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The Jewish Sport Report: Meet Jessica Berman, trailblazing Jewish commissioner of the National Women’s Soccer League
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Good afternoon, and happy football season! The NFL kicked off last night with a thrilling 21-20 victory by the Detroit Lions over the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. Check out all the Jewish players to watch here, and read on for their Week 1 schedule below.
How Jewish values inspire Jessica Berman in the effort to grow women’s soccer
NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman holds the trophy during the NWSL Cup Final game between the Kansas City Current and Portland Thorns FC at Audi Field in Washington, D.C., Oct. 29, 2022. (Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
Jessica Berman has as impressive a resume as anybody in sports.
The Jewish Brooklyn native is now the commissioner of the National Women’s Soccer League after stints in leadership roles with the National Lacrosse League (where she made history as a woman executive in a men’s league) and the NHL. As a labor lawyer, she also worked with the NFL, MLB and NBA.
As she works to grow women’s soccer, Berman told me she is inspired by her Jewish upbringing — which included several years at Jewish day school.
“In this role in particular, I’ve never felt more aligned with the values that were instilled in me as a child, which include empowering others and ensuring that there is an equal playing field, that marginalized and underrepresented groups have to support each other and work together,” she said.
Check out our profile of the trailblazer right here.
Halftime report
GOLDEN BOYS. The Israeli under-17 men’s flag football team won its first-ever gold medal at the 2023 European Junior Flag Football Championships last weekend in Italy — even after forfeiting a game that fell on Shabbat.
HISTORY. A new film that just debuted at the Venice International Film Festival is based on Iran’s policy of boycotting Israeli athletes. “Tatami” was filmed in secret and is being billed as the first-ever film co-directed by an Israeli and an Iranian.
YER OUTTA HERE. A fan was ejected from a U.S. Open match earlier this week after allegedly chanting a Nazi anthem at German star player Alexander Zverev. The No. 12 seed stopped the match and told the umpire, “He just said the most famous Hitler phrase there is in this world. It’s not acceptable.”
GO COCO. Speaking of the U.S. Open, American star Coco Gauff — who just became the youngest American to reach the finals since Serena Williams in 1999 — has received support and inspiration from a number of Jewish sources. Gauff is being advised by Brad Gilbert, a former star player who now coaches and works as a TV analyst, and she got a custom-made bag from Jewish designer Susan Alexandra.
CURRY WITH THE ASSIST. The Israeli cybersecurity startup Upwind just raised $50 million, raising its value to $300 million total. Retired Israeli NBA player Omri Caspi and his former Golden State Warriors teammate Stephen Curry are among the company’s many investors.
Jews in sports to watch this weekend
IN FOOTBALL…
It’s Week 1 in the NFL, do you know where your Jewish players are? Here’s the schedule:
Sunday at 1 p.m. ET: Greg Joseph and the Minnesota Vikings host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while Michael Dunn and the Cleveland Browns face the Cincinnati Bengals.
Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET: A.J. Dillon and the Green Bay Packers play the Chicago Bears, and Jake Curhan and the Seattle Seahawks take on the Los Angeles Rams.
IN BASEBALL…
Last month’s American League Rookie of the Month Zack Gelof — who clobbered eight doubles, seven home runs and 15 RBI in 27 August games — plays the Texas Rangers this weekend with his Oakland Athletics, while fellow Team Israel alum Spencer Horwitz and the Toronto Blue Jays match up against the Kansas City Royals. Jewish relievers Eli Morgan and Kenny Rosenberg will be in opposing bullpens this weekend as their Cleveland Guardians and Los Angeles Angels face off.
IN SOCCER…
Captain Steve Birnbaum and his D.C. United play the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET. The 32-year-old California native won a silver medal with the U.S. team at the 2012 Pan American Maccabi Games in Brazil.
Matzah ballin’
In case you missed it, the New York Mets celebrated Jewish Heritage Night last weekend. The festivities included a ceremonial first pitch thrown by Tsach Saar, the acting consul general of Israel in New York, and a performance from Jewish rapper Matisyahu, who also threw out a first pitch of sorts…
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The post The Jewish Sport Report: Meet Jessica Berman, trailblazing Jewish commissioner of the National Women’s Soccer League appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran Currency Plunges to Record Lows Amid Escalating US Tensions
ILLUSTRATIVE: The Iranian flag waves in front of the IAEA headquarters before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. Photo: Reuters/Lisi Niesner
Iran’s currency fell on Saturday to a new all-time low against the US dollar after the country’s supreme leader rejected talks with the United States and President Donald Trump moved to restore his “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran.
The rial plunged to 892,500 to the dollar on the unofficial market on Saturday, compared with 869,500 rials on Friday, according to the foreign exchange website alanchand.com. The bazar360.com website said the dollar was sold for 883,100 rials. Asr-e-no website reported the dollar trading at 891,000 rials.
Facing an official inflation rate of about 35%, Iranians seeking safe havens for their savings have been buying dollars, other hard currencies, gold or cryptocurrencies, suggesting further headwinds for the rial.
The dollar has been gaining against the rial since trading around 690,000 rials at the time of Trump’s re-election in November amid concerns that Trump would re-impose his “maximum pressure” policy against Iran with tougher sanctions and empower Israel to strike Iranian nuclear sites.
Trump in 2018 withdrew from a nuclear deal struck by his predecessor Barack Obama in 2015 and re-imposed U.S. economic sanctions on Iran that had been relaxed. The deal had limited Iran’s ability to enrich uranium, a process that can yield fissile material for nuclear weapons.
Iran’s rial has lost more than 90% of its value since the sanctions were reimposed in 2018.
The post Iran Currency Plunges to Record Lows Amid Escalating US Tensions first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Envoy’s ‘Zionist’ Ring Sends Shockwaves on Social Media
Lebanon’s army chief Joseph Aoun walks after being elected as the country’s president at the parliament building in Beirut, Lebanon, Jan. 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
i24 News – A photo showing US President Donald Trump’s deputy Middle East envoy donning a ring embellished with the Star of David to a meeting with Lebanon’s leader triggered outrage in Arabic social and broadcast media.
As Morgan Ortagus, who is Jewish, shook hands with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, her Star of David ring was visible in the frame, sparking accusations such as her being “more Zionist than her predecessors.”
Her direct superior, Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, is likewise Jewish-American, as is his predecessor Amos Hochstein, who was born in Jerusalem and served in the Israel Defense Forces.
Ortagus is the first senior Trump admin official to visit Lebanon amid the fragile ceasefire agreed by Israel and the Lebanon-based Shiite jihadists of Hezbollah.
The post US Envoy’s ‘Zionist’ Ring Sends Shockwaves on Social Media first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UK: Pro-Palestinian Activists Applied for a March Permit on Oct 7 as Massacre Was Ongoing
Supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir at a pro-Hamas rally in London. Photo: Reuters/Martin Pope
i24 News – Anti-Israeli activists in Britain applied for a permit to stage a demonstration through London on the morning of October 7, 2023, as Gazan jihadists were rampaging through southern Israel and slaughtering civilians, the Daily Telegraph reported.
At 12:50 PM, as the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust was still ongoing, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) notified the Metropolitan Police that they intended to hold a rally the following week.
Reports and videos of the Hamas-led onslaught began appearing on social media, and Israeli and then international broadcast media, several hours earlier.
“The Met was contacted on Saturday Oct 7 at approximately 12.50pm via telephone call and informed of the intention to protest,” a police spokesman was quoted by the Telegraph as saying. “The Met committed this to our systems on the same day and are satisfied being contacted by telephone was a sufficient means in which to notify the MPS as the event was taking place seven days after notification.”
The group’s spokesperson defended the move, telling the Telegraph it was “clear” as early as Saturday noon that “the Israeli attacks on Gaza would be of an indiscriminate violence we had not witnessed before, and that 2.3 million people in Gaza – more than 50 percent of them children – were at severe risk.”
The post UK: Pro-Palestinian Activists Applied for a March Permit on Oct 7 as Massacre Was Ongoing first appeared on Algemeiner.com.