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The top 10 Jewish sports moments of 2023, from Israel to the NFL

(JTA) — For Jews around the world, this year will be remembered for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. The fallout has reshaped nearly every aspect of Jewish life in Israel, the United States and beyond — and the sports world is no exception.

The conflict has permeated pro sports, with many teams and athletes showing public support for Israel in the process.

But even before October, many of the top Jewish sports moments of the year concerned Israel — and unprecedented Israeli success on the international stage in baseball, soccer, gymnastics, football, lacrosse and other sports.

Here are the Jewish Sport Report’s top 10 Jewish sports moments of 2023, presented chronologically.

1. Jacob Steinmetz strikes out three MLB stars at the World Baseball Classic

Jacob Steinmetz pitched for Team Israel against the Dominican Republic, March 14, 2023, in Miami. (Dan Passner)

In March, Israel competed in the 2023 World Baseball Classic in Miami with its most talented roster yet. A number of MLB players joined the squad, including Joc Pederson and Dean Kremer.

Though Israel won just one of its four games — a 3-1 comeback victory over Nicaragua — it was an exciting week. Off the field, Israel’s Twitter account went viral, while Israel and the Dominican Republic codified their friendship. And Jewish fans showed up loud and proud.

But the most notable moment on the diamond came during a 10-0 loss against the Dominican team, when 19-year-old Orthodox prospect Jacob Steinmetz struck out three MLB players: superstar Manny Machado, 2022 World Series Most Valuable Player Jeremy Peña and two-time All-Star Gary Sánchez. Steinmetz began the 2023 season in the Arizona Complex League, one of the lowest tiers in minor league baseball.

“It was awesome,” said Steinmetz, the first Orthodox Jew drafted into the MLB, after the game. “Coming out here in front of a sold-out stadium, with all the Dominican fans and the Israel fans, was something that I’ll never forget.”

2. Domantas Sabonis is joining the tribe

Rabbi Mendy Cohen is dwarfed by 7-foot-1 Kings center Domantas Sabonis, who attended Chabad of Sacramento’s Purim party on March 7. (Courtesy of Chabad of Sacramento)

In April, we learned that NBA star Domantas Sabonis had begun the process of converting to Judaism — which will make the 6-foot-10 three-time All-Star the best Jewish player in professional basketball.

“He loves [Judaism] and really wants to be a part of it,” said Sabonis’ wife Shashana Sabonis (née Rosen), who is Jewish.

Sabonis regularly studies with Los Angeles Conservative rabbi Erez Sherman, who said the Sacramento Kings big man is serious about learning and keeps kosher. The Sabonis couple had a Jewish wedding in 2021.

“People that follow me [on social media] see how we do the holidays and Shabbat, and I think it’s really fun for the Jewish community to see that representation in basketball,” Shashana Sabonis said.

3. Israel makes a stunning run the FIFA U-20 World Cup

Israel’s under-20 men’s soccer teams celebrates winning third place at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in La Plata, Argentina, June 11, 2023. (Marcio Machado/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

Israel’s first-ever appearance in the FIFA U-20 World Cup got off to a rocky start, even before its players took the field. In March, FIFA revoked hosting rights from Indonesia after the country objected to Israel’s participation.

But when the tournament kicked off May 20 in Argentina with 24 teams from around the world, Israel went on a miraculous run that included wins over Uzbekistan, Japan and powerhouse Brazil. Israel lost 1-0 in the semifinals to the eventual tournament winner Uruguay but beat South Korea to capture third place.

“We are not players, we are a family with an amazing coach,” midfielder Roy Navi said after the victory. “I feel on the top of the world now.”

Less than a month after Israel’s third-place finish, Israel’s under-21 team made it to the semifinals of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship — earning the squad a spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

4. Israeli soccer star Manor Solomon joins the “Jewish” Premier League club

Manor Solomon during the Premier League match between Burnley and Tottenham Hotspur at Turf Moor in Burnley, England, Sept. 2, 2023. (Will Palmer/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)

It was a big summer for Israeli soccer. The news continued when Israeli star winger Manor Solomon signed a five-year contract with the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club — the London-based Premier League club with a rich (and at-times controversial) Jewish history.

Tottenham fans — who include many Jews — have for decades called themselves “Yids” and the “Yid army” in an affectionate way, but last year, the club asked fans to stop using the term, which many consider an antisemitic slur. The Athletic reported that London’s Jewish community was a plus for Solomon and that Tottenham has a following in Israel.

Solomon, who plays for Israel’s overall national team (he’s too old for the U19 and U21 teams), had enjoyed a breakout first year in the prestigious Premier League with Fulham last season, scoring in five straight games from Feb. 11 through March 6. He was the first Israeli player to ever achieve the feat, and the Kfar Saba native’s success on the pitch drew interest from powerhouse clubs across Europe.

While Solomon suffered a knee injury in October that has kept him sidelined, other Jews made headlines in pro soccer around the world. Goalkeeper Matt Turner has become a starter for his Premier League club Nottingham Forest and for the U.S. Men’s National Team; goalie Daniel Peretz became the first Israeli to join the German powerhouse Bayern Munich; and New York Red Bulls midfielder Daniel Edelman has blossomed into a star in the MLS.

On the women’s side, there were no Jewish players in this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, but the ascendant National Women’s Soccer League is led by Jewish commissioner Jessica Berman.

5. Zack Gelof becomes the 18th Jewish player in the MLB in 2023, a likely record

Zack Gelof bats during a World Baseball Classic game between Team Venezuela and Team Israel in Miami, March 15, 2023. (Rob Tringali/WBCI/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

When Team Israel player Zack Gelof made his MLB debut with the Oakland Athletics on July 14, he became the 18th Jewish player to appear in the big leagues in the 2023 season — a moment that carried multiple layers of significance.

For one thing, 18 Jewish players in one MLB season is believed to be the all-time record, according to information compiled by the Jewish Baseball News, a site that tracks Jewish baseball players. And secondly, the record-setting number is symbolic in Judaism.

Once Gelof debuted, he didn’t disappoint. The Delaware native hit 14 home runs with 72 hits and 14 stolen bases in 69 games and broke multiple franchise records for a rookie. He was named the American League Rookie of the Month in August.

The number stretched to 19 when reliever Kenny Rosenberg, who made his MLB debut in 2022, was called up to the big leagues in August.

6. Eli Dershwitz makes US fencing history 

Eli Dershwitz celebrates after winning the sabre men’s senior individual semifinal during the Fencing World Championships in Milan, Italy, July 25, 2023. (Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images)

Eli Dershwitz, a two-time Olympian and the grandson of Holocaust survivors, became the first American man to win an individual world championship in sabre fencing at the World Fencing Championships in Milan in July.

Dershwitz defeated No. 1-ranked Sandro Bazadze 15-6 in the sabre final, but his semifinal win was even more notable: facing Áron Szilágyi, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and the reigning world champion, Dershwitz came back from a 10-4 deficit to advance to the final round.

Dershwitz — who celebrated his bar mitzvah at the Conservative Temple Israel in Natick, Massachusetts, and fenced at Harvard University — won two gold medals at the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel. He represented the United States in the 2016 and 2020 Olympics but failed to medal in either appearance.

7. Israel wins its first-ever gold medals at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships

Israeli gymnasts compete at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Valencia, Spain, Aug. 27, 2023. (Jose Jordan/AFP via Getty Images)

In a banner year for Israel on the international stage, perhaps the biggest accomplishment came in August at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Valencia, Spain, when Israel won its first-ever gold medals at the annual competition.

Israel’s team topped China and Spain to take gold in the all-around group category and also won gold in the combined exercise, beating out China and Ukraine. The team also finished fifth in the hoop final.

“We are really happy that we managed to get this medal and that we got the chance to scream out the anthem from the podium,” said Romi Paritzki, the team’s captain, according to Haaretz. “It’s the best feeling any athlete can have.”

Israel has emerged as a global powerhouse in rhythmic gymnastics. Retired Olympian Linoy Ashram, who served as an assistant trainer to the team, became the first Israeli woman to win an Olympic gold medal with her rhythmic gymnastics victory at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Israel has already qualified for group competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

8. Israel wins a flag football European championship after a Shabbat forfeit

Israel won a gold medal at the 2023 European Junior Flag Football Championships in Italy. (Giulio Busi)

Just days after Israel’s big wins at the gymnastics tournament, the country’s under-17 men’s flag football team won its first-ever gold medal at the International Federation of American Football’s European Junior Flag Football Championships hosted in Grosseto, Italy.

Israel beat Serbia 34-14 in the championship game after defeating Italy in the semifinals.  Israel’s under-17 women’s team and under-15 coed team both finished fifth in their respective competitions.

The journey to gold wasn’t easy: despite appeals from the Israeli players — a majority of whom are Orthodox — Israel was scheduled to play games on Shabbat. All three teams had to forfeit, resulting in 35-0 losses.

“Our first gold after decades of trying,” Steve Leibowitz, president of American Football in Israel, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Tough young Israeli players against the best young players in Europe. The moment the whistle blew… I knew we had finally arrived. Next thought, first we conquer Europe, the Worlds are next.”

American football is on the rise in Israel, where approximately 2,000 players, coaches and referees are now involved in the league throughout the country, including many native-born Israelis.

9. Jewish MLB players speak out in support of Israel after Oct. 7

Alex Bregman drew a Star of David on his hat during Game 3 of the Division Series between the Houston Astros and the Minnesota Twins, Oct. 10, 2023. (Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

In the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ attacks on Israel, several current and former Jewish MLB players and coaches spoke out in support of Israel, both on and off the field.

As Dean Kremer became the first Israeli to start an MLB playoff game just days after Oct. 7, he opened up about how the war was affecting him and his family. Houston Astros star Alex Bregman drew a Star of David on his hat during a playoff win. Ian Kinsler wore his Team Israel jersey when he threw out the first pitch at a Texas Rangers playoff game. The Philadelphia Phillies held a moment of silence for Israel before a game.

Players showed their support off the field and on social media, too. A group of 19 current and former players released a video urging fans to support Israel and combat antisemitism. And Team Israel captain Ryan Lavarnway spoke to JTA about his Israel advocacy, which has made the retired World Series champion a sought-after speaker at Jewish events.

10. Greg Joseph kicks game-winning field goal after wearing Israel cleats

The cleats worn by Minnesota Vikings kicker Greg Joseph as part of the NFL’s “My Cause, My Cleats” campaign. (Courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings)

As NFL players wore cleats this month in support of various causes, Minnesota Vikings kicker Greg Joseph chose a particularly personal one.

Joseph, one of only a handful of Jewish players in the league, wore cleats covered in Stars of David with the phrases “I Stand with Israel” and “Am Yisrael Chai,” or “the Jewish people lives.” He picked Leket Israel, the country’s national food bank, as the organization he wanted to promote and support.

The Vikings would go on to win just 3-0 — an extremely rare score in the NFL — on a 36-yard field goal from Joseph, a number that also happens to have meaning in Judaism. (Joseph did not wear his special cleats during the game itself.)

“We were honored to be able to participate in the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats program to call for the end to antisemitism and hate in all forms along with the urgent plea to bring home the remaining hostages,” Vikings owner Mark Wilf said in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Honorable mentions

From left to right: Luke, Quinn and Jack Hughes pose for a photo before their NHL game at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Dec. 5, 2023. (Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)

There were plenty of other notable Jewish sports stories from 2023 that are worth revisiting.

Throughout the year, a number of Jewish athletes were drafted into professional leagues: five players in the MLB, Amari Bailey in the NBA, Abby Meyers in the WNBA and Andrew Cristall in the NHL. Speaking of promising Jewish athletes, we published our first-ever list of 36 Jewish Student Athletes to Watch, an impressive and inspiring group of high school and college athletes with bright futures ahead.
Orthodox athlete Michael Neuman competed on NBC’s obstacle course competition show “American Ninja Warrior” in March and brought with him three young people from his Jewish Inspiration Foundation, which uses sports to support Jewish youth with physical challenges. Neuman had initially qualified for the semifinals — after sharing an emotional on-set moment with Ari Cohen, who has a rare chromosomal disorder. But when Neuman ultimately chose to forfeit his spot because filming for the semifinals fell on Shabbat, NBC decided to cut his entire story from the show and declined to share any of Neuman’s footage — including the clips of his cohort — with their families. Then came the unexpected: two weeks after JTA’s article on Neuman and his foundation, NBC reversed course and shared a clip with Neuman.
Earlier this month, Jewish brothers Jack, Luke and Quinn Hughes made history when they became the first trio of Jewish brothers to play in the same NHL game.

Lastly, the Jewish sports community honored a handful of icons who died this year: Alan Sherman, a champion of Jewish sports and US-Israeli relations; Holocaust survivor and Olympian Ben Helfgott; tennis champion Dick Savitt; and Washington Nationals owner Ted Lerner.


The post The top 10 Jewish sports moments of 2023, from Israel to the NFL appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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Meta Boots Anti-Zionist Columbia University Group From Instagram

Pro-Hamas Columbia University students march in front of pro-Israel demonstrators on Oct. 7, 2024, the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. Photo: Roy De La Cruz via Reuters Connect

Meta Platforms, Inc. has banned the infamous Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) anti-Zionist student group from its platforms, a decision that the company says is irrevocable.

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, CUAD is responsible for spreading pro-Hamas propaganda, assaulting Jewish students, and disrupting academic study at Columbia with unauthorized demonstrations and property destruction. Its behavior, among other factors, drove the Trump administration’s cancellation in March of $400 million in federal contracts and grants awarded to Columbia.

CUAD first reported that Meta shuttered its Instagram account on Monday, denouncing the measure as being part of “a long and concerted effort from corporations and imperial powers to erase the Palestinian people.” Meta later justified the decision to Jewish Insider, explaining that CUAD had forced the company’s hand by ceaselessly transgressing the platform’s terms of use of agreement. Meta forbids groups which advocate violence to operate on Instagram, and CUAD has used its account to call for toppling the Israeli and US governments. Additionally, its Instagram account has been essential for promoting unlawful demonstrations CUAD continues to hold at Columbia University and for sharing resources that have helped its collaborators avoid punishment.

Meta told Jewish Insider that the group won’t be allowed back.

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, CUAD’s activities have been described as a threat to the civil rights and security of Jewish Columbia University students.

Last April, CUAD members commandeered a section of campus and, after declaring it a “liberated zone,” lit flares and chanted pro-Hamas and anti-American slogans. When the New York City Police Department (NYPD) arrived to disperse the unlawful gathering, hundreds of CUAD members and their affiliates reportedly amassed around them to prevent the restoration of order. During ensuing clashes with law enforcement, one student screamed “Yes, we’re all Hamas, pig!” while others shouted, “Long live Hamas!” and filmed themselves praising the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the US-designated terrorist group.

In September, during the university’s convocation ceremony, the group distributed a pamphlet which called on students to join the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s movement to destroy Israel. Several sections of the document were explicitly Islamist, invoking the name of “Allah, the most gracious” and referring to Hamas as the “Islamic Resistance Movement.” Proclaiming, “Glory to Gaza that gave hope to the oppressed, that humiliated the ‘invincible’ Zionist army,” it said its purpose was to build an army of Muslims worldwide.

In February, CUAD committed infrastructural sabotage by flooding the toilets of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) with concrete. Numerous reports indicate the attack may have been the premeditated result of planning sessions which took place many months ago at an event held by Alpha Delta Phi (ADP) — a literary society, according to the Washington Free Beacon. During the event, the Free Beacon reported, ADP distributed literature dedicated to “aspiring revolutionaries” who wish to commit seditious acts.

Following two occupations of administrative buildings at Barnard College, Laura Rosenbury, the school’s president, denounced the group as a paranoid hate-organization.

“They [CUAD] operate in the shadows, hiding behind masks and Instagram posts with Molotov cocktails aimed at Barnard buildings, antisemitic tropes about wealth, influence, and ‘Zionist billionaires,’ and calls for violence and disruption at any cost,” Rosenbury wrote in an op-ed published by The Chronicle of Higher Education. “They claim Columbia University’s name, but the truth is, because their members wear masks, no one really knows whose interests they serve.”

Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Meta Boots Anti-Zionist Columbia University Group From Instagram first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Tlaib Set to Headline Terrorist-Connected Palestinian Event in New Jersey

US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) speaking at a press conference at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, March 11, 2025. Photo: Michael Brochstein/ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect

US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is set to headline a conference that is also hosting a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an internationally designated terrorist organization, according to documents obtained by The Algemeiner

The Palestinian American Community Center (PACC) in New Jersey will hold its annual conference, titled “Grounded in Action: Exploring the Power of the Palestinian Diaspora,” from Thursday through Sunday. Wisam Rafeedie, a self-admitted member of the PFLP, will address the conference virtually on the 4th day of the event.

According to PACC’s website, the conference “is a call to recommit ourselves to amplifying and supporting the Palestinian voices and advocates who have long been at the forefront of our struggle.” PACC also calls on members of the Palestinian diaspora “to leverage our unique positions and power” to “push for meaningful action.””

Tlaib is scheduled to headline the event’s “Youth Day,” in which she will host a reading and signing for her new children’s book, Mama in Congress, alongside her son Adam Tlaib. According to Harper Collins, the book’s publisher, Mama in Congress will chronicle Tlaib’s journey from Detroit to the halls of the federal government. The book will also detail Tlaib’s supposed efforts in working toward “justice for all” in Congress.

The conference will include several workshops educating attendees on “resistance,” “solidarity,” and “collective struggle.” The event will also feature a session stressing the importance of “centering Palestinian prisoners.”

This is not the first time that Tlaib has come under scrutiny for attending a pro-Palestinian conference tied to terrorists. Last May, Tlaib came under fire for speaking at the “The People’s Conference for Palestine,” which also hosted Rafeedie among other individuals connected to terrorist groups. During that event, Rafeedie praised Hamas, the terrorist group that runs Gaza and murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages on Oct. 7, 2023, as a “resistance” against Israel. He defended and downplayed Hamas’s atrocities, saying that “Zionists lie like they breathe.”

“This is not a struggle between Hamas and Israel. Hamas is part of the resistance of the Palestinian people. The core issue is between the Palestinian people and the project of settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing,” Rafeedie said. 

Rafeedie also called for the complete destruction of Israel and the replacement of the Jewish state with a “democratic” Palestine. 

“There is no longer a place for the two-state solution for any Palestinian. The only solution is one democratic Palestinian state on all Palestinian land, which will end the Zionist project in Palestine,” Rafeedie continued. 

Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman elected to the US Congress, has positioned herself as a fierce and outspoken critic of Israel. Since entering office, Tlaib has repeatedly accused the Jewish state of implementing an “apartheid” regime in the West Bank and turning Gaza into an “open-air prison.”

In the year following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, Tlaib has sharpened her condemnations of the Jewish state. In the immediate aftermath of the massacre, she hesitated to release an official statement acknowledging the mass slaughter, abductions, and rapes perpetrated by Hamas. Less than two weeks after the invasion, Tlaib introduced a “ceasefire” resolution between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group. In November 2023, the House of Representatives voted to censure Tlaib over her anti-Israel rhetoric.

The progressive firebrand has also condemned Israel’s defensive military operations in Gaza, accusing the Jewish state of committing a full-scale “genocide” against the civilians of the enclave. She has also peddled the unsubstantiated claim that Israel has purposefully inflicted mass starvation against Palestinian civilians and urged the Biden administration when it was in power to impose an arms embargo on Israel. Simmering with anger over the Biden administration’s support for Israel, she refused to endorse former Vice President Kamala Harris’s failed presidential bid.

Tlaib’s office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

The post Tlaib Set to Headline Terrorist-Connected Palestinian Event in New Jersey first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Driver Charged for Brooklyn Car Crash Killing Jewish Family Has History of Claiming CIA Follows Her

An overturned auto in a car crash flipped on its roof landing on a mother and her three children, killing two children on March 29, 2025, in Brooklyn, New York. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect

A Brooklyn woman who was charged for a car crash on Saturday that killed a Jewish woman and her two young daughters has alleged in the past on social media that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is following her, a claim she also made to first responders after the fatal accident.

Miriam Yarimi, 32, is facing multiple charges, including three counts of second-degree manslaughter, three counts of criminal negligent homicide, and four counts of second-degree assault. Yarimi — a Brooklyn resident and wigmaker who is also a Jewish mother herself – was transported to NYU Langone Hospital in Brooklyn in stable condition. She was then moved to the psychiatric ward of Bellevue Hospital, according to reports.

The car crash killed Natasha Saada, 32, and her daughters – 8-year-old Diana and 6-year-old Deborah. Saada’s son Philip, 4, was injured in the crash and hospitalized at Maimonides Medical Center in Borough Park in critical condition. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) arrested Yarimi, a single mother who has a young daughter, and she is awaiting arraignment in connection to the crash that took place Saturday afternoon at an intersection on Ocean Parkway off Quentin Road in Midwood. Police said she was driving with a suspended license at the time of the crash.

“This was a horrific tragedy caused by someone who shouldn’t have been on the road,” said Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. “A mother and two young children killed, another child fighting for his life, a family and a neighborhood devastated in an instant. The NYPD sends its condolences to the family of the victims.”

Yarimi, who shares custody of her daughter with her ex-husband, reportedly told first responders with the Jewish-led volunteer ambulance service Hatzalah that she was “possessed” and that she believes the CIA was pursing her.

She has made similar claims about the CIA many times on Instagram, a former customer of hers told The Algemeiner on Tuesday. The source, who wishes to remain anonymous, purchased a wig from Yarimi several years ago and has been following her on social media for a number of years. Yarimi has 16,000 followers on Instagram and screenshots of her since-deleted posts, obtained by The Algemeiner, confirm she previously believed that the CIA is tracking her.

“It’s very convenient to plead insanity. But it’s not new. She is actually insane. This is [an] old topic,” the former client told The Algemeiner. “She thinks that she’s been followed by CIA for a long, long time already. She truly believes that CIA is spying on her … But only people who follow her [on social media] and know her for a long time would know this. She’s sick.”

In one since-deleted Instagram post, Yarimi wrote in part about the CIA: “They have control of EVERYONE here in this world BESIDES ME … when I went to Miami, it all clicked … once they knew that I knew, they followed me around the hotel, dressed up as young parents with a doona [stroller] and disco outfits like I was stupid and didn’t know who they were … if anything they stuck out like glue.”

“It was the government, blackjack, and the CIA who manipulated everyone and took control of everyone’s mind but because I was the catalyst and the sacrificial lamb so they did their best to break me,” she wrote in a separate post that has also been deleted. “They experimented (abused) me and that’s when they cloned my daughter and I so when I die, they could reinsert me into the crowd and make me into another person.”

Yarimi previously had a highlight on her Instagram page where she talked about demons and the CIA, but it has since been deleted, her former customer told The Algemeiner. Yarimi also wrote on her Instagram Story once that she believes Hollywood is trying to clone people to look like her.

“Why do you think most of the girls in Hollywood have similar features to me like Rita Ora & Jane the Virgin etc,” Yarimi once wrote on Instagram, as seen in a screenshot shared with The Algemeiner. “Wake up, this is not just happening in Hollywood. This is happening right here in the Jewish community in Brooklyn.”

Not long after she uploaded the Instagram posts, Yarimi was admitted to a psychiatric ward and when she returned to social media, she spoke about the experience, the source told The Algemeiner.

“After the above posts she was locked up for two weeks in a psych ward. She’s very public. She went live when paramedics broke into her house and took her. She came back online two weeks later and spoke about her psych ward experience,” Yarimi’s follower said. “And it was saved in her [Instagram] highlights as well … It was horrible.”

The Algemeiner has seen a copy of Yarimi’s Instagram video that shows police drag her out of bed after she refused their orders to get up by herself. In the clip, three police officers are seen in her bedroom and a fourth is standing by the doorway.

Another longtime Instagram follower of Yamini’s described her as “delusional” when speaking to The Algemeiner, and confirmed that Yamini has spoken online repeatedly in the past about how she believes the CIA is tracking her.

In December 2024, Yarimi won a $2 million settlement from the city of New York after she filed a lawsuit claiming that former NYPD Officer George Mastrokostas repeatedly raped her for several years after falsely arresting her.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Deputy Chief Richie Taylor attended the funeral for Saada and her daughters on Sunday in Brooklyn before their bodies were flown to Israel for burial. Saada is survived by her husband, Sidney Saada, her sons Philip and Jacob, her parents and three siblings. Adams called the crash “a tragic accident of a Shakespearean proportion.”

“A mother going for a simple stroll on a sunny day was struck and killed. As we pray for their families and this entire community, the city mourns this loss,” he added.

Police said Yarimi was driving a blue Audi A3 sedan when she rear-ended a 2023 silver Toyota Camry with TLC plates that was carrying four passengers – a mother and three children. NYPD Commissioner Tisch said the force of the crash caused the Toyota Camry to be pushed aside, while the Audi moved forward, crashing into Saada and her children as they were crossing the street before the car overturned. Saada and her two daughters were pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the Toyota Camry, a 62-year-old man, was hospitalized in stable condition. The four passengers inside his car sustained minor injuries and were also hospitalized, according to Tisch.

Yarimi’s car had 99 parking and camera violations between August 2023 and March 2025, including 21 speed camera tickets and five red light tickets, Eyewitness News ABC 7 reported, citing a website that tracks vehicle violations using city data. She had nearly $10,500 in fines and a car with the same license plate as Yarimi’s still has $1,345 in unpaid fines, the news outlet also revealed.

The post Driver Charged for Brooklyn Car Crash Killing Jewish Family Has History of Claiming CIA Follows Her first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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