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The Jewish Sport Report: A Jewish guide to the new NBA season

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Happy Friday! Whatever plans you have for Monday, cancel them: Oct. 30 will be the 30th-ever “sports equinox,” when the sports world perfectly aligns and all four major men’s sports play games on the same day.

There is Monday Night Football, Game 3 of the World Series and several games in the NBA and NHL. We hope you enjoy it, even if there are no Jews in the World Series for the first time in years…

The NBA’s Jewish roster is growing

Deni Avdija seen during a game between the Washington Wizards and the Golden State Warriors at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Feb. 13, 2023. (Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)

The NBA season is upon us, and Israeli forward Deni Avdija is poised for his biggest year yet.

Avdija, who averaged 9.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game last season, just signed a four-year, $55 million contract extension with the Washington Wizards.

“It’s rare to find young players who embrace the defensive end as enthusiastically as Avdija has,” Wizards reporter Josh Robbins wrote in The Athletic, referencing the winger’s potential to see his value continually grow.

Beyond Avdija, there are a few other Jewish players and storylines to watch in the 2023-2024 NBA season — like Domantas Sabonis, who is converting to Judaism; Amari Bailey, who was drafted this past summer; and Ryan Turell, the Orthodox prospect who is still looking to make NBA history.

Read our full NBA season preview right here.

Halftime report

NEW BOSS IN BEANTOWN. The Boston Red Sox have hired former Team Israel pitcher Craig Breslow as their new chief baseball officer. Breslow, who played 12 seasons in the MLB, including two stints with the Sox, replaces fellow Jewish Yale alum Chaim Bloom.

NEXT QUESTION PLEASE. Michigan State University apologized this week after showing a photo of Adolf Hitler on its video screen during a pregame trivia quiz.

YOUK SPEAKS OUT. Former MLB All-Star and Team Israel coach Kevin Youkilis has been one of the louder voices in the Jewish sports world since the war in Israel began three weeks ago. He spoke to the Boston Herald’s Gabrielle Starr about why he speaks out against antisemitism and in support of Israel.

CLOSE TO HOME. The Yeshiva University basketball team has six Israeli players. ESPN reporter Jeremy Schaap spoke to the team this week for a feature on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” to see how the team is preparing for a new season amid the ongoing war.

RAISING HER VOICE. Jewish Olympian Aly Raisman released a statement this week in response to the violence in Israel. “I am horrified by Hamas’s brutal acts of terrorism against Israelis,” Raisman wrote. “As a proud Jew, I’m terrified and disgusted by the rise of antisemitism and the hatred and violence it fuels.”

PITCHING IN. Jewish pitchers Eric Reyzelman and Harrison Cohen, both of whom play in the New York Yankees farm system, launched an initiative to sell merchandise to benefit Friends of the IDF and Magen David Adom. They wrote that the project is a “tangible way for Jews and non-Jews alike to support and represent Israel from afar in its pursuit of light over darkness.”

Jews in sports to watch this weekend

IN BASKETBALL…

Deni Avdija and the Washington Wizards host the Memphis Grizzlies Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. Domantas Sabonis and the Sacramento Kings play the Golden State Warriors tonight at 10 p.m. ET and the Los Angeles Lakers Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.

IN HOCKEY…

Jack and Luke Hughes and the New Jersey Devils host Devon Levi and the Buffalo Sabres tonight at 7 p.m. ET. Levi has been nursing a lower body injury but could be back in action soon. Adam Fox and the New York Rangers play Quinn Hughes and the Vancouver Canucks Saturday at 10 p.m. ET. Zach Hyman and the Edmonton Oilers host the Calgary Flames Sunday at 7 p.m. ET. (Need a Jewish NHL refresher? Check out our recent Jewish guide to the NHL season.)

IN FOOTBALL…

It’s Week 8 in the NFL — here are Sunday’s Jewish matchups: At 1 p.m. ET, A.J. Dillon and the Green Bay Packers host Greg Joseph and the Minnesota Vikings. At 4:05 p.m. ET, Jake Curhan and the Seattle Seahawks face the Cleveland Browns. Browns guard Michael Dunn has been placed on the injured reserve, meaning he’ll miss at least four games.

IN SOCCER…

Matt Turner and Nottingham Forest host Liverpool on Sunday at 10 a.m. ET. In the Austrian Bundesliga, Israeli player Oscar Gloukh and Red Bull Salzburg play Altach Saturday at 11 a.m. ET. Gloukh, a member of the Israeli national team, dedicated his Champions League goal on Tuesday to his country.

See ya in November!

Shabbat shalom, and to those who celebrate, Happy Halloween! We’ll be going as playoff celebration Garrett Stubbs this year.


The post The Jewish Sport Report: A Jewish guide to the new NBA season appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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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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