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Lacrosse is on the rise in Israel, as its men’s national team enters the world championship ranked 7th
(JTA) — Days after Israel’s under-20 soccer team shocked the world with a third-place finish in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, another one of the country’s national teams is looking for international glory — this time in a sport played by few in Israel.
The 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship begins on Wednesday in San Diego, and Israel is ranked seventh among the 30 teams. They were ranked second in Europe coming into the tournament.
Those rankings might surprise the average Israeli. Today, the Israel Lacrosse Association estimates that between 300 and 400 Israeli children and teens play the sport across the country, and that’s after over a decade of recruitment and youth development. Israel’s national lacrosse team is mostly made up of American-born Jews. The lacrosse association, based out of the Daniel Kraft Family National Lacrosse Center in Ashkelon, was founded by one American in 2010 and is currently run by another American.
But two of the 23 players on the national team are Israeli natives, and the women’s national team has one native Israeli, too — something Israel Lacrosse Executive Director Ian Kadish says is a meaningful increase in how the sport is spreading.
“We are now getting to a really exciting point in our organization where a lot of that leadership and a lot of that energy is coming from native-born Israelis,” Kadish told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Yakov Silberlicht, who is Israel Lacrosse’s director of youth development and the men’s team captain, pointed to another telling statistic: Israel’s under-21 men’s team, which competed in Ireland last summer, featured 19 native Israelis out of 23 players. And the women’s under-21 team, which is preparing for the U21 European Lacrosse Championships in Prague next month, is also almost entirely Israeli.
“That’s what gets me fired up and makes me tick and gets me out of bed every morning, is just opening that door and offering the opportunity to those young [Israeli] men and women to be able to play for our national teams,” said Silberlicht, who is also an American expat.
Even in areas where lacrosse is more prominent, such as Canada and the Northeast United States (which have combined to win every edition of the first 14 men’s world championships), it is still considered a niche sport compared to baseball, football and other major sports. According to a study by the Aspen Institute, 466,000 Americans aged 13-17 played lacrosse in 2019, compared to the more than 2 million who play baseball and the more than 3 million who play basketball.
David Wiseman, who tracks Israeli sports for his popular Facebook page Follow Team Israel, commended Israel Lacrosse for the progress it has made, including the opportunities it has opened up for female athletes.
“The fact that they can get it flourishing in Israel is remarkable,” he told JTA. “They’ve punched above their weight by like 3 million percent.”
Israel has also begun hosting international tournaments, including the 2018 men’s international championship and the 2019 Women’s European Championship. (During the 2018 men’s championship — the biggest-ever contest, with 46 participating teams — Israel offered free tours of Jerusalem to the teams and their delegations.)
Originally from Utica, New York, Silberlicht, 31, has lived in Israel for 10 years now. That was never part of his plan.
Growing up, he said he didn’t know much about Israel or have interest in visiting. But after he graduated from college in 2013, an opportunity to play lacrosse in Israel fell into his lap, and he went for it.
He started off coaching and playing for the national team in the 2014 championship, where Israel finished in seventh. What was initially intended to be a year-long stay turned into six more months and six more months after that, until eventually Silberlicht found himself staying permanently. He served in the Israel Defense Forces in a combat role from 2015 to 2017.
Yakov Silberlicht, in the red shirt, is the director of youth development for Israel Lacrosse. (Courtesy of the Israel Lacrosse Association)
“My Jewish identity wasn’t super strong growing up. I think that that’s partially because something like Israel Lacrosse didn’t exist,” he said. “I didn’t want to go to Sunday school because I wanted to go play sports instead… Had I had something like [Israel Lacrosse] to relate to and to identify with, I think that it could have stuck a little bit more and been more meaningful to me.”
Kadish’s introduction to Israel Lacrosse was similar. Growing up in Salt Lake City, Utah, Kadish, 27, said he “could not have cared less” about Judaism or Israel. But as a college lacrosse player, he participated in a lacrosse-themed Birthright trip — which his organization still runs today.
“I had that transformational moment that how many kids have when they come and visit Israel, where I’m like, ‘Oh, wow, this is way different,’” Kadish recalled.
He extended his stay, founded a youth lacrosse team and began playing on the national team. Years later, he splits his time between the United States and Israel, and he runs the Israel Lacrosse Association. He too plays for the national team.
Kadish said he values the opportunity to “allow kids to form their own unique relationship with Judaism, with Israel, through their passion of sport.”
Much of the organization’s recruitment happens through grassroots efforts, including school visits, service trips and relentless outreach. Kadish acknowledged that they have to “work hard as hell” to overcome the predominance of soccer and basketball in Israel.
But 13 years into Israel Lacrosse’s existence, Kadish said it’s the progress that has been made in the organization’s youth engagement that he is most proud of — more so than a No. 2 ranking in Europe and the hosting of international competitions in Israel.
“When you’re on a lacrosse field in Israel with all these kids running around just being kids, you’re like, ‘okay, this is what matters, this is why I do this,’” Kadish said. “When I see a young Israeli kid who I physically put the stick in his or her hand for the first time at the school visit, and now that player is on the sideline, coaching other kids in Hebrew — you see this full-circle moment.”
In other international arenas — namely baseball — Israeli teams have attempted to recruit the most talented American Jews they can find to compete on behalf of Israel, regardless of the players’ past connections to Israel. In lacrosse, Kadish said they try to avoid that tactic. While much of the team is American-born, Kadish said he seeks people who have spent time living in Israel and are committed to the organization’s work.
“What is at the core of our mission? What is Israel lacrosse about? It’s about developing the sport of lacrosse in Israel,” he said. “And it’s about engaging the Jewish Diaspora. If you haven’t helped us, if you haven’t been a part of those things, I’m not sure you deserve the right to play on Team Israel.”
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Britain to Legislate to Tackle Threats From Hostile State Proxies After Wave of Antisemitic Attacks
Orthodox Jews stand by a police cordon, after a man was arrested following a stabbing incident in the Golders Green area, which is home to a large Jewish population, in London, Britain, April 29, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Hannah McKay
Britain will legislate to strengthen its ability to deal with proxies for malign state actors, taking powers to make it possible to ban them in light of increased activity in Britain and a rise in antisemitic attacks.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said the government has to “deal with malign state actors” in the wake of a series of attacks on Britain‘s Jewish community.
In a speech outlining the government’s agenda, King Charles said it would “introduce legislation to tackle the growing threat from foreign state entities and their proxies,” and would also take urgent action to tackle antisemitism.
POSSIBLE BAN ON THE IRGC?
Several British lawmakers have called for the proscription of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The IRGC is an elite military force whose purpose is to protect Shi’ite Muslim clerical rule in Iran. It controls large parts of Iran’s economy.
While Starmer has not publicly named the IRGC as being the target of the legislation, in an introduction to the King’s Speech, he said that Britain would tackle extremism “including where it is sponsored by foreign powers that are hostile to the UK, such as Iran.”
The move comes after a spate of arson attacks on sites in London linked to the Jewish community and the targeting of Iranian dissidents, with police saying they were examining possible Iran links.
Britain‘s security chiefs have for years warned about threats from “hostile“ states such as Iran, Russia, and China, with a number of convictions of people who had been accused of carrying out spying or other offences on their behalf.
The new law would allow the government to specify state-backed organizations that threaten national security through espionage, sabotage, interference, or other means. A review last year found that Britain‘s existing framework had a legal difficulty in proscribing state entities.
There will be new offenses created for belonging to such organizations or raising support for them, and the government said that collectively the measures would create a “tougher operating environment for foreign intelligence services and their proxies.”
The king’s speech also promised a new National Security Bill which would address those who were fixated on violence and planning mass killings, but were not obviously inspired by a particular ideology.
The new law would aim to criminalize the creation and sharing of the most harmful online material.
As part of an approach to align countering state threats with addressing terrorism risks, the bill would add “polygraph testing as an available license condition for state threat offenders,” the government said.
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‘Shame on Hollywood’: Cannes Jury Member Defends Actors ‘Backlisted’ for Anti-Israel Activism Over Gaza War
Workers set up a giant canvas of the official poster featuring actors Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon from Ridley Scott’s road movie “Thelma & Louise” on the facade of the Festival palace before the start of the 79th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 10, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/ Marko Djurica
A jury member of the 79th Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday condemned the Hollywood film industry for “blacklisting” actors who have spoken out against Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip during the country’s war against Hamas terrorists controlling the enclave.
At the festival’s jury press conference, Cannes award-winning Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty mentioned Susan Sarandon, Javier Bardem, and Mark Ruffalo, all three of whom have been outspoken in criticizing Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. Sarandon’s character in “Thelma & Louise” is on the official 2026 Cannes poster.
“The Cannes Film Festival [and] the wonderful poster they have,” Laverty said at the end of the press conference on Tuesday, held before the opening of the film festival in France. “Absolutely iconic. Brilliant. And isn’t it fascinating to see some of them like Susan Sarandon, Javier Bardem, Mark Ruffalo blacklisted because of their views in opposing the murder of women and children in Gaza? Shame on Hollywood people who do that. My respect and total solidarity to them. They’re the best of us, and good luck to them.”
“I just hope we don’t get bombed now, because we’ve got this poster in Cannes,” the BAFTA winner added in conclusion.
Sarandon was dropped by her talent agency for castigating Israel while participating in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York City in November 2023. At the protest, the Oscar winner accused Israel of war crimes, encouraged others to have the “courage to speak out” in support of Palestinians, and compared the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel just weeks earlier to hardships Palestinians endure in Gaza.
She talked about the fallout with her agency during an interview in 2024, saying: “I was dropped by my agency, my projects were pulled. I’ve been used as an example of what not to do if you want to continue to work.” Earlier this year, Sarandon further spoke about being shunned in Hollywood for her views about the Israel-Hamas war.
“I was fired by my agency, specifically for marching and speaking out about Gaza, for asking for a ceasefire. And it became impossible for me to even be on television,” she said at a press conference in February before receiving a career achievement honor at the 40th Goya Awards in Spain. “I don’t know lately if it’s changed, but I couldn’t do any major film, anything connected with Hollywood. I found agents ultimately in England and in Italy, and I work there … I know this Italian director that just hired me — he was told not to hire me, so that’s still recently. He didn’t listen, but they had that conversation. Right now, I kind of specialize in tiny films with directors who have never directed, in independent films.”
At the Cannes jury press conference on Tuesday, Laverty further talked about Gaza in remarks about this year’s film festival.
“You see so much violence, genocide in Gaza and all these terrible things,” he said. “The idea of coming to a festival – which is a celebration of diversity, imagination, tenderness — when there’s such vulgar, vicious, systematic violence. The idea of attending to a festival where there’ll be contradiction and nuance and beauty and inspiration. It knocked me out, to be honest.”
Before the start of the Cannes Film Festival last year, more than 350 members of the film industry — including Bardem, Sarandon, Ruffalo, and Richard Gere — signed an open letter condemning the festival’s “silence” over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza targeting Hamas terrorists.
Emmy-winning actress Hannah Einbinder recently criticized Hollywood’s silence about the Israel-Hamas war during a guest appearance on an episode of Zeteo’s “Beyond Israelism” podcast that was released in full on Tuesday.
“It pisses me off,” said the “Hacks” actress. “Because I’m sitting here with [Algerian-Palestinian activist] Mahmoud [Khalil], who has so much to risk and who has risked so much who has sacrificed so much … And I look at these people who have absolutely every privilege imaginable to mankind and they cannot utter a single word. I guess it makes me naive, but I cannot understand it. I really can’t understand it. And I hear people say that they don’t know enough and I — I don’t, it’s like, OK, so what do you do all day?”
“People in Hollywood, unfortunately, need these issues to affect a white person for them to see it as relating to them,” she stated. “Like, they see Jimmy Kimmel getting taken off the air suddenly, they see Stephen Colbert’s show being canceled by CBS, which is owned by the Ellisons, and they go, ‘How could this possibly happen?’ And it’s like, we know how because we saw students and professors and journalists and authors and Palestinian folks be silenced and fired and expelled and imprisoned … it took it happening to these white men for people to be like, ‘Oh my God.’”
In her acceptance speech at the Emmys last year, Einbinder declared “Free Palestine.”
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Netanyahu Held Secret Meeting With Emirati President in the UAE During Iran War, PM’s Office Says
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a ceremony commemorating Israel’s Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers, or Yom HaZikaron, at the Military Cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, April 21, 2026. Photo: ILIA YEFIMOVICH/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the United Arab Emirates and met the Emirati president during the war with Iran, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Wednesday in what would be their first confirmed meeting.
According to the statement, the meeting resulted in an “historic breakthrough” in relations between Israel and the UAE.
A source familiar with the meeting said Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) met in Al-Ain, an oasis city by the Oman border, on March 26 and that their meeting lasted several hours.
The source said that Mossad Chief Dedi Barnea made at least two visits to the UAE during the war with Iran to coordinate military actions. The intelligence chief’s visit was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Especially after coming under attack during the Iran war, the UAE has strengthened its relationships with the United States and Israel, with which it opened ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords. It views the relationship with Israel as a lever for regional influence and a unique channel to Washington.
Israel sent batteries for its Iron Dome interception system and personnel to operate them to the UAE during the war, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Tuesday.
The UAE is a regional business and financial hub and one of Washington’s most important allies. It has pursued an assertive foreign policy and carved its own sphere of influence across the Middle East and Africa.
Iran‘s strikes on Gulf states in response to the US-Israeli attacks targeted the UAE more than its neighbors, hitting civilian infrastructure and energy facilities.
Unlike several Gulf peers, the UAE has a pipeline that allows it to divert some oil exports around the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, making it more able to withstand prolonged disruption. But the war risks severely damaging its role as a global economic center that offers security and ease in the region.