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After getting cut from ‘American Ninja Warrior,’ Orthodox contestant celebrates NBC’s decision to release unaired footage
(JTA) — When Michael Neuman found out his run on this season of the NBC obstacle course competition show “American Ninja Warrior” would not air, the competitor inside of him was crushed. Part of the filming schedule had conflicted with his Shabbat observance.
But Neuman was even more disappointed that he would not get to keep any footage from the show. Neuman, a 30-year-old psychotherapist from Miami Beach, had arranged to bring three young people from his Jewish Inspiration Foundation — which supports Jewish youth with physical challenges through sports — onto the show with him. Their parents were counting on keeping the footage of their family members on the obstacle course sidelines as a keepsake of a bright moment in their lives.
Now, just over two weeks after a Jewish Telegraphic Agency article about their story, the show has given Neuman and the families he brought on set a 47-second montage clip from Neuman’s time on the show. In an email reviewed by JTA, a producer alluded to the article and commended Neuman for his foundation’s work.
“I’m so appreciative to ‘American Ninja Warrior’ for releasing the clip to us,” Neuman told JTA. “I think it means a lot more than just a clip from the show. It means people care, and we are all in this together as humans.”
He added that having the video “means the world” to the families. “It’s so impactful and so inspiring that [the show] would do something so generous,” he said.
Here is the clip from “American Ninja Warrior”:
Neuman’s cohort of young adults was put up in a five-star hotel at Universal Studios, served kosher food and participated in promotional filming for the show. When Neuman competed in the show’s obstacle course — a run that would initially earn him a spot in the semifinals — they cheered him on from the sidelines.
Neuman, an Orthodox Jew, ultimately forfeited his spot in the semifinals because filming for the episode fell on Shabbat. As a result, he was later cut entirely from the show, along with the footage of his fan section.
Leah Cohen, who traveled to Los Angeles with her son Ari, who has the rare chromosomal disorder mosaic trisomy 9, appealed to one of the show’s producers to share the footage with the foundation.
“I said, ‘Listen, you guys made a decision not to air [Michael]. I don’t know why you did that. But that’s your thing,’” Cohen recounted to JTA. “‘But at least share those pictures with us. I can’t fathom that that’s out there and one day when my son, God forbid, is not here, to know that those pictures and those videos are out there, and I won’t be able to have any comfort in looking at them and seeing them and being proud of them.’”
Sam Bullard, a supervising producer for “American Ninja Warrior,” told JTA last month that Neuman was “cut for time” and that it’s “standard practice” to remove contestants in post-production. He said NBC would not release the footage.
Cohen said she was “shocked” to hear that NBC had changed its mind.
“What I saw brought me back to one of the happiest moments of my life,” she said about the video. “It’s showing the world that there are people who care about you and who are exhibiting kindness.”
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The post After getting cut from ‘American Ninja Warrior,’ Orthodox contestant celebrates NBC’s decision to release unaired footage appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.