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The Jewish Sport Report: Mark Cuban and Miriam Adelson make a Dallas Mavericks swap

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(JTA) — Hi there! It’s hard to believe it’s already December. The MLB Winter Meetings begin on Monday, ushering in the most exciting and hectic few days of baseball’s offseason.
Keep an eye on newly-minted general managers David Stearns (New York Mets) and Craig Breslow (Boston Red Sox), as well veteran execs Mark Shapiro (Toronto Blue Jays) and Andrew Friedman (Los Angeles Dodgers) — all of whom are expected to be active in free agent negotiations and trade talks.
The top three reporters covering the rumors are all Jewish, too: Jeff Passan, Ken Rosenthal and Jon Heyman.
The Dallas Mavericks make a trade — one Jewish billionaire owner for another
Mark Cuban, left, is selling a significant stake in the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks to Miriam Adelson, right. (Getty Images)
Jewish billionaire and “Shark Tank” star Mark Cuban is likely the best-known owner in the NBA. He’s not afraid to speak out about politics or controversy in the league, and he has an active role in running his Dallas Mavericks.
So when the news broke this week that Cuban would be selling his majority stake in the franchise, basketball fans were taken a bit off-guard. And his partner in the acquisition, fellow Jewish billionaire and casino magnate Miriam Adelson, was also unexpected. Adelson, the widow of influential Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson, purchased Cuban’s ownership stake for a reported $3.5 billion.
The deal also represents something of a partnership for Cuban and Adelson, whose daughter is on the Israeli version of “Shark Tank.” Cuban will retain control over the team’s basketball operations — an unusual arrangement in pro sports — while Adelson is expected to bring her casino know-how to Dallas, where some lawmakers are seeking to legalize recreational gambling.
Adelson is also taking over the current team of Kyrie Irving, the All-Star at the center of an antisemitism scandal last year.
Read more about the unexpected Mavericks sale here.
Halftime report
HOSTAGE HERO. Prominent Argentine-Jewish sportscaster Hernan Feler mentioned the Israeli hostages on air during soccer games for weeks. His aunt, Ofelia Roitman, was among those released by Hamas on Tuesday.
A TRUE GLOBETROTTER. Former secretary of state Henry Kissinger died this week at 100, and my colleague Ben Harris’ excellent obituary features a fantastic tidbit about the controversial politician: Kissinger was the first person to be named an honorary member of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, in 1976.
JEWS ON FIRST. If you live in the Boston area, check out this event Sunday at Temple Shir Tikva in Wayland: Judaism through Baseball: An Afternoon with Ryan Lavarnway and Jonathan Mayo. Mayo is a longtime MLB.com reporter and a friend of the Sport Report, and I recently spoke with Lavarnway, the former Team Israel captain and retired MLB catcher, about his Israel advocacy.
RETURN TO SENDER. The Telegraph reports that the United Kingdom rejected a proposal that former Chelsea F.C. owner and Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich use the money he made from selling the Premier League club — over two billion pounds — to support Israel rather than Ukraine, as he had proposed last year.
GABE’S NEW GIG. Former San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler is joining the Miami Marlins front office as an assistant general manager. Kapler had been a candidate for Boston’s chief baseball officer opening this winter and had expressed an interest in returning to front-office work after years as a manager.
WHAT CAN’T HE DO? It turns out New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes is a multi-sport threat. The 22-year-old, who has 29 points in 16 games this season, joined “The Eli Manning Show” this week and easily made a 50-yard “puck goal,” shooting a hockey puck through the uprights at MetLife Stadium. For his next trick, we’d like to see Hughes hit a puck for a homer at Citi Field.
Jews in sports to watch this weekend
IN BASKETBALL…
Deni Avdija and the Washington Wizards face the Orlando Magic tonight at 7 p.m. ET. Avdija dropped a season-high 22 points on Wednesday (his second 22-point performance), but the Wizards remain one of the league’s worst teams at 3-15. Domantas Sabonis and the Sacramento Kings host the Denver Nuggets Saturday at 10 p.m. ET and the New Orleans Pelicans Monday at 10 p.m. ET in the quarterfinals of the in-season tournament. In the G League, Ryan Turell and the Motor City Cruise host the Wisconsin Herd tonight at 7 p.m. ET and Amari Bailey and the Greensboro Swarm play the Delaware Blue Coats tomorrow at 6 p.m. ET.
IN HOCKEY…
Jack and Luke Hughes’ New Jersey Devils host Luke Kunin and the San Jose Sharks tonight at 7 p.m. ET. The brothers worked together to secure an overtime victory last night. Their rival, bagel influencer Adam Fox — who returned from injury on Wednesday — and his New York Rangers match up against the Nashville Predators Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET and the Sharks Sunday at 6 p.m. ET. Cole Guttman and the Chicago Blackhawks play the Winnipeg Jets Saturday at 3 p.m. ET and the Minnesota Wild Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. Guttman returned to the Blackhawks last Friday after a stint in the AHL.
IN FOOTBALL…
Jake Curhan and the Seattle Seahawks kicked off Week 13 last night with a thrilling 41-35 loss against the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football. On Sunday, catch Michael Dunn and the Cleveland Browns against the Los Angeles Rams at 4:25 p.m. ET, before A.J. Dillon and the Green Bay Packers host the Kansas City Chiefs at 8:20 p.m. on Sunday Night Football.
IN SOCCER…
Matt Turner and Nottingham Forest take on Everton Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET.
IN GOLF…
Max Homa is in the lineup at Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge golf tournament in The Bahamas this weekend.
A joyful homecoming
Teenager Ofir Engel, one of the dozens of Israeli hostages released by Hamas this week, is a huge fan of the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team. The squad welcomed Engel home on Wednesday with a message on X, writing, “Happy. Proud. Glad to announce Ofir Engel’s signing for life… so good that you came back home.” Watch the crowd cheer him on in this moving clip from a game he attended after his release.
הפועל ירושלים
שמחה
גאה
מאושרת
להכריז על החתמתו של אופיר אנגל לכל החיים.
מאושרים עבור סבא ג’וחא, יואב, שרון וכל משפחת אנגל האהובה.
כמה טוב שבאת הביתה.
!Ofir is back HOME pic.twitter.com/jrQoAQmY1a
— Hapoel Jerusalem BC (@JerusalemBasket) November 29, 2023
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The post The Jewish Sport Report: Mark Cuban and Miriam Adelson make a Dallas Mavericks swap appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire

Explosions send smoke into the air in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing said on Friday that while the Palestinian terrorist group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations it could revert to insisting on a full package deal to end the conflict.
Hamas has previously offered to release all the hostages held in Gaza and conclude a permanent ceasefire agreement, and Israel has refused, Abu Ubaida added in a televised speech.
Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have hosted more than 10 days of talks on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce in the war.
Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on a call he had with Pope Leo on Friday that Israel‘s efforts to secure a hostage release deal and 60-day ceasefire “have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas.”
As part of the potential deal, 10 hostages held in Gaza would be returned along with the bodies of 18 others, spread out over 60 days. In exchange, Israel would release a number of detained Palestinians.
“If the enemy remains obstinate and evades this round as it has done every time before, we cannot guarantee a return to partial deals or the proposal of the 10 captives,” said Abu Ubaida.
Disputes remain over maps of Israeli army withdrawals, aid delivery mechanisms into Gaza, and guarantees that any eventual truce would lead to ending the war, said two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters on Friday.
The officials said the talks have not reached a breakthrough on the issues under discussion.
Hamas says any agreement must lead to ending the war, while Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and its leaders expelled from Gaza.
Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Over 250 hostages were kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.
Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
The post Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel

People hold images of the victims of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas
Iran on Friday marked the 31st anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires by slamming Argentina for what it called “baseless” accusations over Tehran’s alleged role in the terrorist attack and accusing Israel of politicizing the atrocity to influence the investigation and judicial process.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the anniversary of Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.
“While completely rejecting the accusations against Iranian citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns attempts by certain Argentine factions to pressure the judiciary into issuing baseless charges and politically motivated rulings,” the statement read.
“Reaffirming that the charges against its citizens are unfounded, the Islamic Republic of Iran insists on restoring their reputation and calls for an end to this staged legal proceeding,” it continued.
Last month, a federal judge in Argentina ordered the trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of orchestrating the attack in Buenos Aires.
The ten suspects set to stand trial include former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, all of whom are subject to international arrest warrants issued by Argentina for their alleged roles in the terrorist attack.
In its statement on Friday, Iran also accused Israel of influencing the investigation to advance a political campaign against the Islamist regime in Tehran, claiming the case has been used to serve Israeli interests and hinder efforts to uncover the truth.
“From the outset, elements and entities linked to the Zionist regime [Israel] exploited this suspicious explosion, pushing the investigation down a false and misleading path, among whose consequences was to disrupt the long‑standing relations between the people of Iran and Argentina,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
“Clear, undeniable evidence now shows the Zionist regime and its affiliates exerting influence on the Argentine judiciary to frame Iranian nationals,” the statement continued.
In April, lead prosecutor Sebastián Basso — who took over the case after the 2015 murder of his predecessor, Alberto Nisman — requested that federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issue national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his alleged involvement in the attack.
Since 2006, Argentine authorities have sought the arrest of eight Iranians — including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in 2017 — yet more than three decades after the deadly bombing, all suspects remain still at large.
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, released a statement commemorating the 31st anniversary of the bombing.
“It was a brutal attack on Argentina, its democracy, and its rule of law,” the group said. “At DAIA, we continue to demand truth and justice — because impunity is painful, and memory is a commitment to both the present and the future.”
31 años del atentado a la AMIA – DAIA. 31 años sin justicia.
El 18 de julio de 1994, un atentado terrorista dejó 85 personas muertas y más de 300 heridas. Fue un ataque brutal contra la Argentina, su democracia y su Estado de derecho.
Desde la DAIA, seguimos exigiendo verdad y… pic.twitter.com/kV2ReGNTIk
— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) July 18, 2025
Despite Argentina’s longstanding belief that Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group carried out the devastating attack at Iran’s request, the 1994 bombing has never been claimed or officially solved.
Meanwhile, Tehran has consistently denied any involvement and refused to arrest or extradite any suspects.
To this day, the decades-long investigation into the terrorist attack has been plagued by allegations of witness tampering, evidence manipulation, cover-ups, and annulled trials.
In 2006, former prosecutor Nisman formally charged Iran for orchestrating the attack and Hezbollah for carrying it out.
Nine years later, he accused former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — currently under house arrest on corruption charges — of attempting to cover up the crime and block efforts to extradite the suspects behind the AMIA atrocity in return for Iranian oil.
Nisman was killed later that year, and to this day, both his case and murder remain unresolved and under ongoing investigation.
The alleged cover-up was reportedly formalized through the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between Kirchner’s government and Iranian authorities, with the stated goal of cooperating to investigate the AMIA bombing.
The post Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns

Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, attends an interview with Reuters in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements, has been implicated in a wide-ranging network of illegal financial activities in Jordan and abroad, according to a new investigative report.
Investigations conducted by Jordanian authorities — along with evidence gathered from seized materials — revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood raised tens of millions of Jordanian dinars through various illegal activities, the Jordan news agency (Petra) reported this week.
With operations intensifying over the past eight years, the report showed that the group’s complex financial network was funded through various sources, including illegal donations, profits from investments in Jordan and abroad, and monthly fees paid by members inside and outside the country.
The report also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken advantage of the war in Gaza to raise donations illegally.
Out of all donations meant for Gaza, the group provided no information on where the funds came from, how much was collected, or how they were distributed, and failed to work with any international or relief organizations to manage the transfers properly.
Rather, the investigations revealed that the Islamist network used illicit financial mechanisms to transfer funds abroad.
According to Jordanian authorities, the group gathered more than JD 30 million (around $42 million) over recent years.
With funds transferred to several Arab, regional, and foreign countries, part of the money was allegedly used to finance domestic political campaigns in 2024, as well as illegal activities and cells.
In April, Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets after members of the Islamist movement were found to be linked to a sabotage plot.
The movement’s political arm in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, became the largest political grouping in parliament after elections last September, although most seats are still held by supporters of the government.
Opponents of the group, which is banned in most Arab countries, label it a terrorist organization. However, the movement claims it renounced violence decades ago and now promotes its Islamist agenda through peaceful means.
The post Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns first appeared on Algemeiner.com.