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Ian Kinsler wears Team Israel jersey to throw out first pitch at Texas Rangers playoff game
(JTA) — Ian Kinsler, the Jewish former MLB All-Star and Team Israel manager, wore a Team Israel jersey while throwing out the first pitch of the playoff game between the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros on Wednesday night.
As both a player and a manager, Ian Kinsler has worn the jersey many times and in several different stadiums. But the choice to wear it at the game, along with a Texas Rangers hat — he played the first eight years of his 14-year MLB career with the Rangers — appeared to be a stand of solidarity with Israel as it deals with the fallout of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
Kins to @Dutch_Oven45 to get us started! pic.twitter.com/BxRfljgLwn
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) October 19, 2023
The clip of the first pitch was shared widely across social media, with fans and Team Israel players commending Kinsler for his show of support.
“Ian Kinsler, in his own quiet way, has given the supporters of Israel a reason to feel very proud and have great respect,” Team Israel general manager Peter Kurz, who had recruited Kinsler to join the team, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency via text message. “There is no bigger platform today in America than the baseball playoffs, and by taking advantage of that platform to so proudly wear his Team Israel jersey as he got the honor of throwing out the first pitch, Ian has said to the world: ‘Israel means a lot to me, Israel is fighting a bitter and barbarian enemy, and I support the people of Israel in this war!!’”
Kinsler played for Team Israel in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo — for which he obtained Israeli citizenship — and managed the club at the 2023 World Baseball Classic in Miami.
Ahead of Team Israel pitcher Dean Kremer’s emotional playoff appearance just days into the war, Kinsler told the Dallas Morning News that he has been following the situation in Israel.
“It’s a tough time, and something that is hard to understand,” Kinsler said. “I stand in solidarity with the people of Israel, especially the IDF who are fighting to defend the country and its people. I know people who have been recalled to service and pray for their safety and their family’s peace of mind daily. Innocent lives are being lost on both sides and I pray for a quick resolution.”
Kinsler’s display of support in the playoffs follows similar acts by Astros star Alex Bregman, who drew a Star of David on his hat during the previous series, and Kremer, who wore a Star of David necklace as he became the first Israeli-American to pitch in the postseason. Last week, the Philadelphia Phillies held a moment of silence for Israel prior to their playoff game against the Atlanta Braves.
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The post Ian Kinsler wears Team Israel jersey to throw out first pitch at Texas Rangers playoff game appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters
Marco Rubio speaks after he is sworn in as Secretary of State by US Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) filed a lawsuit challenging as unconstitutional the Trump administration’s actions to deport international students and scholars who protest or express support for Palestinian rights.
The lawsuit, filed on Saturday in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York, seeks a nationwide temporary restraining order to block enforcement of two executive orders signed by US President Donald Trump in the first month of his term.
The lawsuit comes after the detention of a Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old permanent US resident of Palestinian descent, whose arrest sparked protests this month.
Justice Department lawyers have argued that the US government is seeking Khalil’s removal because Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reasonable grounds to believe his activities or presence in the country could have “serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” Rubio on Friday said the United States will likely revoke visas of more students in the coming days.
Trump vowed to deport activists who took part in protests on US college campuses against Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza following the October 2023 attack by the Palestinian terrorists.
The ADC lawsuit was filed on behalf of two graduate students and a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who say their activism and support of the Palestinian people “has put them at serious risk of political persecution.”
“This lawsuit is a necessary step to preserve our most fundamental constitutional protections. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech and expression to all persons within the United States, without exception,” said Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the ADC.
Chris Godshall-Bennett, the group’s legal director, said the litigation seeks immediate and long-term relief “to protect international students from any unconstitutional overreach that stifles free expression and deters them from fully engaging in academic and public discourse.”
The lawsuit centers on three Cornell University plaintiffs: a British-Gambian national and PhD student with a student visa; a US citizen PhD student working on plant science; and a US citizen novelist, poet, and professor in the Department of Literatures in English.
The post Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week
Israel’s Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar speaks at Reichman University in Herzliya on Sunday, September 11, 2022. Photo: Screenshot
i24 News – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet security agency, that he will bring a vote before his government to dismiss him next week.
The post Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes
Newly recruited fighters who joined a Houthi military force intended to be sent to fight in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, march during a parade in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Houthis claimed on Sunday that they targeted the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and other vessels in the northern Red Sea with 18 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone. Military spokesperson Yahya Saree said that the US-led attacks against the Houthis on Saturday comprised of more than 47 airstrikes on seven governorates, with the death toll expected to rise.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to target all American warships in the Red Sea and in the Arabian Sea in retaliation to the aggression against our country,” Saree said, vowing the Houthis “will continue to impose a naval blockade on the Israeli enemy and ban its ships in the declared zone of operations until aid and basic needs are delivered to the Gaza Strip.”
The post Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes first appeared on Algemeiner.com.