by many across the political spectrum as an assault on merit-based upward mobility and causing incidents of anti-White and anti-Asian discrimination — prompted the alleged pending action by the federal government, according to the right-leaning outlet The Daily Caller.

The announcement comes as Brown scrambles to cover a $46 million budget shortfall and other universities across the country have faced similar funding cuts.

Brown University officials, however, denied that the university had received any directives from the Trump Administration.

“We have no information to substantiate these rumors,” Brown University provost Francis Doyle issued a statement. “We are closely monitoring notifications related to grants, but have nothing more we can share as of now.”

Meanwhile, Brown’s Jewish community rushed to the university’s defense, issuing a joint statement with the Brown Corporation which said that the campus is “peaceful and supportive campus for its Jewish community.”

The letter, signed by members of the local Hillel International chapter and Chabad on College Hill, continued: “Brown University is a place where Jewish life not only exists but thrives. While there is more work to be done, Brown, through the dedicated efforts of its administration, leadership, and resilient spirit of its Jewish community, continues to uphold the principles of inclusion, tolerance, and intellectual freedom that have been central to its identity since 1764.”

Brown Divest Coalition — an anti-Zionist group which recently saw its campaign for the university to adopt the boycott, divest, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel defeated by the Brown Corporation — weighed in too, denouncing the reported cut as “a means of suppressing all forms of popular dissent to the renewed violence of the US war machine abroad.” US Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) also criticized the move, accusing the administration “of a broader pattern of behavior…that will negatively impact communities across the country and lead to layoffs, restrict research, and more.”

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the Trump administration is following through on its threats to inflict potentially catastrophic financial injuries on colleges and universities deemed as soft on antisemitism or excessively “woke.” The past six weeks has seen the policy imposed on elite universities including Harvard and Columbia, rattling a higher education establishment that has for better and worse operated for decades with little interference from the federal government even as it polarized the public and contributed to a growing sense that elites are contemptuous of Americans who live outside of their cultural enclaves.

In March, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced the cancellation of $400 million in federal contracts and grants for Columbia University, a measure that secured the school’s acceding to a slew of demands the administration put forth as preconditions for restoring the money. Later, the Trump administration disclosed its reviewing $9 billion worth of federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard University, jeopardizing a substantial source of the school’s income over its alleged failure to quell antisemitic and pro-Hamas activity on campus following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel. Princeton University saw $210 million of its federal grants and funding suspended too, prompting its president, Christopher Eisgruber to say the institution is “committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.”

Additionally,  60 universities are being investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights over their handling of campus antisemitism, a project that will serve as an early test of the administration’s ability to perform the essential functions of the agency after downsizing its workforce to increase its efficiency.

One of those universities, Northwestern University, on Monday touted its progress in addressing campus antisemitism, noting that it has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, a reference tool which aids officials in determining what constitutes antisemitism, and begun holding “mandatory antisemitism training” sessions which “all students, faculty, and staff” must attend.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Trump Administration Planning $510 Million Cut to Brown University Budget, Report Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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