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All the Jewish players and storylines to watch in the 2022 World Cup
(JTA) — It’s a World Cup like no other in recent memory — starting in late November.
That’s because it’ll take place in Qatar, where temperatures won’t usually fall under 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
The headlines going in are focused on the country’s widely-criticized human rights record. The preparations for the first World Cup hosted in the Arab world have taken years to complete, have cost more than $200 billion and, according to human rights organizations, have led to the deaths of thousands of migrant workers.
Qatar also has no diplomatic relations with Israel, leaving Israeli fans in a tense situation — more on that below.
But beneath these headlines, there are other Jewish angles to the world’s biggest sports spectacle. Let’s dive in.
The US has 2 Jewish players
Matt Turner, left, and DeAndre Yedlin are both on the U.S. men’s national team. (Getty Images)
Jewish professional men’s soccer players from the United States who compete on the world stage are a rare phenomenon. But this year, the U.S. men’s national team has two on its roster — including the likely starting goalie.
Matt Turner, a 28-year-old New Jersey native who didn’t seriously begin playing soccer until he was 14, struggled to prove himself through high school, college and through the start of his professional career. After going undrafted in Major League Soccer, Turner joined the New England Revolution in 2016 and finally in 2020 ascended to the upper echelon of the sport’s goalkeepers. He’s now the backup keeper for Arsenal F.C., one of the top clubs in England’s Premier League.
Turner’s father is Jewish and his mother is Catholic, but he identifies more with the Jewish tradition, according to a profile in The Athletic. Turner’s great-grandparents fled Europe during World War II because they were Jewish and changed their name to Turner at Ellis Island, he explained on soccer journalist Grant Wahl’s podcast. Turner obtained Lithuanian citizenship in 2020.
Turner’s teammates on defense include DeAndre Yedlin, a Seattle native who was raised Jewish but has said he practices Buddhism. Yedlin has a large Hebrew tattoo on his right shoulder in honor of his great-grandparents.
Yedlin, who is of African-American, Native American and Latvian heritage, is in his first year of a four-year contract with the MLS team Inter Miami after spending five seasons with the Premier League’s Newcastle United. He is the only player on the U.S. roster with World Cup experience; he served a bench role in 2014.
While Yedlin’s playing time this year may not be much different, his off-field presence is seen as an asset.
“He’s a glue guy,” said USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter. “He’s there for the team, he creates atmosphere for the team. Sometimes he’s a shoulder to cry on or to talk to. Other times he’s a motivator.”
(A third member of the U.S. team, forward Brendan Aaronson, is not Jewish, but has occasionally elicited questions about his background due to his Ashkenazi-sounding surname.)
A veteran Argentine-Jewish coach is back
José Pékerman, the head coach of Venezuela. (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
José Pékerman, a coaching legend in the sport in Argentina, has already had one miraculous comeback — could he make it two?
As coach of the perennial powerhouse Argentine national team, the 73-year-old made waves calling up a young Lionel Messi to his first World Cup in 2006. He never won a Cup with the team, however, and resigned after 2006. In 2012, he returned to the world stage as coach of the Colombian national team and helped them in 2014 return to the tournament for the first time since 1998. The squad made a surprise run, too, making it all the way to the quarterfinals.
Now he hopes to help Venezuela, which has dropped close to 60th in the international rankings, as their coach.
Pékerman began his soccer career as a kid at the local Maccabi Jewish youth club in Entre Rios, a province north of Buenos Aires.
So are a pair of Jewish Telemundo announcers
Andres Cantor arrives at the Telemundo and NBC Universal Latin America Red Carpet Event in Miami Beach, Fla., Jan. 16, 2018. (Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images)
Telemundo’s coverage of the tournament, as it has for years, will feature plenty of “goooaaaaaals.”
That’s because it will include six-time Emmy award-winner Andres Cantor, the Argentine-Jewish announcer who perhaps is most responsible for popularizing long goal calls in the English-speaking world.
He will be joined by one of his mentees, two-time Emmy nominee Sammy Sadovnik, who has been with Telemundo since 2007 and covered sports since 1989. He’s a proud Jew from Peru who visits Israel every year.
Israel isn’t in the tournament and hasn’t qualified since 1970
The Israeli national soccer team lines up during the national anthem before the start of a match against Australia in Mexico City, May 25, 1970. (Staff/AFP via Getty Images)
Israel’s first and only appearance in the World Cup was in 1970. That half-century hiatus is not due to a lack of talent.
Israel was one of the founding members of the Asian Football Confederation, joining in 1954, and would enjoy international success culminating in winning the 1964 AFC Cup. But Israel’s success was overshadowed by geopolitics — many AFC member countries began to boycott playing Israel over time.
In 1958, Israel won its World Cup qualifying group without playing a single opponent due to protests. In 1974, the AFC expelled Israel from the confederation in a 17-13 vote organized by Kuwait.
Israel would wander the soccer desert for two decades before securing full membership in the Union of European Football Association. Israel remains the only UEFA member without any territory in Europe.
That membership brings tough competition: Israel is in the same conference as soccer powerhouses like Spain, France and Italy. In the 2022 qualifiers, Israel was grouped with Denmark, also a perennially top-tier team.
Despite the tough competition and frequent antisemitism Jewish and Israeli players face across Europe, the Israeli Football Association is content where it is.
“We prefer our clubs and national teams playing at the European level,” Shlomi Barzel, a spokesman for the IFA, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2018. “We find a warm, welcoming and challenging home in Europe.”
Israelis normally aren’t allowed into Qatar, but this World Cup is an exception
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani arrives for the opening of the Arab summit in Algiers, Algeria, Nov. 1, 2022. (Fethi Belaid/AFP via Getty Images)
Israelis normally aren’t allowed into Qatar, and direct flights from Israel aren’t allowed into the Muslim-majority country. But for the World Cup, Qatar announced it would allow direct flights from Tel Aviv to its capital Doha for Israeli fans, and depending on Israeli government approval, for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza as well.
Israeli diplomats will also be permitted to offer support to Israelis during the World Cup — which will be crucial since Qatar, which is part of the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities, has a very limited Jewish communal presence. Chapters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement normally help Jewish tourists procure kosher food and offer other support, but the closest Chabad center in the region is in the United Arab Emirates.
And while as many as 20,000 Israelis could make the trip, the Israeli government is still urging them to be careful.
“The Iranian team will be in the World Cup and we estimate that tens of thousands fans will follow it, and there will be other fans from Gulf countries that we don’t have diplomatic relationship with,” a senior Israeli diplomat warned fans as part of a Foreign Ministry campaign. “Downplay your Israeli presence and Israeli identity for the sake of your personal security.”
RELATED: Check out the Jewish Sport Report’s Soccer Spotlight video series, hosted by former professional soccer player Ethan Zohn. The first episode, with Major League Soccer VP Jeff Agoos, is out now.
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The post All the Jewish players and storylines to watch in the 2022 World Cup appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Top PLO, Fatah Officials: Hamas Should Join Us, No Need to Disarm
Hamas police officers stand guard, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Oct. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
The Palestinian Authority (PA) appears eager to hijack the Board of Peace’s UN Security Council-approved administration of Gaza and unite with Hamas to control the Strip themselves, according to comments made by a top PLO official in a new interview documented by Palestinian Media Watch.
According to Egyptian reports, PLO Executive Committee Secretary Azzam Al-Ahmad has been in Cairo meeting with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad:
Two informed Palestinian sources said Azzam Al-Ahmad, the secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee, held talks in Cairo with faction leaders including Hamas and Islamic Jihad about the two movements joining the PLO.
[Manassa.news (Egypt), Feb. 22, 2026]
Officials from the governing PA and its parent political body the Palestine Liberation Organization have been making repeated overtures to Hamas to join the PLO.
In November 2025, Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub called on Egyptian help to “bridge the gaps” between Fatah and Hamas so they can unite against Israel.
The previous month, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash declared “our hands are extended, and our hearts are open to rapprochement with Hamas.”
The implicit hope behind the unity push is that move might satisfy international demands for Hamas to relinquish control of Gaza. Back in October, Al-Habbash said that Hamas needed to disarm, but clearly the PA position has since softened. As a sweetener for Hamas to agree to join the PLO, the PLO says it is now ready to appease the terror group by allowing it to keep its weapons and remain an armed force on the ground.
The PA and PLO are aware that to legitimize absorbing Hamas into the PLO, Hamas – the perpetrators of the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust – must also be laundered of the stigma of being defined as a terror organization.
During al-Ahmad’s visit, he was interviewed by an Egyptian newspaper, tacitly confirming his mission:
They [US President Donald Trump and the Board of Peace] do not want Hamas to play any role in the Gaza Strip, and we reject this completely, because Hamas is part of the Palestinian national activity. It is true that it has not yet joined the PLO, but we are in a constant national dialogue with them to complete what is required for their entry into the PLO. Therefore, all talk about disarming Hamas and it being a terror organization is unacceptable to us, because Hamas is not a terror organization. [emphasis added]
[Shorouk News (Egyptian paper), Feb. 23, 2026]
The immediate follow-up question in the interview was seen as so important by Al-Ahmad that he made it into a post for his Facebook page:
Shorouk News’ Mohammed Khayal: “You mean clearly that you in the PLO do not view Hamas as a terror organization?”
Azzam Al-Ahmad: “We have never viewed it as a terror organization, and we always oppose when a decision is made by any international institution or any government classifying them as a terror organization, because they are part of the Palestinian national fabric.”
[Azzam Al-Ahmed’s Facebook page, Feb. 23, 2026]
Lest anyone thought that Al-Ahmad had misspoken, his strong statement was soon backed by Rajoub:
“Fatah Central Committee [Secretary and] member Jibril Rajoub emphasized that [PLO Executive Committee member] Azzam Al-Ahmad did not err in defending the weapons of the Hamas Movement and stating that it is part of the Palestinian national fabric.”
[Shahed, independent Palestinian news website, Feb. 24, 2026]
Meanwhile, without referencing Al-Ahmad directly, Fatah Movement Central Committee member Abbas Zaki doubled down on the renewed push for unity with the Islamist terror groups.
“Fatah Movement Central Committee member Abbas Zaki emphasized that national dialogue among Palestinian factions, foremost among them Hamas and Islamic Jihad, constitutes a ‘necessary path and an urgent national need… The real enemy of this unity is the Israeli occupation, and those who stand behind it politically and militarily, foremost among them the US, which is working to rearrange the region in a way that will serve Israel’s sovereignty at the expense of the Arab and Islamic rights.’”
[Sanad News, independent Palestinian news agency, Feb. 26, 2026]
Statements like these are nothing new for PA or PLO officials, who have been making overtures to Hamas for years. Yet the timing and stridency of this particular effort is everything, as it seeks to directly undermine the Trump-brokered ceasefire agreement and Gaza reconstruction plan based on the establishment of a technocratic government.
A technocratic government, to be known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), was chosen as the most effective way to begin to restore services to Gazans, and that makes sense. It provides the administrative structure to deliver essential services while at the same time depriving oxygen to any resumption of warfare against Israel from the territory – at least the parts of Gaza that Hamas no longer controls.
While the PA has decided to go along with the plan, a recent letter from PA Vice Chairman Hussein Al-Sheikh welcoming a PA liaison office with the NCAG stressed the PA’s expectation that this was all just a “transitional” prelude to PA control.
“These constitute practical transitional steps that contribute to alleviating the suffering of our people and providing administrative and security services, without creating administrative, legal, or security duality among our people in Gaza and the West Bank, and while reinforcing the principle of one system, one law, and one legitimate authority over arms.”
[WAFA, official PA news agency, English edition, Feb. 21, 2026]
In the PA’s mindset, whatever moves can hasten the end of this transition, the better, as the notion of suspending conflict with Israel in any Palestinian-populated area even temporarily is anathema to the PLO and Hamas alike.
As evidenced by Al-Ahmad’s latest remarks and others, the PA and PLO have no problem whatsoever with Hamas’ zeal for terrorism – but only appear to differ with the Islamist terror group on who gets to decide when and how it is used.
The author is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
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Israel Did Not Drag the US Into War
US President Donald Trump speaks with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Secretary of State Marco Rubio during military operations in Iran, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, US. February 28, 2026. The White House/Social Media/Handout via REUTERS
“If anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand,” President Donald Trump exclaimed to a journalist on March 3. He was answering a question posed by ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott, who had just asked the Commander in Chief whether Israel had “pulled the United States into war.”
“Based on the way the negotiation [with Iran] was going, I think they were going to attack first,” Trump replied. “And I didn’t want that to happen.”
The President is completely right.
After a sound bite from Secretary of State Marco Rubio went viral, many on the isolationist right and the pro-Palestinian, “anti-war” left claimed that Israel, a country the size of New Jersey, had dragged the world’s most powerful military into a regional conflict.
“We knew there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio stated on March 2.
“So he’s flat out telling us that we’re in a war with Iran because Israel forced our hand,” responded popular conservative pundit Matt Walsh in a post on X.
But, as often occurs in cyberspace, Rubio’s comments were taken wildly out of context.
During the same press conference, Rubio was asked a similar question again: “Was the US forced to strike because of an impending Israeli action?” Rubio set the record straight unequivocally.
“No … No matter what, ultimately, this operation needed to happen … This had to happen no matter what.”
The Secretary of State is correct. His answer about Israel triggering the operation implied that it was only a matter of when, not if, the mission would be undertaken by the US.
American military power had been amassing in the Middle East for months, and some reports said that planning for the combined strikes began as far back as December. Other reports suggested that the operation was intended to begin a week earlier, but the conditions weren’t right.
Intelligence provided to Israel by the Central Intelligence Agency, combined with actionable intelligence gathered for years by Israel’s Mossad, suggested that February 28, at around 10 am Tehran time, was the optimal starting line for the mission. Why? Because former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was due to meet with nearly 50 of his closest advisors and other senior leaders, above ground. According to The Wall Street Journal, those were the circumstances that nailed down a start date for the ongoing conflict.
That’s why commentators across the aisle got Rubio’s statement so very wrong. In fact, Israel has shown in the past that it would comply willingly should its friends in Washington wish for IDF military action not to go forward.
On June 24, 2025, the Israeli Air Force cancelled planned strikes on Iran after Trump announced that he had told Netanyahu to bring the pilots home and that a ceasefire was in place. The strikes were planned in retaliation for a vicious attack on a Beer Sheva residential building that killed several civilians. Even then, Israel respected the wishes of the United States.
The ongoing conflict in Iran is a combined effort between what US Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander Brad Cooper called, “the two most powerful air forces in the world, the US and Israel,” comments later echoed by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. It began with full coordination and will end the same way.
As Hegseth said, “only the United States of America military could lead this — only us. But when you add in the Israeli Defense Forces — a devastatingly capable force — the combination is sheer destruction for our radical Islamist Iranian adversaries.”
Aaron Goren is a research analyst and editor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
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Shock and Resolve: Responsibility from Afar in Times of War
Emergency personnel work at the site of an Iranian strike, after Iran launched missile barrages following attacks by the US and Israel on Saturday, in Beit Shemesh, Israel, March 1, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
When my flight to Tel Aviv was canceled in Warsaw, the war had not yet officially begun. Airlines, however, often sense what governments have not yet declared. Within hours, Israel’s airspace closed. Soon after that, the Iranian missile barrage began.
I was en route to join 22 prominent social media voices from the United States and Europe at the Tel Aviv Institute, where I serve as president. We had convened them for four days of intensive work combating antisemitism — a phenomenon that does not subside during war, but metastasizes. Instead, I found myself watching from afar as our participants sheltered in place.
This is not about my disrupted travel plans. It is about what courage looks like when missiles are falling and what responsibility looks like when you are not physically present to hear the sirens.
Among those social media advocates on the ground was Hen Mazzig. His voice has reached millions with moral clarity and unapologetic conviction. When the missiles began, he did not retreat into silence. He did what he has always done: he spoke.
We were able to evacuate a small group of participants by chartered boat after 26 hours at sea. Among them were Karoline Preisler, a non-Jewish German politician and influencer, and Bernice Cohen, a dermatologist whose platform reaches well beyond the Jewish and Israeli ecosystem. Others remain in Israel, including Boston chef Ruhama Shitrit, who, between sleepless nights and repeated dashes to bomb shelters, continues to imagine new ways to present Jewish and Israeli life as vibrant, humane, and dignified — even under fire.
These are not soldiers. They are civilians — influencers, professionals, parents — demonstrating moral steadiness under extraordinary pressure.
If anything is deeply embedded in Jewish consciousness, it is guilt. Even as I insist this is not about me, I would be dishonest not to admit that guilt arrives in waves. I am the kind of person who shows up. I have spent nights in bomb shelters before; I have volunteered in past crises. When a nation you love is under attack, distance can feel like dereliction.
No rational explanation fully quiets that voice.
My flight was canceled. I would have added strain. My team is capable. Strategically, I may be more useful abroad.
The arguments are sound. The emotions persist.
But war clarifies something uncomfortable: showing up is not synonymous with boarding a plane. In modern conflict, the battlefield is not confined to geography. It is informational, diplomatic, and psychological. While missiles fall on Israeli cities, narratives are created abroad. While Israeli families race to shelters, antisemitic incidents spike in Diaspora communities. While soldiers defend borders, others must defend legitimacy.
That work does not happen automatically. It requires voices willing to withstand backlash. It requires influencers who refuse to equivocate when moral clarity is demanded. It requires institutions that remain operational rather than reactive. It requires people positioned outside the blast radius who understand that proximity to danger is not the only measure of courage.
The harder truth is this: guilt often signals an identity conflict. “I am the one who goes.” But leadership sometimes demands a different posture: remaining where you are most effective, even when every instinct pulls you toward physical solidarity.
The participants of our Institute — Hen and those sheltering in place — embody one form of courage: presence under fire. Those of us abroad are called to embody another: disciplined advocacy, amplification without distortion, and solidarity without self-centeredness.
Shock is inevitable in moments like these. But awe should not be reserved for weaponry or even endurance alone. It should be reserved for the character revealed under pressure—in Israeli civilians who continue building and speaking between sirens; in Iranian civilians whose longing for dignity and safety mirrors our own; and in diaspora communities that refuse to retreat when hostility surges.
Shock may be unavoidable. Passivity is not. If we cannot all stand beneath the same sky, we can at least stand within the same resolve.
That is what responsibility from afar demands.
Dr. Ron Katz is President of the Tel Aviv Institute and leads international efforts to combat antisemitism. He received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.