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JTA’s 36 Jewish student athletes to watch this year
(JTA) — An internationally ranked foil fencer. An Orthodox Jew who walked onto a Division I college football team. An Israeli NBA draft prospect.
They are just some examples from our new list of 36 Jewish student athletes to watch.
These athletes hail from the United States, Israel, Argentina, Colombia and Singapore. They have won championships in national and international competitions in a wide range of sports, from judo to figure skating to cross country to soccer. One has even been drafted into Major League Baseball.
While there are no doubt countless more athletes worthy of recognition, this list contains 36 of the most promising young Jewish athletes around the world.
The purpose behind this project was twofold. First, we sought to highlight young Jewish athletes, a cohort who often lack adequate exposure and coverage in a crowded sports media ecosystem. These athletes’ impressive accomplishments, inspiring stories and endless potential merit the attention and celebration of their communities — and of the Jewish world at large.
The second motivation is in the title of the project: Jewish student athletes to watch. While these honorees have already accomplished more than most young athletes, they are just getting started. Jewish sports fans curious about the next generation of stars should remember their names. In a few years, or even sooner for some on our list, they could follow in the footsteps of Aly Raisman, Sue Bird and Alex Bregman.
Here are the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s 36 Jewish student athletes to watch for the 2023-2024 school year.
Is there a Jewish athlete we should have on our radar? Drop us a line at sports@jta.org.
Caleb Guedes-Reed, Gabe Friedman, Mollie Suss, Grace Yagel, Rachel Bowes, Juan Melamed and Jacob Kessler contributed reporting, editing and production assistance to this project.
Alma Arcuschin, 18
Part of women’s soccer renaissance in Argentina
(Courtesy of Hacoaj)
Although Argentine soccer is known around the world for its men’s team — led for several years by icon Lionel Messi — the women’s game is on the rise. Arcuschin, who attended a Jewish high school, is also a member of the junior team for Club Atlético Platense, which plays in Argentina’s top soccer league. She represented Argentina on its under-18 women’s team at the 2022 Maccabiah Games in Israel and grew up playing at the Hacoaj Jewish sport club in Buenos Aires. Arcuschin is in her first year studying sports journalism at Instituto Superior DeporTEA.
Eliza Banchuk, 16, Shani Bakanov, 17, and Adar Friedmann, 17
Members of Israel’s world champion rhythmic gymnastics team
From left to right: Eliza Banchuk, Shani Bakanov, Adar Friedmann. (Courtesy of the Israel Gymnastics Federation)
Eliza Banchuk, Shani Bakanov and Adar Friedmann are members of the Israeli rhythmic gymnastics team that won two gold medals — a first for Israel — at the 2023 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in August. Eliza Banchuk, who lives in Rishon Lezion, has six gold medals of her own — four at the World Cup and one each at the World and European Championships. Bakanov, a Haifa native who started practicing gymnastics at four years old, has won 10 gold medals in international competitions — six at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup, two at the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championship and the two at the World Championships this year. And Adar Friedmann, who hails from Petah Tikva, has tallied eight gold medals — six at the World Cup and one each at the World and European Championships. The team has already qualified for the group competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where they will look to follow in the footsteps of gold medalist Linoy Ashram. All three gymnasts are in high school.
Aaron Berry, 20, and Peter Berry, 21
National wheelchair basketball champions
Peter Berry, left, and Aaron Berry, right. (Courtesy of University of Alabama)
Aaron and Peter Berry don’t want to let tragedy define them. When they were 8 and 9 years old, respectively, a car accident during a family trip killed their parents and left the brothers paralyzed from the waist down. Everything changed when the Houston natives, who attended Jewish day school growing up, discovered wheelchair basketball. This past March, the brothers helped the University of Alabama mens’ wheelchair basketball team win the National Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Tournament, the team’s fourth title in the past decade. Peter, who is considered among the best young players involved in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association and was recruited by Alabama at age 16, is likely to compete in the Paralympics in 2024. He is also considering a future professional career in Europe.
Alexis Blokhina, 19
Rising college tennis star
(Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Alexis Blokhina is a sophomore tennis star at Stanford University, where she and her team won the 2022 PAC-12 women’s tennis championship. Blokhina, who moved from California to Miami when she was 10, had competed in the juniors versions of all four Grand Slams by the age of 17. She advanced to the quarterfinals in girls doubles at the 2022 Australian Open and the round of 16 in girls singles at the 2021 U.S. Open. Her rising profile caught the attention of seven-time grand slam winner Venus Williams, who practiced with Blokhina prior to Wimbledon in 2022. Blokhina was the junior singles champion at the prestigious 2022 Indian Wells tournament, where she also finished as the runner-up in doubles. She additionally won gold medals in singles and doubles with Team USA at the 2022 Maccabiah Games.
Ava Brenner, 16
Six-time national junior karate champion
(Courtesy of Maccabi USA/Larry Slater)
Ava Brenner is a six-time national junior champion in her age and weight class in the USA National Karate-do Federation, earning titles from 2014-2017 and 2019-2020. Brenner, a junior at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois, served as captain of the U.S. junior karate team at the 2022 Maccabiah Games, following in the footsteps of her father Darren, who competed in the 1997 Games and was the team’s coach last summer. Brenner won two gold medals at the Games — becoming the first female athlete in three decades to win a Maccabiah gold medal in karate for the United States. She also teaches several karate classes a week in a program for disabled athletes.
Ariel Brunfman, 19
Rising through the ranks of pro soccer in Argentina
(Courtesy of Defensa y Justicia)
Ariel Brunfman, who attended a Jewish high school and is now studying management at Universidad de Belgrano, plays on the junior squad of Defensa y Justicia, one of the best teams in Argentina’s top soccer league. Brunfman, a forward who played at the Jewish Hacoaj sport club growing up, represented Uruguay’s under-20 team at the 2022 Maccabiah Games.
Ariella Burstein, 18
Trailblazing Colombian tennis player
(Courtesy of @matchtenis on Instagram)
Ariella Burstein has been called the first female professional athlete from Colombia’s Jewish community. The Bogotá native, who was formerly ranked No. 1 in the city’s local tennis federation, first earned points to qualify as a professional under the Women’s Tennis Association at age 16. As a member of the Bogotá tennis league — and of her local Centro Israelita de Bogotá Jewish center — she won more than 40 titles in different national tournaments. She now studies psychology and plays tennis at Reinhardt University, a private university in Waleska, Georgia.
Aiden Cohen, 18
Judo and wrestling scion with Olympic ambitions
(Courtesy of Aaron Cohen)
Aiden Cohen, who trains in judo at his family’s venerated Cohen Brothers Judo Club in Chicago, is a two-sport threat with an eye on the 2028 Olympics. Last year, Cohen won the gold medal in the sport for his weight class at the 2022 U.S. Youth National Cadet Championships, a silver medal at the National Junior Olympic Championships and a bronze medal at the Cadet European Cup, an annual 18-and-under judo competition. In wrestling, Cohen finished in third place in his category in the Illinois individual state finals in February. He now attends Harper College in Illinois, where he is continuing his training in both sports.
Sophie Cohen, 21
West Point cadet and two-time judo champion
(Courtesy of the National Collegiate Judo Association)
Sophie Cohen is a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. She won back-to-back titles at the National Collegiate Judo Association Championships in 2022 and 2023, both in the novice women’s 52 kilogram category. Cohen, a Chicago native — but of no relation to Aiden — is majoring in Life Science and runs the Jewish Chapel Choir at West Point.
Arielle Epstein, 18
Made aliyah to go pro
(Courtesy of Barbara Iverson)
Arielle Epstein immigrated to Israel to play professionally for the F.C. Ramat Hasharon women’s soccer team, which competes in Israel’s Women’s Premier League. But she’s also remotely working toward a degree at Santa Monica College, a community college in Santa Monica, California. Epstein was a standout player at Los Angeles’ Jewish Milken Community School and was also a member of the U.S. under-18 girls team that won a silver medal at the 2022 Maccabiah Games.
Gal Cohen Groumi, 21
Olympian and Big Ten champion
(Attila Kisbenedek/AFP via Getty Images)
Gal Cohen Groumi is an Israeli swimmer who competes for the University of Michigan men’s swim and dive team. He was born in Hod HaSharon, Israel, and is the nephew of former Israeli Olympic swimmer Eran Cohen Groumi. At 19, the younger Groumi competed for Israel at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — where he was part of the team that finished eighth and set an Israeli record in the 4×100-meter medley relay. Since joining the Michigan team in the fall of 2021, Groumi has been a standout in the Big Ten conference, making the All-Big Ten First Team in 2023 and winning the conference’s 200-yard individual medley championship two years in a row.
Lilah Grubman, 19
High school basketball star making a comeback at Yale
(Courtesy of Yale Athletics)
Lilah Grubman, a sophomore guard at Yale University, is eyeing a comeback after missing her freshman season with a torn ACL. Grubman was a two-time conference player of the year at Syosset High School in New York, where she scored over 1,000 points and led her team to four consecutive undefeated conference championships. She’s not the first Jewish basketball star to come out of that same school — Syosset native and WNBA icon Sue Bird played there in ninth and tenth grade. In an interview on reporter Howard Megdal’s “Locked on Women’s Basketball” podcast, Grubman said, “Obviously it’s an honor to be compared to someone like her. But I kind of just wanted to do my own thing and be known for being me.” Grubman has also volunteered at a camp for children with special needs every summer since she was 12.
JJ Harel, 15
Junior Olympic track star with impressive medal count
(Courtesy of Oren Harel)
By 13 years old, Joshua Jayden Harel had racked up 27 medals in international track and field competitions. At the 2022 American Athletic Union (AAU) Junior Olympics, Harel won three gold medals, including a 6-foot-5 high jump that broke a 42-year record for the under-14 age group. He also won gold in the triple jump and javelin, and he was the only athlete to achieve All American status — a title awarded to the top eight athletes in the country for each sport — in five events. He additionally appeared at the 2022 Maccabiah Games in Israel, where he won a gold medal in high jump and a silver medal in triple jump. Now 15 years old and just over 6-foot-3, Harel is a sophomore at Catholic Chaminade High School in the Los Angeles suburb of West Hills. Harel was born in Sydney, Australia, and has citizenship in three countries: the United States; Israel, through his father, a Houston native who served in the Israel Defense Forces; and Australia, where his mother is from. Though he attends a Catholic school, Harel occasionally wears a Star of David necklace and does not eat pork.
Sarah Jacobs, 16
Softball ace pitcher
(Courtesy of Notre Dame High School)
Sarah Jacobs is a junior at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, where she is a star pitcher and first baseman. In her sophomore season — which made her a part of the Los Angeles Daily News’ 2023 All-Area team and earned her First-Team Mission League honors — Jacobs posted a 10-1 record with a 1.92 earned-run average and 97 strikeouts in 80 innings. In her freshman year, Jacobs went 5-0 with a 1.63 ERA. According to her grandfather — who served as rabbi for Dublin’s Jewish Progressive Congregation in the 1960s — Jacobs comes from “a long line of Jewish activists.” She wears her name in Hebrew on a necklace.
Rebecca Kessler, 18
Up-and-coming DI goalie
(Courtesy of Howard Tilman)
Rebecca Kessler is in her first season with the Division I Binghamton University soccer program, where she is currently the backup goalie. In high school, the Scotch Plains, New Jersey, native was a two-time all-state selection, her team’s MVP and a finalist for 2022 New Jersey Goalkeeper of the Year. Kessler’s Players Development Academy team won the 2019 title in the Elite Clubs National League, a national youth soccer developmental league. Off the field, Kessler is a volunteer coach and is involved in her synagogue, where she volunteered at its religious school and has read Torah and blown the shofar at High Holiday services.
Elie Kligman, 20
Orthodox Jew looking to make baseball history
(Courtesy of the Fullerton College Sports Information Office)
Elie Kligman, who in 2021 became the second Orthodox Jew ever drafted by an MLB team, is a switch-hitting catcher in his first year at Division I Sacramento State, where he received a baseball scholarship. (Many draftees, especially those selected in later rounds, opt to play in college rather than begin their professional careers.) According to his father Marc Kligman, a lawyer and sports agent, Elie is believed to be the first observant Jew to receive a scholarship to play at his school. Kligman began his collegiate career at Wake Forest, before playing last season at Fullerton College, where he tallied a .406 on-base percentage with 23 hits and 20 runs scored in 31 games, while playing strong defense behind the plate. The Las Vegas native does not play on Shabbat and hopes to follow in the footsteps of fellow 2021 Orthodox draftee Jacob Steinmetz, who is currently in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ minor league system. Both want to be the first Orthodox player in the big leagues.
Katie Krafchik, 14
Junior figure skater for Team USA
(Jay Adeff/U.S. Figure Skating)
Katie Krafchik, who has been skating since she was five years old, has earned multiple top-five finishes in regional and national junior competitions — where she has competed for the junior division of Team USA. Those notable finishes include: fifth place at the 2023 U.S. Championships, second place at the 2023 Eastern Sectional Singles Final, second place at the 2022 U.S. Championship Series and fourth place at the 2022 Junior Challenge Skate, a national contest. She lives in New Hyde Park, New York.
Nikita Mae Jing-Yu Meyers, 17
Singaporean track star
(Courtesy of Paul Meyers)
Nikita Mae Jing-Yu Meyers is racking up medals in her home country. At the 83rd Singapore Open National Track & Field Championships in April, she won silver medals in long jump and the 4×100-meter relay, along with a bronze in the 4×400-meter relay. She is also president of the student council at Singapore Sports School, where she studies in its International Baccalaureate program. Meyers’ father Paul had moved to Singapore from San Francisco in the early 1990s as a filmmaker. She and her siblings were raised in a Jewish home where they celebrated holidays, including a large annual Passover seder that they hosted for their Jewish and non-Jewish friends.
Eitan and Zev Moore, 22
Israeli twin ballplayers at MIT
Zev Moore, left, and Eitan Moore, right. (Courtesy of Chaim Levy)
Eitan and Zev Moore are sophomores at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where the twins each made an impression in their freshman season last year. Eitan, an outfielder, made 28 starts for MIT, racking up 30 hits and 12 RBI with 13 stolen bases. Zev, a shortstop, also started 28 games, tallying 35 hits, 27 runs scored and 19 RBI. The brothers, who are Orthodox, immigrated to Israel as children and went on to serve in the Israeli Defense Force — Eitan in intelligence and Zev as an elite athlete, earning an exemption that allows for a shorter service time. Both are longtime members of Israel’s national baseball team.
Akira Morgenstern, 20
Second generation Maccabiah tennis player
(Courtesy of Maccabi USA/Larry Slater)
Akira Morgenstern, who describes himself as “Jewpanese” — an homage to his Jewish and Japanese heritage — is a starter on the Georgetown University Division I men’s tennis team. As a senior in high school, Morgenstern was ranked No. 1 in his age division in his home state of Maryland and in the Mid-Atlantic region. He has competed at Maccabi tournaments in the United States and Israel — including playing alongside his father Michael — and he will participate in the Maccabiah Pan Am Games in Argentina later this year. Off the court, Morgenstern is involved in Israel advocacy on campus and is a legislative intern for U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen.
Blake Peters, 20
Led Princeton basketball to March Madness run
(Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Blake Peters has been called “the most interesting man in the NCAA Tournament.” The Evanston, Illinois, native plays Spanish classical guitar, is fluent in Mandarin and has political ambitions. During the 2022 NCAA Tournament, Peters made national headlines after scoring 17 points in 15 minutes during Princeton’s upset win over Missouri. During the regular season, Peters only averaged 13.7 minutes of playing time but was still seventh in the Ivy League in three-point percentage (40.5%) and eighth in three-pointers made (54). Peters also won a gold medal with Team USA basketball at the 2022 Maccabiah Games. Prior to Princeton, Peters set numerous program records at Evanston Township High School, including for all-time career points (1,585). He was also nominated for an ESPY “Best Play” award for a full-court game-winning shot.
Carmel Renas, 17
Junior Olympic water polo player breaking down barriers
(Courtesy of Matthew Guerreri)
Carmel Renas has been swimming since she was a toddler and began playing water polo in fifth grade. After winning regional championships, her local New York team qualified for the 2022 and 2023 Junior Olympics, during which they finished 17th out of 88 teams in their category. Renas additionally earned a silver medal at the 2022 Maccabiah Games and has twice been named an Academic All-American by USA Water Polo. Renas, a senior at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Manhattan, is also the New York executive director of First Strokes, a nonprofit organization that helps provide access to swimming lessons for teenagers. She plans to continue playing water polo in college.
Jake Retzlaff, 20
Reform Jewish QB at BYU
(Jaren Wilkey/BYU)
Jake Retzlaff is a proud Jew who belongs to Temple Beth Israel, a Reform synagogue in Pomona, California, where he had a bar mitzvah. He’s also on track to become the first-ever Jewish starting quarterback at Brigham Young University — the Utah school affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retzlaff, who has chosen the nickname “BY-Jew,” wears a Star of David necklace around campus and openly discusses his faith with teammates and coaches. He is currently the team’s backup quarterback but is widely expected to take the reins of the Cougars when starter Kedon Slovis graduates after this year. Retzlaff joined BYU after a stellar sophomore season at Riverside City College in Riverside, California, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. At Riverside, Retzlaff threw for 4,596 yards and 44 touchdowns with a 63% completion rate — and ESPN ranked him the top junior college quarterback in the country. Retzlaff is believed to be one of only five Jews at BYU, where 98% of the university’s roughly 33,000 students are Mormon.
Lacie Saltzmann, 15
Elite junior gymnast
(Courtesy of Michelle Spak)
Lacie Saltzmann is one of approximately two dozen women who has earned a spot among the USA Gymnastics junior elite program. Saltzmann, who first started gymnastics in preschool, won the all-around competition at the prestigious 2022 Hopes Classic, along with numerous other top-5 and top-10 finishes at national competitions. Outside the gym, Saltzmann tutors younger children in her area and organizes charity bake sales — including a pop-up event at Williams-Sonoma that generated more than $1,000 in donations — to benefit the North Texas Food Bank and other organizations. Saltzmann, a North Carolina native who moved to Texas at 11 to pursue gymnastics, celebrated her bat mitzvah at Masada in Israel in 2021.
Sam Salz, 20
Believed to be the only Orthodox Jew on a DI football team
(Aiden Shertzer/Texas A&M Athletics)
Sam Salz didn’t play football in high school because his alma mater, Kohelet Yeshiva High School near Philadelphia, didn’t have a team. That made his story especially unlikely when he walked onto the football team at Texas A&M University — a Division I school that plays in the vaunted Southeastern Conference (SEC) and had a spot in the Associated Press’ top 25 preseason rankings. Salz wears a kippah under his helmet, dons uniform number 39 (in honor of the 39 kinds of work traditionally forbidden on Shabbat) and does not play on Shabbat — despite the fact that most college football games fall on Saturdays. The economics major says his unique journey has a deeper meaning. “I wanted to inspire kids, I wanted to inspire belief in Hashem,” he said on Jewish sports podcast The Ball Habatim, using a Hebrew term for God. “If you believe in Hashem and you believe you can do it, nothing will hold you back in life.”
Zevi Samet, 20
Basketball phenom at Yeshiva University
(Kodiak Creative/Jimmy Naprstek)
Taking the reins of Yeshiva University’s decorated basketball team from NBA G League player Ryan Turell was no small task — but Zevi Samet, a 6-foot-1 guard from Monsey, New York, did not disappoint in his freshman season. Samet scored 558 points last season, a program record for a rookie. He led all of Division III in 3-pointers per game (3.96) and was selected as the Skyline Conference Rookie of the Year while earning a spot on the All-Skyline first team. He topped 30 points six times, with a season-high of 40. Samet has also said he would consider playing professionally in Israel.
Ben Saraf, 17
Israeli NBA Draft prospect
(Courtesy of Yehuda Halickman/Sports Rabbi)
Ben Saraf is a 6-foot-6 point guard in his first season with the Israeli Premier League team Ironi Kiryat Ata. Saraf, who attends high school in Ramat Yam, is not yet a starter on the team but made his debut earlier this month in the Israeli Basketball League Cup. He appeared in the Adidas U18 Next Generation tournament each of the last two years, scoring 75 points in four games in this year’s competition in February. Last year, Saraf played for Elitzur Maccabi Netanya in Israeli basketball’s second tier, averaging 13.7 points in 32 games. He has been touted as a possible prospect for the 2025 NBA Draft by Sports Illustrated and by Josh Halickman, who covers Israeli sports for the Jerusalem Post and his own site, Sports Rabbi.
Audrey Schildkraut, 16
State champion in girls flag football
(Courtesy of Josh Schildkraut)
Audrey Schildkraut is a three-sport athlete at Ridgewood High School in Ridgewood, New Jersey, where in her sophomore year she played junior varsity soccer, varsity basketball and most notably, flag football. In only its second year of existence, her school’s girls flag football team went undefeated on its way to winning the state championship in June — by a score of 47-6. Schildkraut had a game-altering interception during the final, which was played at the training facility of the New York Jets (the NFL team sponsors the club sport in North Jersey, along with Nike and Gatorade). Schildkraut was one of only three sophomores, all from her school, named to the First Team All-North Jersey for girls’ flag football. Flag football is on the rise in the United States, particularly among girls — according to a study by the Sports Business Journal, around 474,000 women between the ages of 6 and 17 played in 2022, a 63% increase from 2019.
Jonah Soltz, 17
Member of USA Gymnastics men’s junior national team
(Courtesy of Jocelyn Soltz)
Jonah Soltz, a senior at Stadium High School in Tacoma, Washington, is a member of the USA Gymnastics men’s junior national team. Heplaced first in his age group at multiple events in the 2022 and 2023 Men’s Washington State Championships, and he qualified for the 2023 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships that took place in late August. Soltz has earned several top-five finishes in numerous events at national competitions, including in all-around, parallel bars, floor exercise and pommel horse. He also competed at the 2022 Maccabiah Games in Israel, where he earned a silver medal and was part of the gold medal-winning U.S. team. Soltz has said his goal is to make an NCAA DI team and to compete internationally.
Nelson Vickar, 17
Amateur hockey goalie on an NHL path
(Courtesy of Aaron Vickar)
Nelson Vickar is a top goalie prospect who currently plays for the under-18 team in the St. Louis Blues’ AAA amateur hockey league, which is supported by but not officially affiliated with the NHL team. Vickar previously played for the league’s under-16 team as a 15-year-old, posting an .867 save percentage in 16 games in the 2022-2023 season. And in May, Vickar was drafted by the Madison Capitals of the United States Hockey League, the top junior ice hockey league under USA Hockey. The junior at Ladue Horton Watkins High School in St. Louis has high prospect ratings from the Scouting News, which ranks promising athletes. Vickar attended a Jewish elementary school and has been to Israel three times — including to watch his father Aaron compete in the hockey tournament at the Maccabiah Games, which he did in 1997 and 2017.
Maia Weintraub, 20
Olympian with several gold medals at international championships
(Devin Manky/Getty Images)
Fencer Maia Weintraub is currently ranked No. 4 in women’s senior foil in the United States and No. 17 in the world. A junior at Princeton University, Weintraub has won numerous championships and gold medals at U.S. and international fencing tournaments, including U.S. national championships in 2019 (at age 16) and 2023. She has also taken home several gold medals at multiple fencing World Cups and at the 2019 European Maccabi Games. The Philadelphia native’s success earned her an alternate spot on the U.S. team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but expect her to keep climbing the ranks.
Danny Wolf, 19
7-footer on the rise at Yale
(Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
At 7 feet tall, Danny Wolf is likely among the tallest Jewish athletes in all of sports. Wolf, who hails from Glencoe, Illinois, is in his sophomore season at Yale University, where he appeared in 21 games off the bench in his freshman season and earned the team’s rookie of the year honor. This summer, Wolf won a silver medal with Team Israel at the FIBA under-20 European Championship in Heraklion, Greece, where he led the tournament with 12 rebounds per game and was second with 17.7 points per game. Wolf said the opportunity to play for Israel was an experience he won’t forget. “Just being able to represent Israel in a way that I haven’t been able to do in the past is something that I shouldn’t take for granted,” he told the Jerusalem Post.
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The post JTA’s 36 Jewish student athletes to watch this year appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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‘Little Gaza’: US Sen. Tom Cotton Introduces Legislation to Combat Campus Radicalism
US Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 11, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Julia Nikhinson
US Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) has proposed two new bills which would impose legal sanctions on purveyors of seditious, pro-terror ideologies on university campuses and the higher education institutions that harbor them, advancing the Republican Party’s offensive against the pro-Hamas student movement.
Shared first with Breitbart News, a news outlet that was instrumental in launching US President Donald Trump’s populist movement, the “No Student Loans for Campus Criminals Act” and “Woke Endowment Security Tax (WEST)” come amid a series of riotous demonstrations promoting antisemitic ideas, as well as the goals of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, and a widespread perception that elite universities have not done enough to combat them.
“First, any pro-Hamas protester convicted of a crime should be ineligible for federal student loans, and federal student loan relief. The American people should not be on the hook for the tuition of Little Gaza inhabitants,” Cotton said in a social media post on Tuesday announcing his introduction of the bills. “Second, our elite universities need to know the cost of pushing anti-American and pro-terrorist agendas.”
He continued, “The WEST Act would tax the largest university endowments to help pay down national debt and secure our southern border.”
As Cotton mentioned in his social media posts, the No Student Loans for Campus Criminals Act would prevent any campus protestor convicted of a crime from receiving federal student loans or student loan relief. Meanwhile, the WEST Act would institute a 6 percent excise tax on the endowments of 11 American universities, using the proceeds to pay down the national debt and secure the southern border shared with Mexico. According to Cotton’s office, the bill would generate $16.6 billion in revenue.
Republican lawmakers have called for holding higher education accountable since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel set off an explosion of antisemitic sentiment on college campuses, causing a succession of conflagrations which still are still burning hot at schools such as Columbia University.
In December, the Republican-led US House Committee on Education and the Workforce issued a report, which said that nothing short of a revolution of the current habits and ideas which constitute the current higher education regime can prevent similar episodes of unrest from occurring in the future. Colleges, it continued, need equal enforcement of civil rights laws to protect Jewish students from discrimination and “viewpoint diversity” to prevent the establishment of ideological echo chambers. It also said that “academic rigor,” undermined by years of dissolving educational standards for political purposes, would guard against the reduction of complex social issues into the sloganeering of “scholar activism,” in which faculty turn the classroom into a soapbox and reward students who mimic them.
The new Trump administration has taken steps to convert this vision into policy since assuming power in January.
On Friday, it canceled $400 million in funding to Columbia University as punishment for the school’s alleged harboring of antisemitic faculty, students, and staff and shielding them from disciplinary sanctions. Prior to that, US President Donald Trump issued a highly anticipated executive order which calls for “using all appropriate legal tools to prosecute, remove, or otherwise … hold to account perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence.”
A major provision of the order authorizes the deportation of extremist “alien” student activists, whose support for terrorist organizations, intellectual and material, such as Hamas contributed to fostering antisemitism, violence, and property destruction on college campuses. That policy is currently being challenged in the courts, as a federal judge in Manhattan has halted its application to the case of a male alumnus of Columbia University who was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after being identified as an architect of the Hamilton Hall building takeover, which took place during the closing weeks of the 2023-2024 academic year.
On Monday, US Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced that dozens of colleges and universities will be investigated for civil rights violations stemming from their alleged failure to address campus antisemitism. McMahon named 55 institutions, public and private, in total that were not included in the administration’s February announcement of five investigations of antisemitism at Columbia University, Northwestern University, Portland State University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
The new schools include: Harvard University, Swarthmore College, Drexel University, and Princeton University — all of which have struggled with antisemitic anti-Israel activity and pro-Hamas agitation, as The Algemeiner has previously reported.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post ‘Little Gaza’: US Sen. Tom Cotton Introduces Legislation to Combat Campus Radicalism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Disney Curtails ‘Snow White’ Premiere Events Amid Scandals With ‘Free Palestine’ Supporter Rachel Zegler
Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot present the award for Best Visual Effects during the Oscars show at the 97th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, March 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Disney has not invited media outlets to attend the Hollywood premiere of “Snow White” on Saturday and canceled the film’s premiere in the United Kingdom in a reported effort to manage controversies involving the movie’s lead actress Rachel Zegler, an outspoken pro-Palestinian activist.
Disney will host a pre-party and screening at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on Saturday for the live-action remake of the beloved 1937 animated film, and guests will include the “Snow White” title star as well as Israeli actress Gal Gadot, who plays the Evil Queen. A number of media outlets are typically invited to premieres to interview talent on the red carpet. However, Disney is not allowing red carpet press at the LA premiere except for photographers and a house crew in order to avoid having Zegler and Gadot answer questions on the spot, Variety reported. Disney said they will instead have “a more celebratory, family-friendly afternoon event to match the tone and target audience for the film,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film, directed by Marc Webb, will be released in theaters March 21.
Plans for a star-studded premiere in the UK have also been nixed, and Disney will instead host a “handful” of tightly controlled press events, a source told the Daily Mail. “Disney are already anticipating an anti-woke backlash against ‘Snow White’ and have reduced the media schedule to just a handful of tightly controlled press events,” the insider said. “That is why they have taken the highly unusual step not to host a London premiere for the film and are minimizing the amount of press questions that Rachel Zegler gets.”
Zegler, 23, has made a number of controversial remarks about her role in the film but also triggered a political media storm when she posted on social media in support of a “Free Palestine.” In August last year, three days after the trailer for the new “Snow White” film was released, the Golden Globe-winning actress took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to thank fans for their support of the film. Zegler wrote in part, “I love you all so much! thank you for the love.” In a separate post on X, she added: “And always remember, free palestine [sic].” Zegler was heavily criticized for the comment by many pro-Israel supporters, especially in light of the fact that Gadot, her lead co-star in “Snow White,” was born and raised in Israel, and is a former soldier in the Israel Defense Forces.
Gadot, who is the eighth generation in her family to be born in Israel, is an avid supporter of her home country, and has several times condemned on social media the Hamas terrorist attack that took place in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Earlier this month, the “Wonder Woman” star addressed hundreds at the Anti-Defamation League’s 2025 Never is Now Summit on Antisemitism and Hate, expressing pride in being Israeli and Jewish. She told the crowd: “My name is Gal … I am a mother, a wife, a sister, a daughter, an actress, I am an Israeli – and I am Jewish. Isn’t it crazy that just saying that, just expressing such a simple fact about who I am feels like a controversial statement? But sadly, this is where we’re at today.” She also declared on stage “Am Yisrael Chai (Long Live Israel).”
When Ziegler’s casting was first announced in 2021, some Disney fans took offense to the fact that the character of Snow White will being played by an actress of Colombian descent even though the character is meant to famously have skin “as white as snow.” Some also questioned the studio’s decision to have Snow White be played by Zegler after the “West Side Story” star called the 1937 original film “weird” and “dated,” and said the prince “literally stalks Snow White” in various interviews two years ago. Supporters of US President Donald Trump also criticized Zegler for her negative comments about his reelection. “May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace. There is a deep deep sickness in this country,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. She later apologized for her remarks.
Others took offense to the fact that the film’s title makes no mention of “seven dwarfs,” even though they are critical characters in the movie, while the original film was titled “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”
Famed actor Peter Dinklage accused Disney of promoting negative stereotypes with the film’s portrayal of little people. “Literally no offense to anything, but I was sort of taken aback,” the “Game of Thrones” star said in January 2024. “They were very proud to cast a Latino actress as Snow White, but you’re still telling the story of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.’ Take a step back and look at what you’re doing there.”
Not long afterward, Disney clarified how it will handle Dinklage’s concerns in the new film. “To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community,” the studio said in a statement to “Good Morning America.” They will appear as CGI characters in the new film.
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Israel Seeking to Normalize Ties With Lebanon in New Border Talks: Reports
Smoke billows after an Israeli Air Force air strike in southern Lebanon village, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from northern Israel, Oct. 3, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jim Urquhar
Israel is seeking to normalize ties with Lebanon in upcoming talks that could potentially bring an end to decades of tensions and conflict, according to Israeli media reports.
Upcoming discussions between Beirut and Jerusalem to demarcate their countries’ shared border are part of “a broad and comprehensive plan,” with Israel aiming to establish formal diplomatic relations with Lebanon, unnamed sources told multiple Israeli news publications on Wednesday,
“The prime minister’s policy has already changed the Middle East, and we want to continue the momentum and reach normalization with Lebanon,” a political source told the Israeli news outlet Ynet. “We and the Americans think that this is possible after the changes that have occurred in Beirut.”
“Just as Lebanon has claims regarding borders, we also have claims and we will discuss these matters,” the source continued.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported similar quotes, as did the Times of Israel, the latter of which cited an unnamed official as saying that “the goal is to reach normalization.”
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that Israel and Lebanon will begin negotiations to resolve border disputes.
“During the meeting, it was agreed to establish three joint working groups aimed at stabilizing the region which will focus on the following issues: the five points over which Israel controls southern Lebanon, discussions on the Blue Line and points that remain in dispute, and the issue of Lebanese detainees held by Israel,” the statement read.
Following US and French mediation, Israel and Lebanon agreed to establish “working groups” to discuss the demarcation line between the two countries and keep the process on track. The groups would also address Israel’s ongoing presence at five strategic points in southern Lebanon, which borders northern Israel.
“Everyone involved remains committed to maintaining the ceasefire agreement and to fully implement all its terms,” US Deputy Presidential Special Envoy Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. “We look forward to quickly convening these diplomat-led working groups to resolve outstanding issues, along with our international partners.”
Despite a brief peace agreement in 1983 and past military and economic ties with Christian factions in Lebanon, Israel’s relations with Beirut have remained tense, with no formal diplomatic ties, an unstable border, and ongoing concerns about a major conflict.
A key reason for conflict has been the role of Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist group that for years has wielded significant political and military influence in Lebanon, especially the country’s south. Hezbollah leaders have long stated their goal is to destroy Israel.
Since 2020, as part of the Abraham Accords — a series of historic US-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab countries — Jerusalem has expanded defense and economic cooperation with the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Bahrain, and Morocco. Israel also has long-standing peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan.
On Wednesday, the editor of the Hezbollah-affiliated news outlet Al-Akhbar said that Israel is trying to disarm Hezbollah by force, arguing that this”“will lead to civil war” and “devastating results.”
“Opening the door to negotiations under these conditions means that there are those in Lebanon who do not read history and who do not know the risks inherent in such a step,” editor-in-chief Ibrahim al-Amin said. “Those responsible must understand that they bear responsibility for everything that results from this process of normalizing relations, and there will be devastating results.”
He also accused Israel of kidnapping Lebanese prisoners from their villages and forcibly occupying Lebanese territory.
“There are no security or military considerations that justify their continued occupation, other than to exert pressure on the residents of the border villages to prevent their return to their villages and to prevent the rehabilitation process,” Amin said.
According to local media reports, a total of 11 Lebanese nationals are currently being held by Israel. In a post on X, the Lebanese president’s office announced that Beirut had already received four Lebanese “hostages” from Israel, with a fifth to be handed over on Wednesday.
In November, Lebanon and Israel reached a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended a year of fighting between the Jewish state and Hezbollah. Under the agreement, Israel was given 60 days to withdraw from Beirut’s southern border, allowing the Lebanese army and UN forces to take over security as Hezbollah disarms and moves away from Israel’s northern border.
However, Israel announced last month that it would keep troops in five locations in southern Lebanon past a Feb. 18 ceasefire deadline for their withdrawal, as Israeli leaders sought to reassure northern residents that they can return home safely.
Tens of thousands of residents in northern Israel were forced to evacuate their homes last year and in late 2023 amid unrelenting barrages of rockets, missiles, and drones from Hezbollah, which expressed solidarity with Hamas amid the Gaza war.
Last fall, Israel decimated much of Hezbollah’s leadership and military capabilities with an air and ground offensive, which ended with the ceasefire.
The post Israel Seeking to Normalize Ties With Lebanon in New Border Talks: Reports first appeared on Algemeiner.com.