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Jared Armstrong, basketball player who fought for Israeli citizenship, is now working to promote Black-Jewish relations
(JTA) — Basketball player Jared Armstrong made headlines last year for his months-long effort to obtain Israeli citizenship. Armstrong, who was raised Jewish and completed a Conservative conversion to help his citizenship bid, was rejected multiple times before being granted temporary residence last May. The case drew attention from prominent Jewish leaders and drew accusations of racism.
It also cost him a spot on Hapoel Haifa, a team in Israel’s top basketball league, he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The team voided his contract because he didn’t receive citizenship in time.
But this weekend, before returning to play hoops in Israel’s second-tier league, Armstrong is putting the drama aside to focus on something else he is passionate about: strengthening the relationship between the Jewish and Black communities.
On Sunday, Armstrong is running a free basketball clinic for sixth, seventh and eighth graders in Philadelphia. If all goes well, he hopes to start a two-week summer camp next year to continue this work.
“With a rich history of Black and Jewish relations, and kind of where we’re at in society, it’s only right that we come closer together,” Armstrong said. “I thought it would be great to do that starting from the youngest age and up.”
The controversies and accusations of antisemitism surrounding rapper Kanye West and NBA star Kyrie Irving last year led to increased calls for collaboration between the Black and Jewish communities, from members of Congress to other prominent sports leaders like New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Armstrong said 28 kids have signed up for his clinic, including both Jewish and Black athletes, with some attendees coming in from as far as Connecticut. His goal is to use sports as a vehicle for combating antisemitism and racism, and he hopes that as many as 80 sign up for a camp next year.
“I think at a young age, most kids have a passion for something they love,” Armstrong said. “Sports are normally the first thing they fall in love with, and it’s a great way to build community, build lifelong relationships and learn a lot of life lessons.”
This weekend’s participants will hear from Eric Rubin, a veteran financial executive who is involved in several Jewish organizations aimed at using sports to combat hate.
Rubin is the managing director of Project Max, a collaboration between the Maccabi World Union sports umbrella and the Israeli AI company Sighteer. Its mission is to “fight racism, antisemitism, and intolerance through sports.” Armstrong sits on the group’s advisory board. Rubin is also a board member of Athletes for Israel, the organization that has organized Israel trips for a number of top U.S. collegiate basketball teams.
Armstrong said Rubin will speak to the participants about “the importance of community and being able to work with people that are different from you.” Attendees will also meet American former professional basketball player Bilal Benn, who has played in Israel.
Growing up in Severn, Maryland before moving to Philadelphia during middle school, Armstrong was raised Jewish by a mother whose conversion is not recognized by any of the major Jewish denominations. His own conversion was overseen by Rabbi Michael Beals, a Conservative rabbi in Delaware known for his close relationship with U.S. President Joe Biden. Beals has said that Israel’s rejection of Armstrong’s citizenship application was an “insult to the Conservative movement,” whose rabbis have struggled for recognition in a state where religious affairs are dominated by Orthodox rabbis.
At the same time Armstrong’s case was denied by Israel’s Interior Ministry last year, Portuguese soccer player Miguel Vitor was granted citizenship to play soccer in Israel. Israeli media questioned why Vitor received preferential treatment while Armstrong saw his case drag on with no resolution.
At the end of the month, Armstrong, who played Division II basketball at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, is headed back to Israel to join Elitzur Ironi Ashkelon, a team in Liga Leumit, or National League, Israel’s second tier of professional basketball. Last year, he ultimately played for Maccabi Rishon LeZion, which is also in Liga Leumit. The season begins in October.
“I have lifelong friends that I’ve made in Israel, not only through my case, but outside of my case and through playing basketball,” Armstrong said. “I love the country as a whole. I love being there. I love the experience. It’s my second home.”
Armstrong said he hasn’t faced any racism in Israel, but rather what he called ignorance from those who question his Jewishness based on the color of his skin.
“I think there’s just a lack of information that I see not only Israel, [but] in the American community as well,” Armstrong said. “That needs to change.”
Beals told JTA that he and Armstrong are still in touch throughout the year, especially when Armstrong is in the U.S.
“I only have great things to say about Jared Armstrong — his persistence, his vision, his ability to turn lemonade from lemons,” Beals said.
Beals praised Armstrong for staying the course through his citizenship fight. “Other people would’ve given up, but he had a bigger picture of what he wanted to achieve,” Beals said.
“He really personifies everything I would hope for in a human being,” Beals added.
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The post Jared Armstrong, basketball player who fought for Israeli citizenship, is now working to promote Black-Jewish relations appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
The post Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
The post Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.