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The Jewish Sport Report: Why this sport is all the rage at Jewish summer camp

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Hello! Tuesday is the MLB trade deadline, so the next few days will be like Hanukkah for people who love trade rumors and tweets with “BREAKING” in all caps.
Here’s a quick and nonexhaustive cheat-sheet on the important Jewish characters to keep an eye on:
Several of the teams expected to be active have Jewish executives: Jed Hoyer (Chicago Cubs), Chaim Bloom (Boston Red Sox), Steve Cohen (New York Mets), Sam Fuld (Philadelphia Phillies), Andrew Friedman (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Eve Rosenbaum (Baltimore Orioles).
Many of the top baseball reporters chronicling all the drama are also Jewish. Give a follow to ESPN’s Jeff Passan (to whom we wish a speedy recovery from his frightening back injury), The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, to name a few.
The pickleball fever has spread to Jewish summer camps and sports tournaments
Pickleball has exploded in popularity at Jewish summer camps. (Courtesy of Camp Avoda; design by Mollie Suss)
Pickleball is the United States’ fastest-growing sport, and the Jewish world has come along for the noisy ride.
The popular racket sport will be played for the first time at the Pan American Maccabi Games in Buenos Aires this December. Maccabi USA’s Shane Carr said he got “tired of saying no” to the many requests that have poured in over recent years.
Pickleball has also taken off at Jewish camps across the country.
At Camp Avoda, a Jewish sports camp about 50 miles south of Boston, director Ronni Guttin estimated that about 40 of the camp’s 140 campers are playing pickleball. At Camp Bauercrest, A Jewish sports camp 40 miles north of Boston, they added more courts for this summer. And at Camp Ramah in California, it’s become “the sport of the summer,” according to program director Molly Auerbach.
Click here for more on the Jewish pickleball craze.
Halftime report
ON TOP OF THE WORLD. Jewish fencer Eli Dershwitz became the first American man to win an individual sabre world championship this week in Milan, Italy. Dershwitz is a two-time Olympian and a Maccabiah gold medalist.
MEANT TO BE. New Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris opened up about the experience of buying his hometown NFL team this week, saying the opportunity was “bashert.” He also called himself a “man of faith.”
PAC-ING THEIR BAGS. UCLA and USC recently announced they would leave the Pac-12 Conference to join the Big Ten next year. As the Jewish Journal points out, that means the two LA schools will join the athletic conference representing the largest population of Jewish students, with more than 58,000 in total.
CRUSHING IT. Team Israel alum Spencer Horwitz was named International League Player of the Week after he slashed .536 with three home runs and nine runs batted in. Horwitz appeared in three games for the Toronto Blue Jays last month before being sent back down to Triple-A.
HISTORIC. A new exhibition at Vienna’s Jewish museum spotlights the history of the city’s Jewish football clubs. Austria Vienna, one of the country’s oldest football clubs, was once called “Judenklub,” or “Jewish club,” because of its rich Jewish connections.
HE’S GOING PLACES. Pitcher Harrison Cohen, who signed with the New York Yankees as an undrafted free agent last year, is making a name for himself in the minor leagues. In his first 20 relief appearances this season in High-A, Cohen is 2-1 with a 2.81 earned run average.
THE FALL OF THE ‘ROMAN EMPIRE.’ Early on in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Jewish oligarch Roman Abramovich was in the spotlight, as countries placed sanctions on him and he sold his Premier League club Chelsea. The Athletic takes a deep dive on what the billionaire has been up to since.
Jews in sports to watch this weekend
IN BASKETBALL…
Abby Meyers is back with the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. They’re in action tonight at 8 p.m. ET against the Dallas Wings — the team that originally drafted Meyers — and Sunday at 3 p.m. ET against the Atlanta Dream.
IN BASEBALL…
Dean Kremer, who has reached double-digit wins for the first time in his career, takes the mound for the Baltimore Orioles against Harrison Bader and the New York Yankees Sunday at 7:10 p.m. ET. Rookie Zack Gelof and the Oakland A’s face Jake Bird and the Colorado Rockies this weekend, while Joc Pederson and the San Francisco Giants host Richard Bleier and the Boston Red Sox. Gelof has three steals and four doubles in his first 11 games in the big leagues.
IN SOCCER…
Steve Birnbaum, a defender and the captain of D.C. United, leads his team against the Mexican Liga MX Club Universidad Nacional, or UNAM, Saturday at 9 p.m. ET. It’s part of the joint Leagues Cup involving the MLS and La Liga. Daniel Edelman and the NY Red Bulls play the Mexican club Atlético San Luis Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
IN GOLF…
David Lipsky is in Minnesota this weekend for the 3M Open. Max Homa and Ben Silverman are off this weekend, but both are coming off impressive tournaments last week: Homa finished 10th at Open Championship, his first career top-10 finish in a major tournament, and Silverman tied for second place at the Price Cutter Charity Championship in Missouri.
IN RACING…
Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll picked up another point with his 10th-place finish at last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix. The Belgian Grand Prix is Sunday at 9 a.m. ET on ESPN.
Jews down under
After getting a visit from Jewish second gentleman Doug Emhoff, the U.S. Women’s National Team was joined by Jewish Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week in New Zealand. The U.S. team has one win and one draw so far in the World Cup.
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The post The Jewish Sport Report: Why this sport is all the rage at Jewish summer camp appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders Calls on Democrats to Stop Accepting Money From AIPAC

US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks to the media following a meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington, US, July 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), took to X/Twitter on Monday to call on all Democrats to stop accepting political donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the influential pro‑Israel lobbying entity.
In his tweet, Sanders wrote that AIPAC has aided Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in waging an “illegal and immoral war being waged against the Palestinian people.” Sanders continued, claiming that “NO Democrat should accept money from AIPAC” while asserting that the organization helped “deliver the presidency to Donald Trump.”
Sanders’s post came in response to comments by former Obama administration foreign policy advisor Ben Rhodes, in which Rhodes urged Democrats to reject all future donations from AIPAC. Rhodes argued that AIPAC has influenced Democrats to take immoral stances on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“AIPAC is part of the constellation of forces that has delivered this country into the hands of Donald Trump and Stephen Miller, and you cannot give them a carve out,” Rhodes said on an episode of the podcast Pod Save the World. “We need to have this fight as a party, because these are the wrong people to have under your tent.”
Tommy Vietor, another former Obama administration official and podcast co-host, agreed, accusing AIPAC of “funneling money to front organizations that primary progressive Democrats.”
AIPAC, the foremost pro-Israel lobbying firm in the US, has historically backed pro-Israel candidates from both parties. The organization does not specifically lobby against progressive candidates. AIPAC has aided the campaigns of pro-Israel progressives such as Ritchie Torres.
Sanders has long held an acrimonious relationship with AIPAC. In November 2023, he repudiated the group for supposedly having”supported dozens of GOP extremists who are undermining our democracy,” and urged his fellow Democrats to stand together in the fight for a world of peace, economic and social justice and climate sanity.”
Rhodes, a former deputy national security adviser under President Obama, has emerged as a vocal critic of Israeli policy, particularly under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His skepticism is rooted in years of diplomatic frustration during the Obama administration, especially surrounding failed peace negotiations and Israel’s settlement expansions in the West Bank. Rhodes has often framed Israel’s hardline stance as a major obstacle to a two-state solution, and he has been critical of what he sees as unconditional U.S. support that enables right-wing Israeli policies. His stance reflects a broader shift among some American progressives who advocate for a more balanced U.S. approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Sanders has long been a staunch critic of the Jewish state. Sanders has repeatedly accused Israel of committing “collective punishment” and “apartheid” against the Palestinian people. Although the senator initially condemned the Oct. 7 slaughters of roughly 1200 people throughout southern Israel by Hamas, he subsequently pushed for a “ceasefire” between the Jewish state and the terrorist group. Sanders also spearheaded an unsuccessful campaign to implement a partial arms embargo on Israel in 2024.
In the 20 months following the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, relations between the Democratic party and the Jewish state have deteriorated. Democratic lawmakers have grown more vocally critical of Israel’s military conduct in Gaza, sometimes arguing that the Jewish state has recklessly endangered lives of Palestinian civilians. Moreover, polls indicate that Democratic voters have largely turned against Israel, intensifying pressure on liberal lawmakers to shift their tone regarding the war in Gaza.
The post Sen. Bernie Sanders Calls on Democrats to Stop Accepting Money From AIPAC first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iranian National Charged in Plot to Subvert US Sanctions Against Islamic Republic

Iranians participating in a memorial ceremony for IRGC commanders and nuclear scientists in downtown Tehran, Iran, on July 2, 2025. Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl via Reuters Connect.
Federal law enforcement officials have arrested an Iranian national after uncovering his alleged conspiracy to export US technology to Tehran in violation of a slew of economic sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic, the US Department of Justice announced on Friday.
For May 2018 to July 2025, Bahram Mohammad Ostovari, 66, allegedly amassed “railway signaling and telecommunications systems” for transport to the Iranian government by using “two front companies” located in the United Arab Emirates. After filing fake orders for them with US vendors at Ostovari’s direction, the companies shipped the materials — which included “sophisticated computer processors” — to Tehran, having duped the US businesses into believing that they “were the end users.”
The Justice Department continued, “After he became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in May 2020, Ostovari continued to export, sell, and supply electronics and electrical components to [his company] in Iran,” noting that the technology became components of infrastructure projects commissioned by the Islamic Republic.
Ostovari has been charged with four criminal counts for allegedly violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR), under which conducting business with Iran is proscribed due to the country’s human rights abuses, material support for terrorism, and efforts to build a larger-scale nuclear program in violation of international non-proliferation obligations. Each count carries a 20-year maximum sentence in federal prison.
Ostovari is one of several Iranian nationals to become the subject of criminal proceedings involving crimes against the US this year.
In April, a resident of Great Falls, Virginia — Abouzar Rahmati, 42 — pleaded guilty to collecting intelligence on US infrastructure and providing it to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“From at least December 2017 through June 2024, Rahmati worked with Iranian government officials and intelligence operatives to act on their behalf in the United States, including by meeting with Iranian intelligence officers and government officials using a cover story to hide his conduct,” the Justice Department said at the time, noting that Rahmati even infiltrated a contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that possesses “sensitive non-public information about the US aviation sector.”
Throughout the duration of his cover, Rahmati amassed “open-source and non-public materials about the US solar energy industry,” which he delivered to “Iranian intelligence officers.”
The government found that the operation began in August 2017, after Rahmati “offered his services” to a high-ranking Iranian government official who had once been employed by the country’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, according to the Justice Department. Months later, he traveled to Iran, where Iranian agents assigned to him the espionage activity to which he pleaded guilty to perpetrating.
“Rahmati sent additional material relating to solar energy, solar panels, the FAA, US airports, and US air traffic control towers to his brother, who lived in Iran, so that he would provide those files to Iranian intelligence on Rahmati’s behalf,” the Justice Department continued. Rahmati also, it said, delivered 172 gigabytes worth of information related to the National Aerospace System (NAS) — which monitors US airspace, ensuring its safety for aircraft — and NAS Airport Surveillance to Iran during a trip he took there.
Rahmati faces up to 10 years in prison. He will be sentenced in August.
In November, three Iranian intelligence assets were charged with contriving a conspiracy to assassinate critics of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as then US President-elect Donald Trump.
According to the Justice Department, Farhad Shakeri, 51; Carlisle Rivera, 49; and Jonathan Loadholt, 36, acted at the direction of and with help from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an internationally designated terrorist organization, to plot to murder a US citizen of Iranian origin in New York. Shakeri, who remains at large and is believed to reside in Iran, was allegedly the principal agent who managed the two other men, both residents of New York City who appeared in court.
Their broader purpose, prosecutors said, was to target nationals of the United States and its allies for attacks, including “assaults, kidnapping, and murder, both to repress and silence critical dissidents” and to exact revenge for the 2020 killing of then-IRGC Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Iraq. Trump was president of the US at the time of the operation.
All three men are now charged with murder-for-hire, conspiracy, and money laundering. Shakeri faces additional charges, including violating sanctions against Iran, providing support to a terrorist organization, and conspiring to violate the International Emergency Powers Act, offenses for which he could serve up to six decades in federal prison.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Iranian National Charged in Plot to Subvert US Sanctions Against Islamic Republic first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Kosher Israeli Restaurant Vandalized in Athens Amid Surge in Antisemitic Attacks Across Europe

A man waves a Palestinian flag as pro-Hamas demonstrators protest next to the Greek parliament, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Athens, Greece, May 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis
An Israeli restaurant in Athens, Greece, was vandalized on Saturday night in one of the latest incidents amid a surge of antisemitic attacks across Europe, prompting a police investigation into the suspected hate crime.
In a video shared on social media, a group of six individuals can be seen entering King David Burger — a local kosher restaurant that opened just a month ago — scattering pamphlets and spraying black paint across walls, tables, and other surfaces throughout the establishment.
Restaurante israelí en Atenas atacado po pro-palestinos
Otro caso de acoso a una empresa israelí, esta vez en Atenas. El restaurante King David Burger de la capital griega, propiedad de un israelí, fue atacado anoche.
Un grupo de activistas propalestinos llegó al restaurante y,… pic.twitter.com/YGiqLBRNAF
— ITON GADOL es Israel y las comunidades judias (@Itongadol) July 13, 2025
The group of pro-Palestinian activists shouted antisemitic slurs and vandalized the establishment with graffiti, including slogans such as “No Zionist is safe here.”
The attackers also posted a sign on one of the restaurant’s windows that read, “All IDF soldiers are war criminals — we don’t want you here,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces.
According to local reports, many Israelis in Athens gathered outside the restaurant after the attack, with some singing “Am Israel Chai” (“The People of Israel Live”) as a show of solidarity.
The restaurant owner urged local authorities in Athens to take swift action and hold the perpetrators accountable.
“It would be a shame for the Israelis to leave Athens,” Zvika Levinson, the restaurant’s owner, told Israel Hayom. “But if authorities don’t act, the situation will not be good.”
Police reportedly told the owner that without clear identification of the individuals in the video, they are unable to make any arrests.
Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, antisemitic incidents have surged to alarming levels across Europe. This recent attack is just one of the latest in a wave of anti-Jewish hate crimes that Greece and other countries have witnessed in recent months.
Last month, an Israeli tourist was attacked by a group of pro-Palestinian activists after they overheard him using Google Maps in Hebrew while navigating through Athens.
When the attackers realized the victim was speaking Hebrew, they began physically assaulting him while shouting antisemitic slurs.
Although local police arrived promptly, a large crowd had already gathered outside the restaurant where the victim had sought shelter.
At first, authorities mistakenly arrested the victim, accusing him of the attack. However, after video footage clarified the situation, they apologized and took him to the nearest hospital.
The post Kosher Israeli Restaurant Vandalized in Athens Amid Surge in Antisemitic Attacks Across Europe first appeared on Algemeiner.com.