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Israel stuns Brazil at FIFA U-20 World Cup to keep its underdog hopes alive
(JTA) — Israel’s under-20 men’s team defeated Brazil 3-2 in the quarterfinals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup on Saturday, their most shocking win in a string of dramatic underdog victories at the tournament.
The player who scored the winning goal in extra time dedicated the win to three Israeli soldiers killed in an attack the previous morning.
The team, making its first-ever appearance at the under-20 World Cup, is now through to the semifinal round, in which they will face either the United States or Uruguay on Thursday.
Israel — facing a country known for its international soccer dominance that has won the under-2o World Cup five times — was behind much of the game and also missed multiple penalty kicks. In the 56th minute, Brazil scored first, but Israel responded with a goal a few minutes later. The game then went to extra time tied 1-1, and Brazil promptly scored within 30 seconds in the overtime period. Israel responded to tie about two minutes later.
Then, in the final moments of the first half of extra time, Dor Turgeman wove between a series of defenders in front of Brazil’s goal to knock in what would be the winning score.
Turgeman wore a wristband that referenced the violence on the Israel-Egypt border hours before the game, in which an Egyptian security officer shot and killed three Israeli soldiers.
לזכרם.
למען כולם pic.twitter.com/VMxwpLkV11
— ISRAEL FA (@ISRAELFA) June 3, 2023
“We went through a very difficult day with the news from Israel,” Turgeman said after the match. “I dedicate this victory to the families of the victims. We were very pained by what happened.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted about the shooting on Saturday, before a few hours later tweeting about the soccer victory, writing: “Our young team made history and brought huge pride to the State of Israel!”
Besides Turgeman’s game-winner, Israel’s other two goals were scored by two of the roster’s three Israeli-Arab players: Anan Khalaili and Hamza Shibli.
The match took place in Argentina’s San Juan province, a mountainous region about 700 miles northwest of Buenos Aires. The stadium was almost empty, with fewer than 2,000 fans in attendance, but that number included members of the Jewish community and Israeli tourists who cheered and waved large Israeli flags. The tournament was originally slated to be played in Indonesia but was moved to Argentina after Indonesia protested Israel’s inclusion in the competition.
The semifinals and finals will take place in La Plata, where Israel began the tournament with the support of thousands of Jewish fans.
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Israel’s Netanyahu Hopes to ‘Taper’ Israel Off US Military Aid in Next Decade
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview published on Friday that he hopes to “taper off” Israeli dependence on US military aid in the next decade.
Netanyahu has said Israel should not be reliant on foreign military aid but has stopped short of declaring a firm timeline for when Israel would be fully independent from Washington.
“I want to taper off the military within the next 10 years,” Netanyahu told The Economist. Asked if that meant a tapering “down to zero,” he said: “Yes.”
Netanyahu said he told President Donald Trump during a recent visit that Israel “very deeply” appreciates “the military aid that America has given us over the years, but here too we’ve come of age and we’ve developed incredible capacities.”
In December, Netanyahu said Israel would spend 350 billion shekels ($110 billion) on developing an independent arms industry to reduce dependency on other countries.
In 2016, the US and Israeli governments signed a memorandum of understanding for the 10 years through September 2028 that provides $38 billion in military aid, $33 billion in grants to buy military equipment and $5 billion for missile defense systems.
Israeli defense exports rose 13 percent last year, with major contracts signed for Israeli defense technology including its advanced multi-layered aerial defense systems.
US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Israel supporter and close ally of Trump, said on X that “we need not wait ten years” to begin scaling back military aid to Israel.
“The billions in taxpayer dollars that would be saved by expediting the termination of military aid to Israel will and should be plowed back into the US military,” Graham said. “I will be presenting a proposal to Israel and the Trump administration to dramatically expedite the timetable.”
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In Rare Messages from Iran, Protesters ask West for Help, Speak of ‘Very High’ Death Toll
Protests in Tehran. Photo: Iran Photo from social media used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law, via i24 News
i24 News – Speaking to Western media from beyond the nationwide internet blackout imposed by the Islamic regime, Iranian protesters said they needed support amid a brutal crackdown.
“We’re standing up for a revolution, but we need help. Snipers have been stationed behind the Tajrish Arg area [a neighborhood in Tehran],” said a protester in Tehran speaking to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity. He added that “We saw hundreds of bodies.”
Another activist in Tehran spoke of witnessing security forces firing live ammunition at protesters resulting in a “very high” number killed.
On Friday, TIME magazine cited a Tehran doctor speaking on condition of anonymity that just six hospitals in the capital recorded at least 217 killed protesters, “most by live ammunition.”
Speaking to Reuters on Saturday, Setare Ghorbani, a French-Iranian national living in the suburbs of Paris, said that she became ill from worry for her friends inside Iran. She read out one of her friends’ last messages before losing contact: “I saw two government agents and they grabbed people, they fought so much, and I don’t know if they died or not.”
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Report: US Increasingly Regards Iran Protests as Having Potential to Overthrow Regime
United States President Donald J Trump in White House in Washington, DC, USA, on Thursday, December 18, 2025. Photo: Aaron Schwartz via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – The assessment in Washington of the strength and scope of the Iran protests has shifted after Thursday’s turnout, with US officials now inclined to grant the possibility that this could be a game changer, Axios reported on Friday.
“The protests are serious, and we will continue to monitor them,” an unnamed senior US official was quoted as saying in the report.
Iran was largely cut off from the outside world on Friday after the Islamic regime blacked out the internet to curb growing unrest, as videos circulating on social media showed buildings ablaze in anti-government protests raging across the country.
US President Donald Trump warned the Ayatollahs of a strong response if security forces escalate violence against protesters.
“We’re watching it very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they’re going to get hit very hard by the United States,” Trump told reporters when asked about the unrest in Iran.
The latest reported death toll is at 51 protesters, including nine children.