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Jewish outfielder Harrison Bader signs with the New York Mets
(New York Jewish Week) — Jewish outfielder Harrison Bader is headed back to New York, this time as a member of the New York Mets.
The 29-year-old Bronxville native agreed to a one-year, $10.5 million contract with the Mets Thursday, becoming the team’s first Jewish player since Kevin Pillar and Robert Stock donned the blue and orange in 2021, according to data compiled by the Jewish Baseball News site.
Welcome to Queens, Harrison Bader! pic.twitter.com/0LKVkqgkNv
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) January 4, 2024
Bader’s father, who is Jewish, told the Forward last year that his son is considering formally converting to Judaism. The outfielder had initially planned to play for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic but ultimately dropped out due to injury.
Last April, Bader was featured on an episode of celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson’s “Home Plate: New York” series, during which the pair visited Liebman’s Deli, the last Jewish deli in the Bronx. Bader and Samuelsson dined on matzah ball soup, pastrami sandwiches and other Jewish delicacies while talking baseball and growing up in New York.
Bader spent the first five and a half seasons of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he solidified himself as an elite defender in center field, winning a Gold Glove in 2021. He was traded to the New York Yankees in 2022, where he briefly became a postseason hero. Despite his stellar defense, Bader struggled at the plate and the Yankees cut him late in the 2023 season. Bader played his final 14 games with the Cincinnati Reds before becoming a free agent this winter.
Bader joins a Mets squad that drastically underperformed in 2023, finishing fourth in the National League East despite entering the year with the highest payroll in baseball history. Now the Mets have a new manager, a new president of baseball operations — Jewish Manhattan native David Stearns — and a new center fielder.
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The post Jewish outfielder Harrison Bader signs with the New York Mets appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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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.