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Israeli soccer star Manor Solomon joins Tottenham, Premier League club with Jewish history
(JTA) — Israeli soccer star Manor Solomon is finalizing a five-year contract with the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, the London-based Premier League team with a rich and at times controversial Jewish history.
In his first season in the prestigious Premier League this year, the 23-year-old winger broke onto the international scene as a member of Fulham FC, scoring in five straight games from Feb. 11 through March 6. He was the first Israeli player to ever accomplish that feat.
Solomon’s play drew interest from powerhouse clubs across Europe, including Spain’s FC Barcelona, England’s Arsenal and Germany’s RB Leipzig.
But in the end, pending the results of a physical, Solomon is joining one of the top Premier League teams, known for its sizable Jewish fanbase. Tottenham fans have for decades called themselves “Yids” and the “Yid army” in an affectionate way, but last year, the club asked fans to stop using the term, which is considered by many to be an antisemitic slur.
The Athletic reported that London’s Jewish community was a plus for Solomon and that Tottenham has a following in Israel.
Solomon, who hails from Kfar Saba in central Israel, played professionally for the Maccabi Petah Tikva team in Israel before joining the Ukrainian soccer club Shakhtar Donetsk in 2019. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Solomon recounted waking up “to the sound of explosions and sirens.”
Solomon left Ukraine, making the 17-hour journey to the Polish border. After a 10-hour wait in the freezing cold, Solomon returned to Israel. “I feel lucky I got out,” he said at the time.
Thanks to a FIFA rule permitting non-Ukrainian players on Ukrainian clubs to suspend their contracts after the start of the war, Solomon joined Fulham last summer. His Sephardic heritage allowed him to obtain a Portuguese passport, which helped facilitate his travel throughout the European Union.
Following his success as a rare Jewish star in the Premier League, Solomon became an icon in Israel, where fans refer to him as “King Solomon,” The Athletic reported in March.
“Everyone has their eyes on the TV to see what Manor is going to do,” sports writer Josh Halickman, who runs the Sports Rabbi website, told The Athletic. “That’s across the country. Any time that Manor is on TV now, you can guarantee the viewers are through the roof.”
Shakhtar Donetsk is trying to negotiate with Tottenham over a fee for losing Solomon to the Premier League, something the Ukrainian team would have received before FIFA, the global soccer body, instituted wartime rules.
“We are sure Tottenham executives understand that Shakhtar invested significant money in the Solomon transfer, investment that Ukrainian clubs in our difficult position simply cannot afford to lose,” Shakhtar Donetsk CEO Sergei Palkin told The Athletic.
Solomon is also a member of Israel’s national soccer team, which just qualified for the Olympics for the first time since 1976. Israel will be one of 16 teams competing in Paris in 2024.
Soccer at the Olympics is an under-23 sport, but each country is allowed three roster spots for players over 23. Solomon is 23 now and will be 24 by the Paris Games.
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The post Israeli soccer star Manor Solomon joins Tottenham, Premier League club with Jewish history appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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250 Hezbollah Terrorists Including 21 Commanders Eliminated in Ground Op
DF operating in southern Lebanon. Photo: IDF Spokesperson
i24 News – The Israeli military eliminated 250 Hezbollah terrorists including 21 commanders in four days of ground combat, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Friday.
IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon have uncovered vast caches of weapons and munitions in civilian residences, showing how central embedding within civilian population is to Hezbollah’s mode of warfare.
Meanwhile, heavy strikes targeting the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahieh in southern Beirut were ongoing, Lebanese media reported.
The post 250 Hezbollah Terrorists Including 21 Commanders Eliminated in Ground Op first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Airstrikes Launched on Several Parts of Yemen, Houthi Al Masirah TV says
Illustrative. Hodeidah, Yemen, July 20, 2024. Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS
Airstrikes were launched on Friday at several parts of Yemen including its capital Sanaa and Hodeidah airport, Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthi movement controlling much of Yemen, and residents said.
Strikes also targeted the south of Dhamar city and the southeast of al-Bayda province, the channel added.
Residents said that the attack on al-Bayda province targeted several Houthi military outposts.
Al Masirah TV reported that the strikes had been carried out by the United States and British forces, but a British government source said Britain was not involved.
Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since last November in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel‘s war with Hamas.
The attacks have drawn US and British retaliatory strikes and disrupted global trade as ship owners reroute vessels away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal to sail the longer route around the southern tip of Africa.
Following the airstrikes, a Houthi spokesman called the attack “a desperate attempt,” adding that “Yemen will not be deterred by these attacks and will continue its steadfastness in confronting the enemies.”
The post Airstrikes Launched on Several Parts of Yemen, Houthi Al Masirah TV says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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IDF Kills Hamas Commander in Tulkarem
Illustrative. Israeli troops during counterterrorism activity in Tulkarem, northwestern Samaria, September 2024. Photo: IDF.
JNS.org – An Israeli Air Force fighter jet conducted a rare strike in Tulkarem in the West Bank on Thursday night, targeting top Hamas terrorist Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi.
The Palestinian Authority reported at least 18 fatalities in the strike, with a local security source telling Agence France-Presse it was the deadliest in Judea and Samaria since the Second Intifada.
Ayyth Radwan, the head of Islamic Jihad’s Tulkarem branch, was also reportedly killed.
Oufi was planning a terrorist attack “in the immediate time frame,” according to the Israel Defense Forces, and directed the thwarted car bombing last month near Ateret in the Binyamin region of Samaria.
There were no casualties in the incident, which Israel Ganz, the head of the Binyamin Regional Council, called a “great miracle.”
The IDF said Oufi was involved in smuggling weapons to terrorists who perpetrated several recent attacks against Israelis, including some that resulted in injuries to civilians.
He also “worked to establish terrorist networks on behalf of Hamas and assisted terror operatives in the area to carry out significant shooting and explosive attacks,” added the military.
The post IDF Kills Hamas Commander in Tulkarem first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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