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The Jewish Sport Report: How a Jewish lawyer became baseball’s favorite ‘Pitching Ninja’

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Happy Friday, Jewish sports fans! We’re kvelling over this story from our friends at the New York Jewish Week — about a newlywed couple who celebrated their wedding during a game at Yankee Stadium.
“I grew up in a home where, I think, the two pillars were Judaism and the New York Yankees,” said Maya Rosen. “When we thought about where to do sheva brachot, there was just no other place.”
Read the charming story right here.
How Rob Friedman became the “Pitching Ninja”
Rob Friedman, left, interviews three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw at MLB’s 2023 All-Star Weekend in Seattle. (Courtesy of Rob Friedman)
Rob Friedman never meant to become famous.
A Jewish lawyer who co-founded a tech company in the late ’90s, Friedman became obsessed with the art of pitching when he coached his son’s youth baseball teams.
Friedman started tweeting clips of pitchers back in 2014 with the hope of sharing his love of pitching with the world. The world noticed.
Fast forward to 2023, and Friedman’s multimedia brand “Pitching Ninja” has amassed over a million followers across social media. Friedman can be seen offering pitching analysis on numerous TV networks and, perhaps most impressively, MLB pitchers themselves turn to him for advice.
“There are days I wake up and I’m like, how the heck did I get that lucky to do this?” Friedman told me. “This is so cool.”
Read more about the “Pitching Ninja” right here.
Halftime report
MOVING ON UP. Israeli goalkeeper Daniel Peretz has signed a long-term contract with F.C. Bayern Munich, the German powerhouse with a rich Jewish history of its own.
ICYMI. Pro tip: Don’t tick off a UFC fighter. Natan Levy, the third Israeli to ever compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, challenged an online troll who supports Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes to a fight. It went about how you’d expect.
ANALYZE THIS. Super Bowl champion Julian Edelman will join Fox’s NFL coverage this season. The former New England Patriot, who retired in 2021, worked as an analyst on another show for the past two years.
ON FIRE. Oakland Athletics rookie Zack Gelof continues to rake — the second baseman has 40 hits and 10 homers through his first 35 games. He’s already setting records for the A’s.
PERSPECTIVE. When Bill Silvers tried playing pickleball for the first time, it didn’t go well. Just 10 minutes into playing, Silvers suffered a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed. As he overcame the accident, Silvers drew inspiration from his parents, who survived the Holocaust. Here’s his story.
RESPECT. When soccer superstar Lionel Messi joined the MLS’ Inter Miami this year, Jewish player DeAndre Yedlin understandably relinquished his role as the team’s captain. But when the club won the Leagues Cup this week, Messi made a gracious gesture to his predecessor. Check it out.
MAZEL TOV. Tennis GOAT Serena Williams and her husband Alexis Ohanian welcomed their second baby this week, and gave her a beautiful Hebrew name.
Jared Armstrong hopes to use basketball to make a change
Jared Armstrong, right, playing professional basketball in Israel. (Courtesy of Jared Armstrong)
Jared Armstrong, the Jewish basketball player who made headlines with his fight for Israeli citizenship last year, is preparing to head back to Israel for his second season as a pro basketball player.
Before he leaves the United States, he’s using his platform for another issue he’s passionate about: promoting Black-Jewish relations.
This Sunday in Philadelphia, Armstrong is hosting a free basketball clinic for middle schoolers.
“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 told me. “I thought it would be great to do that starting from the youngest age and up.”
Jews in sports to watch this weekend
IN BASEBALL…
Atlanta Braves ace Max Fried takes the mound against the San Francisco Giants for the second weekend in a row. He and teammate Kevin Pillar will face Joc Pederson Saturday at 4:05 p.m. ET. The Milwaukee Brewers and slugger Rowdy Tellez, who returned this week after missing six weeks with an injury, face the San Diego Padres this weekend. The Los Angeles Angels and reliever Kenny Rosenberg, who was just recalled from the minors, take on the New York Mets.
IN SOCCER…
Manor Solomon and the Tottenham Hotspurs play Bournemouth Saturday at 7:30 a.m. ET, while Matt Turner and Nottingham Forest match up against Man United Saturday at 10 a.m. ET. Daniel Peretz could join his new club Bayern Munich for their game against Augsburg on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. ET.
IN GOLF…
Max Homa, who finished fifth in last week’s BMW Championship, is in Atlanta this weekend for the Tour Championship, the culminating event of the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup.
IN FOOTBALL…
It’s the final week of the NFL preseason! Catch Jake Curhan and the Seattle Seahawks against AJ Dillon and the Green Bay Packers Saturday at 1 p.m. ET. Greg Joseph and his Minnesota Vikings play the Arizona Cardinals at the same time.
IN RACING…
The Formula One summer break is over, and Jewish Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll is in ninth place with 47 points. The Dutch Grand Prix is Sunday at 9 a.m. ET.
The stars are out in the Hamptons
Tennis star Diego Schwartzman at Maccabi USA’s clinic, Aug. 20, 2023. (Courtesy of Maccabi USA)
Jewish-Argentine tennis star Diego Schwartzman joined Maccabi USA for a tennis clinic and Q&A in the Hamptons last weekend. Here he is showing a young player how it’s done.
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The post The Jewish Sport Report: How a Jewish lawyer became baseball’s favorite ‘Pitching Ninja’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israel Blocks Ramallah Meeting with Arab Ministers, Israeli Official Says

A closed Israeli military gate stands near Ramallah in the West Bank, February 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israel will not allow a planned meeting in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah, in the West Bank, to go ahead, an Israeli official said on Saturday, after Arab ministers planning to attend were stopped from coming.
The move, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government announced one of the largest expansions of settlements in the West Bank in years, underlined escalating tensions over the issue of international recognition of a future Palestinian state.
Saturday’s meeting comes ahead of an international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, that is due to be held in New York on June 17-20 to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood, which Israel fiercely opposes.
The delegation of senior Arab officials due to visit Ramallah – including the Jordanian, Egyptian, Saudi Arabian and Bahraini foreign ministers – postponed the visit after “Israel’s obstruction of it,” Jordan’s foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that the block was “a clear breach of Israel’s obligations as an occupying force.”
The ministers required Israeli consent to travel to the West Bank from Jordan.
An Israeli official said the ministers intended to take part in “a provocative meeting” to discuss promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“Such a state would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the land of Israel,” the official said. “Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security.”
A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud had delayed a planned trip to the West Bank.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United Nations and European countries which favour a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that recognizing a Palestinian state was not only a “moral duty but a political necessity.”
Palestinians want the West Bank territory, which was seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as the core of a future state along with Gaza and East Jerusalem.
But the area is now criss-crossed with settlements that have squeezed some 3 million Palestinians into pockets increasingly cut off from each other though a network of military checkpoints.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the announcement this week of 22 new settlements in the West Bank was an “historic moment” for settlements and “a clear message to Macron.” He said recognition of a Palestinian state would be “thrown into the dustbin of history.”
The post Israel Blocks Ramallah Meeting with Arab Ministers, Israeli Official Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Gaza Aid Supplies Hit by Looting as Hamas Ceasefire Response Awaited

Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Armed men hijacked dozens of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip overnight and hundreds of desperate Palestinians joined in to take supplies, local aid groups said on Saturday as officials waited for Hamas to respond to the latest ceasefire proposals.
The incident was the latest in a series that has underscored the shaky security situation hampering the delivery of aid into Gaza, following the easing of a weeks-long Israeli blockade earlier this month.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close but Hamas has said it is still studying the latest proposals from his special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the proposals.
The proposals would see a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
On Saturday, the Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.
The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the increasingly desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.
The United Nations said on Friday the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war began 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier this month.
Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the World Food Program and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.
At the same time, a separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.
However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.
“The aid that’s being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinians, said in a message on the social media platform X.
NO BREAD IN WEEKS
The World Food Program said it brought 77 trucks carrying flour into Gaza overnight and early on Saturday and all of them were stopped on the way, with food taken by hungry people.
“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by,” it said in a statement.
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said the dire situation was being exploited by armed groups which were attacking some of the aid convoys.
He said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation.”
Overnight on Saturday, he said trucks had been stopped by armed groups near Khan Younis as they were headed towards a World Food Programme warehouse in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza and hundreds of desperate people had carried off supplies.
“We could understand that some are driven by hunger and starvation, some may not have eaten bread in several weeks, but we can’t understand armed looting, and it is not acceptable at all,” he said.
Israel says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Instead it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza, which it had been running since 2007.
The post Gaza Aid Supplies Hit by Looting as Hamas Ceasefire Response Awaited first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Seeks Changes in US Gaza Proposal; Witkoff Calls Response ‘Unacceptable’

US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy-designate Steve Witkoff gives a speech at the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Hamas said on Saturday it was seeking amendments to a US-backed proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, but President Donald Trump’s envoy rejected the group’s response as “totally unacceptable.”
The Palestinian terrorist group said it was willing to release 10 living hostages and hand over the bodies of 18 dead in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. But Hamas reiterated demands for an end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, conditions Israel has rejected.
A Hamas official described the group’s response to the proposals from Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as “positive” but said it was seeking some amendments. The official did not elaborate on the changes being sought by the group.
“This response aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to our people in the Strip,” Hamas said in a statement.
The proposals would see a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
A Palestinian official familiar with the talks told Reuters that among amendments Hamas is seeking is the release of the hostages in three phases over the 60-day truce and more aid distribution in different areas. Hamas also wants guarantees the deal will lead to a permanent ceasefire, the official said.
There was no immediate response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to the Hamas statement.
Israel has previously rejected Hamas’ conditions, instead demanding the complete disarmament of the group and its dismantling as a military and governing force, along with the return of all 58 remaining hostages.
Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close after the latest proposals, and the White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the terms.
Saying he had received Hamas’ response, Witkoff wrote in a posting on X: “It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward. Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week.”
On Saturday, the Israeli military said it had killed Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas’ Gaza chief on May 13, confirming what Netanyahu said earlier this week.
Sinwar, the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the group’s deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel, was the target of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza. Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied his death.
The Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said on Saturday it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.
The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.
On Saturday, aid groups said dozens of World Food Program trucks carrying flour to Gaza bakeries had been hijacked by armed groups and subsequently looted by people desperate for food after weeks of mounting hunger.
“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by,” the WFP said in a statement.
‘A MOCKERY’
The incident was the latest in a series that has underscored the shaky security situation hampering the delivery of aid into Gaza, following the easing of a weeks-long Israeli blockade earlier this month.
The United Nations said on Friday the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier this month.
“The aid that’s being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinians, said in a message on X.
Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the World Food Program and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.
A separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.
However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said the dire situation was being exploited by armed groups which were attacking some of the aid convoys.
He said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation.”
Israel denies operating a policy of starvation and says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Instead it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza, which it had been running since 2007.
Hamas denies looting supplies and has executed a number of suspected looters.
The post Hamas Seeks Changes in US Gaza Proposal; Witkoff Calls Response ‘Unacceptable’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.