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The Jewish Sport Report: What Duke coach Jon Scheyer means to the school’s Jewish community

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Good morning, Jewish Sport Report readers!

March is truly a sports fan’s dream: Pretty much every sport is either in season or in the exciting part of its offseason, and we have March Madness and the World Baseball Classic as added bonuses.

More on both of those exciting tournaments below.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer is a source of pride for the school’s Jewish community

Left: Duke University men’s basketball coach Jon Scheyer lights the Duke Chabad’s Hanukkah menorah in 2022. (Courtesy Rabbi Nossen Fellig) Right: Scheyer stands with his predecessor, Mike Krzyzewski, inside Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium. (Courtesy Duke Men’s Basketball Team)

Duke University is a No. 5 seed in March Madness this year, and has a serious shot at making a run for the NCAA title.

That’s thanks, in part, to head coach Jon Scheyer, who in his first season coaching his alma mater led the Blue Devils to a 26-8 record, becoming the most successful first-year coach in the school’s history. Duke also just won the ACC tournament.

For the campus’ Jewish community, Scheyer — who as a player once went by the nickname “Jewish Jordan” — is a source of pride.

“Coach Scheyer is such a role model to me, being a young Jewish man myself with aspiring hopes and dreams in basketball,” said Dylan Geller, a student manager of the team. “Seeing him do it so successfully, he’s definitely been a big inspiration.”

We spoke to Jewish students, faculty and staff at Duke about their famous head coach.

Halftime report

CAN WE NOT? Students at an elite school in Istanbul, Turkey, performed the Nazi salute during a soccer game against Turkey’s only Jewish school this week. Turkish Jewish leaders say they are taking action.

TO EACH THEIR OWN. New Ottawa Senator Jakob Chychrun has a very, let’s say unique, diet, including raw liver and beef heart. Hey, whatever works. He explained his lifestyle in an interview this week.

RED CARD. The BBC briefly suspended its top soccer host, Gary Lineker, for comparing Britain’s immigration policy to the Holocaust. Many of Lineker’s colleagues protested the decision, while others criticized his analogy. More on the drama here.

Some final thoughts on the World Baseball Classic

Garrett Stubbs, Ryan Lavarnway and Noah Mendlinger played for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic. (Courtesy)

I’m back after an exhilarating trip to Miami for the World Baseball Classic, where Team Israel competed against some of the world’s top teams.

The results weren’t necessarily pretty for Israel — the men in blue and white went 1-3 with two 10-0 mercy rule losses with a combined one hit. But there were certainly some highlights — from Orthodox phenom Jacob Steinmetz’s gutsy performance against the Dominican Republic to an impressive come-from-behind victory against Nicaragua.

Before we close the book on the 2023 WBC, here’s a full recap of our coverage. As always, thanks for reading.

Israel played a total of six games in Florida: an 11-5 exhibition game loss against the Miami Marlins, a 9-0 exhibition game win over the Washington Nationals, a 3-1 comeback win against Nicaragua, a 10-0 hitless loss to Puerto Rico, a 10-0 loss to the Dominican Republic (i.e. The Jacob Steinmetz Game) and a 5-1 loss to Venezuela.

Off the field, Israel held a ceremony with the Dominican team to promote friendship between the two countries and emphasize their shared commitment to standing up to hate.

We spoke to a number of Team Israel fans who traveled to Miami from near and far to cheer the team on. “It’s part of our heritage,” one fan told me.

We offered a deep-dive into Team Israel’s recruitment process and how it put together the most talented roster Israel has ever had.

And in case you missed it, I hosted a fun event about Jews and baseball with a panel of Jewish baseball experts, reporters and former players. You can watch the video here.

Oh, and stay tuned for one final piece — on the charming Israel Baseball Twitter account, that kept the hits coming even when the players struck out.

Jews in sports to watch this weekend

IN BASEBALL…

Rowdy Tellez’s Team Mexico has advanced to the WBC quarter finals, where it will face Puerto Rico, tonight at 7 p.m. ET on FS1. Over in Spring Training land, Atlanta Braves prospect Jared Shuster and Baltimore Orioles/Team Israel pitcher Dean Kremer are both on the mound for their teams this afternoon.

IN BASKETBALL…

Jon Scheyer’s Duke men’s basketball team will face No. 4 Tennessee tomorrow at 2:40 p.m. ET on CBS in the Round of 32. And Auburn University, led by Jewish coach Bruce Pearl, takes on No. 1 Houston tomorrow night at 7:10 p.m. on TBS. Abby Meyers’ No. 2 Maryland plays its first game this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. ET against No. 15 Holy Cross on ESPNews.

IN RACING…

Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll looks to follow-up his strong start to the Formula One season at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Enjoy March Madness, and we’ll see you next week.


The post The Jewish Sport Report: What Duke coach Jon Scheyer means to the school’s Jewish community appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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Lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene Blames Trump for Threats Against Her After Their Split

FILE PHOTO: US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) speaks to reporters after a press conference to discuss the Epstein Files Transparency bill, directing the release of the remaining files related to the investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene accused US President Donald Trump on Saturday of putting her life in danger, saying his online criticism has triggered a wave of threats against her.

Greene, once a longtime Trump loyalist who has more recently taken positions at odds with the president, said she has been contacted by private security firms warning about her safety.

“Aggressive rhetoric attacking me has historically led to death threats and multiple convictions of men who were radicalized by the same type (of) rhetoric being directed at me right now,” Greene, a US House of Representatives member from Georgia, wrote in a post on X. “This time by the President of the United States.”

Trump broke with Greene on Friday night in a withering social media post in which he referred to Greene as “Wacky” and a “ranting lunatic” who complained he would not take her calls. He continued his criticism on Saturday with two more social media posts, calling her a “Lightweight Congresswoman,” “Traitor” and a “disgrace” to the Republican Party.

GREENE SAYS TRUMP AGGRESSION FUELS ‘RADICAL INTERNET TROLLS’

In her first response posted on Friday, Greene accused Trump of lying about her and trying to intimidate other Republicans before a House of Representatives vote next week on releasing files related to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender who was friendly with Trump in the 1990s and 2000s before they had a falling out.

On Saturday, Greene wrote that she now has a “small understanding” of the fear and pressure felt by Epstein’s victims.

“As a Republican, who overwhelmingly votes for President Trump’s bills and agenda, his aggression against me which also fuels the venomous nature of his radical internet trolls (many of whom are paid), this is completely shocking to everyone,” she wrote.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on her post.

On Wednesday, Greene was one of only four House Republicans who joined Democrats in signing a petition to force a vote on releasing the full Justice Department files related to Epstein.

Trump has called the furor over Epstein, who died in a jail cell in 2019, a hoax pushed by Democrats.

He suggested in his Truth Social post that conservative voters in Greene’s district might consider a primary challenger and that he would support the right candidate against her in next year’s congressional election.

Online backlash from Trump supporters is not unusual. Right-wing influencers and conservative media personalities have become a potent online force in amplifying talking points and false claims, and attempting to discredit Trump’s rivals.

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‘They Wanna Buy a Lot of Jets’: Trump Says Eyeing F-35 Deal with Saudis

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands in front of an F-35 stealth fighter at the IAF’s Nevatim base, July 9, 2019. Photo: Amos Ben Gershom / GPO.

i24 NewsUS President Donald Trump announced he is mulling a deal to supply Saudi Arabia with F-35 stealth fighter jets. “They wanna buy a lot of jets,” the leader told reporters aboard Air Force One.

“I’m looking at that. They’ve asked me to look at it. They want to buy a lot of ’35’ – but they want to buy actually more than that, fighter jets.”

The potential sale of the Lockheed Martin LMT.N.-produced aircraft comes as Trump plans to host Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House next week, with the two leaders expected to ink economic and defense deals.

Trump has also reiterated his hope that Riyadh would soon join the Abraham Accords. Last month Trump said he hoped Saudi Arabia would “very soon” join other Muslim countries that signed the Abraham Accords normalizing ties with Israel.

The establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia could shake up the political and security landscape in the Middle East, potentially strengthening U.S. influence in the region.

“I hope to see Saudi Arabia go in, and I hope to see others go in. I think when Saudi Arabia goes in, everybody goes in,” Trump has said earlier this month.

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Settlers torched a West Bank mosque — and the milquetoast Israeli mainstream response won’t suffice

For more than two years, masked settler mobs in the West Bank have torched mosques, burned Qurans, uprooted olive trees, attacked olive harvesters, and rampaged through villages — all with almost no consequences.

Just this week, masked settlers torched a mosque in Deir Istiya, burned Qurans and scrawled hateful graffiti on its walls — only two days after dozens of settlers attacked a village near Nablus, injuring several Palestinians and burning a warehouse. “All state authorities must act decisively to eradicate this phenomenon,” said President Isaac Herzog, calling the strikes “shocking and serious.”

But Herzog would be naïve to expect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to heed his call. And the West Bank is rapidly turning into an emergency of explosive proportions.

The sharp rise in attacks on Palestinians and their property began in late 2022, when Netanyahu’s calamitous coalition took over, and ramped up with the onset of the Israel-Hamas war. The United Nations counted more than 1,400 incidents between October 2023 and October 2024.

But while the war in Gaza has reached a ceasefire, the violence in the West Bank shows no sign of abating: Independent trackers reported a record 264 settler attacks in October 2025 alone.

Add to that the Israeli military’s own violent record in the West Bank, and the picture is grim. In 2025 alone, the U.N. has documented at least 178 Palestinian deaths linked to settler and military violence.

If you look for the state’s corrective force you will find a yawning gap. In the most chilling scenes — in Huwara in February 2023, and in coordinated attacks on several villages this month — groups of masked young men have attacked Palestinian civilians, while soldiers and police have either arrived late or failed to stop the violence. Israel’s own watchdogs and human-rights organizations document a pattern of non-prosecution that even predates the current government. Yesh Din, which systematically tracks police investigations into Israeli civilians’ violence against Palestinians, shows that roughly 94% of files from 2005–2024 were closed without indictment, and that only about 3–6% of investigation files lead to conviction.

Which raises the obvious question: When attacks are so frequent and prosecutions so rare, who benefits?

Since late 2022, the survival of Netanyahu’s governing coalition has depended on hard-right parties whose leaders and bases overlap with the radical settler movement. Two ministers who matter — Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir — are both unapologetic advocates for settlement expansion and the vision of Jewish sovereignty over the West Bank, which they refer to by the biblical name of Judea and Samaria. Ministries and offices that oversee law enforcement in the West Bank — including the Civil Administration and Ministry of National Security — are effectively controlled by figures sympathetic to settlement expansion and skeptical of aggressive policing of their own supporters.

This political reality filters down into operational choices. When enforcement agencies are staffed and supervised by officials who owe their political fortunes to the settlement movement, enforcement will not be robust. Arrests — where they occur — rarely lead to charges that stick. In the first half of 2025, for example, there were hundreds of complaints, but only a fraction were opened as criminal files, leading to scant dozens of arrests.

Why would a democratic government tolerate this?

The answer isn’t just about coalition management. It’s about the government’s fundamental ideological sympathy with settlers, and the absence of a credible alternative plan for the land and people under Israeli control.

For decades, the West Bank settlement project could be dismissed as reversible, or up for bargaining in a final-status negotiation. But every new outpost has served to make a contiguous Palestinian state less viable, bringing Israel closer to incorporating millions of Palestinians — without giving them full citizenship or political rights.

The mainstream right lacks a plan for this demographic reality. But the far right has one: apocalyptic warfare and the eventual removal of Palestinians from the land, an outcome that extremists see as inevitable. That is why people like Smotrich and Ben-Gvir appear indifferent to the destabilizing violence, if not actively encouraging of it: instability is a feature, not a bug, for those prepared to use it to remake reality.

Now, the mainstream right has put itself in a position in which it cannot govern without the far right — so it has ceded moral and policy ground to radicals. The true spirit of Zionism — which is humanistic and humane — is suffering.

Which brings us back to Herzog. President Donald Trump, during his Knesset speech last month, urged him to pardon Netanyahu of all charges that he is currently facing in court. This week he did it again, in a letter claiming that Netanyahu is facing “a political, unjustified prosecution.” Herzog’s office said he held Trump “in the highest regard,” but that anyone seeking a pardon had to submit a formal request — something Trump lacks the ability to do.

I have a better idea. Pardon Netanyahu on the explicit condition that he leave politics altogether, forever. And have a new coalition, free of his corrupting influence and the morally destructive politics of the far-right, set to work to clean up his mess.

The post Settlers torched a West Bank mosque — and the milquetoast Israeli mainstream response won’t suffice appeared first on The Forward.

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