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Israeli soccer star signs with German powerhouse Bayern Munich
(JTA) — Israeli soccer player Daniel Peretz has reportedly agreed to a long-term contract to join F.C. Bayern Munich, the powerhouse soccer club in Germany’s top-tier Bundesliga. According to multiple news reporters, he will become the first Israeli to play for the club.
The 23-year-old goalkeeper has played for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli Premier League and on Israel’s national team. The Tel Aviv native already holds a German passport.
Daniel Peretz to FC Bayern, here we go! Understand agreement now reached as late night deal done
Bayern will pay €5m fee plus add ons — five year deal.
Told medical will be end of the week as Peretz has to play for Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday… then travel to Munich. pic.twitter.com/HoHGMNXUMw
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 23, 2023
Bayern Munich, the most decorated club in German football history, will pay a transfer fee of at least 5 million euros (around $5.4 million) to Maccabi Tel Aviv. Peretz’s deal is for five years and will be finalized later this week after he completes a medical examination. Peretz is expected to be the team’s third-string goalie, with the chance to compete for the primary backup slot.
The soccer club, which has won the Bundesliga an unprecedented 11 consecutive times, and 33 times in total, has a rich Jewish history. Kurt Landauer, an early Jewish president of the team who survived the Holocaust and returned to helm the team again in the late 1940s, played a crucial role in building Bayern Munich into the juggernaut it is today.
RELATED: How a Holocaust survivor helped make Bayern Munich a soccer powerhouse
In 2015, the team renamed the plaza in front of its stadium Kurt-Landauer-Platz and erected a memorial plaque of his face. Four years later, after a fundraising campaign led by the Kurt Landauer Foundation, the team erected a statue of Landauer at its club headquarters.
Lothar Matthaus, a former Bayern Munich midfielder who went on to coach Maccabi Netanya in 2008-2009, said Israeli soccer is in a strong place.
“Israelis are very passionate about soccer,” Matthaus said in an interview with Forbes. “I experienced that — and that is still the case today.”
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
The post Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.