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Arizona and Kansas State men’s basketball teams are headed to Israel and the UAE for Abraham Accords-inspired trip
(JTA) — When Auburn University basketball coach Bruce Pearl disembarks his flight from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi next week, he said he will be kissing the ground of the Emirati capital.
Pearl, one of the more outspokenly Jewish and pro-Israel coaches in all of sports, will be accompanying the men’s basketball teams from the University of Arizona and Kansas State University — two of the nation’s best teams — on part of a 10-day trip to Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Though his Auburn team is not part of this summer’s trip, Pearl said he felt strongly that he should be on the flight from Israel to the UAE, to “feel very much a part of the Abraham Accords,” the series of normalization agreements between Israel and some of its neighboring Arab countries.
Organized by the nonprofit Athletes for Israel, the program is an expansion of the “Birthright for College Basketball” trip that Auburn experienced last summer. As its name suggests, the group works to bring athletes to Israel in an effort to combat antisemitism and “change the narrative about Israel,” said founder Daniel Posner.
This month’s trip, which runs from Aug. 9-20, will feature a number of tourist highlights in both countries, including stops at the Dead Sea, the Western Wall, Bethlehem, Yad Vashem, the Shuk and the beaches of Tel Aviv. In the UAE, the teams will visit the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the largest mosque in the UAE, and the country’s Abrahamic Family House, which features a synagogue, a church and a mosque on its grounds.
While in Israel, the schools will also play an Israeli Select Team, an all-star team of sorts that will feature Jewish basketball star and current NBA G League player Ryan Turell.
“When we talked about the trip for this year, our dream was to do an Abraham Accords-like trip,” Posner told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “We were able to make that happen this year, traveling to both Israel and the UAE, really showing that in today’s modern day and age, there can be peace in the Middle East. And we want to support that.”
Pearl, who cites his experience coaching the Maccabi USA basketball team at the 2009 Maccabiah Games as a career highlight, said his dream is to create a full “Abraham Accords Cup,” with an Israeli team joining the U.S. teams on a trip to one of the Arab countries, and vice versa.
The Auburn University men’s basketball team celebrating Shabbat in Israel, July 31, 2022. (Courtesy Auburn Athletics)
As he was looking to put together Auburn’s Israel trip last year — likely the first of its kind for a full Division I college or professional team — Pearl said he received an assist from none other than Tamir Goodman, the former Jewish basketball star once known while a college recruit as the “Jewish Jordan.” Goodman would go on to play professionally in Israel.
Goodman helped put Pearl in touch with a number of Jewish donors for potential funding, including Posner.
“It was almost like God put us together,” Pearl said. “He knew what my plan was, and he knew exactly who I needed to meet to make my dream a reality.”
With an eye toward expanding this year’s trip beyond Israel, Pearl said he traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with the UAE’s ambassador to the U.S., Yousef Al Otaiba, to help get the country on board. He also worked with AFI to help find other schools who would be interested in participating. The sports marketing agency Complete Sports Management has also been involved in the planning of AFI’s trips.
NCAA teams are currently allowed an overseas trip once every four years. The University of Connecticut men’s team visited Israel in 1998, and the Toledo women’s team and Wheaton’s men’s team followed suit in 2011 and 2016, respectively.
After the success of Auburn’s trip last year, Posner said AFI looked for top basketball teams “that we thought would be fantastic in being able to relate to their student athletes, not just as coaches, but also as leaders and as people who can be ambassadors for the State of Israel.”
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd, who said he has been to Israel a few times, called the trip “the opportunity of a lifetime” for his players.
“I think the opportunity to get out there and show them different parts of the world, especially a place of such rich history and culture as Israel, is fascinating,” Lloyd said in a pre-trip Zoom call with reporters.
Neither Arizona nor Kansas State have any known Jewish players. Pearl — whose team last year featured one Jewish player, Lior Berman — said visiting Israel with mostly non-Jews provided a “different impact, but an important one.”
“The best way, in my mind, to battle antisemitism is the truth,” Pearl said. “By our players visiting, they’re going to make their own opinions about Israel.”
Posner and Pearl also collaborated last fall on a Jewish basketball program at Auburn for high school students, as a follow-up to the team’s Israel trip. Posner said AFI is hoping to replicate the experience this year, either with this summer’s teams, or again with Auburn.
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‘Pulp Fiction’ Visionary Lawrence Bender to Executive Produce New Israeli Series Based on Oct. 7 Terror Attack
A poster for “Red Alert.” Photo: Keshet
Legendary “Pulp Fiction” producer Lawrence Bender will be a co-executive producer on a new Israeli television series based on true events that took place during the deadly Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel last year.
The action-drama series titled “Red Alert” will premiere on Israel’s leading television channel Keshet 12, it was announced on Tuesday. The title for the series refers to the emergency Red Alert siren in Israel that indicates an imminent rocket fire. The show was developed in collaboration with Oct. 7 survivors and families of victims.
“This multicharacter drama blends incredible human stories of bravery, resilience, and defiance — many of which made news headlines around the world in the aftermath of this shocking terror attack — with intense military action,” according to a synopsis provided by Keshet International, which is the global distributor for the series. The show will begin filming in Israel in the spring in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.
“‘Red Alert’ will embark on an intense and emotional journey that explores the indomitable human spirit,” said Bender, whose credits include “Kill Bill,” “Good Will Hunting,” and “Inglourious Basterds.” “This international action drama will showcase the unwavering resolve of real people who confront unimaginable challenges to create a compelling viewing experience,” he added.
Bender’s films have been nominated for 36 Academy Awards and have won nine. His company, Bender Brown Productions, will co-produce “Red Alert” with Israel’s Green Productions. The series will also receive funding from multiple partners, including the Jewish National Fund USA – Israel Entertainment Fund (IEF). “Red Alert” is created, written, and will be directed by Lior Chefetz; co-created by Ruth Efroni; and co-written by Kineret Peled and Idan Hubel.
“Red Alert” is one of the first scripted dramas about the Oct. 7 massacre, noted Keren Shahar, CEO of Keshet International. She said the new series “will provide a unique perspective, distinct from news or documentaries, to create a powerful testament to the extraordinary capacity for hope and resilience that resides within us all.”
“The heroic stories and true events depicted will weave an action-driven tapestry that captures the incredible power of kindness, sacrifice, and altruism in a way that connects on a deeply emotional level,” she explained. Co-executive producer Jordana Reuben Yechiel added that “Red Alert” will highlight the “extraordinary people” who “when faced with life and death choices, rose up to be heroes.”
“For a while, there seemed to be no reasonable dramatic approach to retell such a profound event,” said Karni Ziv, head of drama and comedy for Keshet 12. “We needed time and perspective to find the right project and the right creative partners to help us tell this story in the right way. In ‘Red Alert,’ the human drama transcends the war, which sometimes serves as background and sometimes as the story itself, to deliver a message of hope and solidarity.”
Casting for “Red Alert” is currently in progress. The five-part series is scheduled to premiere on Keshet 12 in October 2025 to coincide with the second anniversary of the Hamas attack in Israel.
The post ‘Pulp Fiction’ Visionary Lawrence Bender to Executive Produce New Israeli Series Based on Oct. 7 Terror Attack first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jewish, Pro-Israel Organizations React to Israel-Hezbollah Ceasefire
Smoke billows over southern Lebanon, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as pictured from Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, Sept. 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Karamallah Daher
Jewish and pro-Israel groups across the political spectrum came out in favor of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal brokered by the United States and France that was announced on Tuesday, but they also expressed some degree of skepticism that it will be properly enforced on the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah.
The deal, which took effect on Wednesday morning, ended nearly 14 months of war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which wields significant influence across Lebanon. During the conflict — which began last October, when Hezbollah began launching rockets at northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza — about 70,000 Israelis were internally displaced from their homes.
In the past two months, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has had a string of successive battlefield victories against Hezbollah, including killing its leader and the entire top echelon of the organization. Israel has also killed at least 1,730 Hezbollah terrorists since last year, according to open-source intelligence.
Describing the deal, US President Joe Biden said in a speech, “Over the next 60 days, the Lebanese Army and the State Security Forces will deploy and take control of their own territory once again. Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon will not be allowed to be rebuilt.”
Israel will also gradually withdraw from Lebanese territory during that period.
Crucially, Biden noted, “If Hezbollah or anyone else breaks the deal and poses a direct threat to Israel, then Israel retains the right to self-defense consistent with international law.”
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) said it welcomed the ceasefire deal but was only cautiously optimistic, writing it “hopes its enforcement can lead to enduring security for both the Israeli and Lebanese people.”
AJC pointed out that “much of this deal is based on the original tenets of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which has failed to be enforced since its adoption in 2006.” The resolution ended the last Israel-Hezbollah conflict and called for the terrorist group’s disarmament.
“To protect this [new] peace, enforcement from the Lebanese army, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and US Central Command will be paramount,” AJC added. “While AJC welcomes the new enforcement mechanisms in this agreement, we will continue to advocate for a reassessment of UNIFIL’s mandate and operations.”
“Our hearts are with the Israeli people who have been forced to flee from their homes in the north of the country and who will disproportionately face the risk of this agreement,” the group concluded.
The American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) also released a statement, writing that it “appreciate[s] the efforts of the Biden administration to work closely together with our ally Israel to forge a ceasefire in Lebanon.”
“With strong support from the United States, including from Democrats and Republicans in Congress who have ensured Israel’s qualitative military edge, Israel was able to significantly degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities,” AIPAC added. “Continuing US-Israel cooperation is essential both to maintain the ceasefire and prevent Iranian aggression in the region.”
It concluded with a call “on the international community to remedy its failures following the 2006 war and ensure Hezbollah can’t rearm or operate south of the Litani River,” signaling some skepticism, similar to AJC, that the deal will actually be enforced on Hezbollah.
J Street, which is AIPAC’s most prominent counterpart and recently called for a partial US arms embargo on Israel, made similar points in its statement, saying that while it welcome sthe deal, the group also “urges that all parties to the agreement ensure that the terms of the ceasefire are fully enforced so that civilians in both Israel and Lebanon can return safely to their homes as soon as possible.”
Specifically, J Street wrote, “The Lebanese government and army, as well as the international community, have important work to do to ensure that this agreement is actually enforced and that Hezbollah is not allowed to return to the south of the country and once again pose a threat to the people of Israel.”
J Street connected this ceasefire deal to pursuing one in Gaza, where Israel is fighting Hamas. It wrote that while this deal was an important step, “the work of US diplomacy will not be complete until a ceasefire and hostage deal is reached for Gaza as well.”
It said that it hoped the announcement “can be a catalyst for progress toward returning the hostages, ending the fighting in the south and surging much-needed humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.”
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Floyd Mayweather Tells Wounded Israeli Soldiers at NYC Gala: ‘I’m Behind You 100 Percent’
Floyd Mayweather at the Belev Echad annual gala in New York City on Nov. 25, 2024. Photo: YouTube screenshot
Undefeated boxing champion Floyd Mayweather was the guest of honor on Monday night at an annual fundraising gala in New York City for wounded soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces.
Mayweather accepted the “Gloves of Healing” award at the gala for Belev Echad, an international initiative that helps wounded IDF veterans. During his acceptance speech on stage, the retired boxer talked about his unwavering support for the Jewish state since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
“When I stood behind Israel, I wasn’t looking for an award — I felt I did what was right,” he explained. “And when you choose your side, you stay on that side. And this is the side that I chose … and I will continue to stand behind this side right here.”
Mayweather — who retired from professional boxing in 2017 with an undefeated record of 50 wins and no losses – has visited Israel several times since the deadly Hamas-led terrorist attack that took place across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. During his most recent trip to the country in October of this year, he visited wounded IDF soldiers, including some at the Belev Echad rehabilitation center in Kiryat Ono.
“I take my hat off to the soldiers,” Mayweather said on Monday night. “Those warriors in Israel — I’m behind you guys, 100 percent. Since the war has started, I’ve been to Israel four, five times. And I will be back … It’s all about peace. I’m all about peace, love and happiness.”
“And I truly want the soldiers to continue to hold your heads up high, continue to smile, and continue to love another one,” he added. “Because life is short and all we have is our loved ones. And that’s why love and your family is priceless … Let’s continue to fight and stand behind one another.”
The Belev Echad gala on Monday night raised $4.7 million for wounded IDF soldiers and it included a $100,000 donation from Mayweather, according to Ynet.
The legendary former boxer was one of the first outside of Israel to send supplies to the Jewish state after the Oct. 7 massacre last year. He used his private jet to deliver medical equipment, food, bulletproof vests for IDF soldiers, and other supplies needed in Israel.
During his recent visit to Israel last month, Mayweather also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who he described as “an unbelievable gentleman” on Monday night. In early October, Mayweather pledged $100,000 to United Hatzalah of Israel to help the emergency medical service organization purchase 100 bulletproof vests to keep its volunteers safe.
The post Floyd Mayweather Tells Wounded Israeli Soldiers at NYC Gala: ‘I’m Behind You 100 Percent’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.