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NBA’s Utah Jazz Told Rabbis to Remove ‘I’m a Jew and I’m Proud’ Signs During Game

Rabbi Avremi Zippel and three other rabbis at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City Utah, Jan. 1, 2024. Photo: X/Twitter screenshot

A group of Utah rabbis were told to remove signs that read “I’m a Jew and I’m proud” from a professional basketball game on Monday night because they were distracting the players.

Rabbi Avremi Zippel and three other rabbis brought the signs to the Delta Center to watch the home-team Utah Jazz face the Dallas Mavericks. The signs were meant to protest Kyrie Irving, now a Mavericks player, who was suspended in 2022 by a former team for tweeting a link to a movie widely considered to be antisemitic. He initially refused to disavow the film.

We may have brought four Rabbis to sit courtside tonight… pic.twitter.com/mRzPPUoOZf

— Avremi Zippel (@UtahRabbi) January 2, 2024

Zippel wrote on X/Twitter that Irving saw the signs early in the first quarter and told him: “No need to bring that to a game.” According to the rabbi, Irving then spoke to Mavericks security staff, before Jazz officials appeared to check the rabbis’ tickets and tell them to remove the signs.

The Jazz said in a statement that the signs violated its code of conduct for those at the arena, which the team explained is meant so that games can be played “without distraction and disruption.”

Regardless of where someone is in the arena, the team continued, “if a sign becomes distracting or sparks an interaction with a player, we will ask them to remove it.”

“During an out-of-bounds play in the first quarter of yesterday’s Jazz game against the Dallas Mavericks, there was a group sitting courtside whose signs sparked an interaction with a player that created a distraction and interfered with the play of game,” the statement read. “As the next step in standard security protocol, the fans were asked to take down their signs.”

The Jazz added that a “part-time employee” who told the rabbis that the content of the signs was problematic was “incorrect.”

“The issue was the disruptive interaction caused by usage of the signs, not the content of the signs,” the statement concluded.

However, Zippel argued on X/Twitter on Tuesday that the Jazz took Irving’s side.

“Bottom line: there was one person, in a building of 18,000+, that was triggered by sign that says ‘I’m a Jew and I’m proud,’ Why that bothers him so, to the point that it sparks an interaction, should be the real question anyone is asking,” Zippel wrote. “Sadly, instead of just quietly chalking this up to a misunderstanding and letting this remain a small blip, the Jazz took the side of said triggered player and doubled down. That’s just disappointing to me.”

Zippel, who noted he will remain a supporter of the Jazz, told the Deseret News that the NBA team has over the years shown strong support for the local Jewish community.

The Jazz beat the Mavericks 127-90 on Monday.

In November, Irving stirred controversy by wearing a black and white keffiyeh, a traditional headscarf worn in the Middle East that has become known as a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinians against Israel. He also posted a photo on Instagram of himself wearing the headscarf as he walked around the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington, DC, and accepted a Palestinian flag as a gift from a basketball fan at a recent game.

Irving’s decision to wear a keffiyeh garnered significant attention on social media, with pro-Israel supporters lambasting him for doing so amid Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas following the Palestinian terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel. The onslaught was the biggest single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.

Since Oct. 7, Irving has shared pro-Palestinian messages on social media. The athlete — who likes to go by his Native American name “Hélà” online — has more than once reposted tweets about genocide and “crimes of the empire,” seemingly referring to Israel, by an account on X/Twitter called “End All Colonialism, Free Palestine.” He also shared messages about the US funding Israel’s alleged “genocidal massacre” in the Gaza Strip.

This was not the first time that Irving embroiled himself in a controversy involving accusations of antisemitism.

In Oct. 2022, while playing for the Brooklyn Nets, Irving tweeted a link to a film that promoted antisemitic disinformation, including conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial. The Brooklyn Nets suspended him for five games when he did not immediately apologize — and even defended himself — for sharing the movie and failing to “disavow antisemitism when given a clear opportunity to do so.”

The NBA star later apologized on Instagram for sharing details about a film that “contained some false antisemitic statements, narratives, and language that were untrue and offensive to the Jewish Race/Religion.” He said he opposed all forms of hatred and would donate $500,000 toward organizations that combat hate. It was then reported in February that he deleted the Instagram apology.

The Anti-Defamation League rejected Irving’s donation of $500,000, and Nike severed its commercial ties with the NBA star.

Antisemitic incidents have skyrocketed across the US since the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7.

The post NBA’s Utah Jazz Told Rabbis to Remove ‘I’m a Jew and I’m Proud’ Signs During Game first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

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