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Team Israel exits World Baseball Classic with 5-1 loss to Venezuela
MIAMI (JTA) — They didn’t call it the “Pool of Death” for nothing.
After a 3-1 come-from-behind victory over Nicaragua on Sunday, Israel finished the World Baseball Classic with only one additional run over the next three games. Israel lost 10-0 to both Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, recording only one hit across the two games, both of which were cut short by the WBC mercy rule.
On Wednesday, Israel’s bats came alive in the final game, with nine hits, including three for Noah Mendlinger and two for Michael Wielansky. But Israel lost 5-1 to Venezuela, which swept the fearsome Pool D where Israel played this week.
Israel scored its lone run with a trio of singles by Mendlinger, Wielansky and Jakob Goldfarb in the bottom of the seventh inning.
“It was nice to have a little action out there, and score one run,” Israel manager Ian Kinsler said after the game. “The guys really battled today and put up some tough at-bats, so it was a lot more exciting for us.”
With the loss, Israel exits the WBC in fourth place in Pool D with a 1-3 record, but will automatically qualify for the 2026 tournament.
Israel switched up its lineup on Wednesday, inserting Goldfarb, an Arizona Diamondbacks minor leaguer, into center field for star Joc Pederson — who helped recruit fellow big leaguers for the team — and Wielansky, a former Houston Astros draft pick, at shortstop.
Jake Fishman, who made his major league debut for the Miami Marlins in 2022, pitched the fourth inning for Israel, becoming the final member of the Israeli roster to appear in the tournament.
Jake Fishman (@swedishfishman1) in to pitch here to round out our entire roster making appearances in this WBC! pic.twitter.com/PpUwd29Ue8
— Israel Baseball (@ILBaseball) March 15, 2023
Mendlinger and outfielder Alex Dickerson led the team with three hits each in the WBC. Israel’s four total runs were driven in by Garrett Stubbs, Goldfarb and Spencer Horwitz.
Other notable moments for Israel included a gutsy performance by 19-year-old Orthodox prospect Jacob Steinmetz, who struck out three Dominican All-Stars on Tuesday, and earlier that day, a joint ceremony between the Israeli and the Dominican teams to promote friendship between the two countries.
And what was Kinsler’s highlight for this WBC? Two words: Jacob Steinmetz.
“He threw well for a young player, an inexperienced player,” Kinsler said. “To come into this environment and control his emotions, control himself and fill up the strike zone was pretty impressive.”
Kinsler, who had never managed prior to this tournament, said he learned a lot about coaching. He added that Brad Ausmus, who was his manager when Kinsler was a player on the Detroit Tigers and served as a coach for Israel, was a helpful resource as he learned on the job.
Fans traveled from near and far to cheer on Team Israel. Lloyd Kaplan, who visited Miami from Long Island, called it a “once in a lifetime experience.” Israel’s fans may have been far outnumbered by the four Latin countries, but Israel’s players still appreciated the support.
“Just seeing all that is awesome, knowing there will always be people behind me,” Steinmetz said after his start.
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The post Team Israel exits World Baseball Classic with 5-1 loss to Venezuela appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Palestinian Terrorists Hand Over Body of Another Gaza Hostage
Palestinians walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, November 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad handed over the body of a deceased hostage on Friday as part of the Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday it had confirmed the body was that of Lior Rudaeff following an identification process.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that a coffin carrying the remains of a hostage had been handed over to Israeli security forces in Gaza via the Red Cross.
Islamic Jihad is an armed group that is allied with Hamas and also took hostages during the October 7, 2023, attack that precipitated the Gaza war. It said the hostage’s body was located in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
Under the October ceasefire deal, Hamas turned over all 20 living hostages still held in Gaza since the group’s attack on Israel, in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian convicts and wartime detainees held in Israel.
The ceasefire agreement also included the return of remains of 28 deceased hostages in exchange for the remains of 360 militants.
Including Rudaeff, taken from the Kibbutz Nir Yitzchak, 23 hostage bodies have been returned in exchange for 300 bodies of Palestinians, though not all have been identified, according to Gaza’s health authorities.
The tenuous ceasefire has calmed most but not all fighting, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the ruins of their homes in Gaza. Israel has withdrawn troops from positions in cities and more aid has been allowed in.
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Iran’s Severe Water Crisis Prompts Pezeshkian to Raise Possibility of Evacuating Tehran
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025, in Tianjin, China, September 1, 2025. Iran’s Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – As Iran is experiencing one of its worst droughts in decades, President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that the capital of Tehran might have to be evacuated if there were no rains in the next two months.
“If it doesn’t rain, we will have to start restricting water supplies in Tehran next month. If the drought continues, we will run out of water and be forced to evacuate the city,” the leader was quoted as saying.
Pezeshkian described the situation as “extremely critical,” citing reports that Tehran’s dam reservoirs have fallen to their lowest level in 60 years.
According to the director of the Tehran Water Company, the largest water reservoir serving the capital currently holds 14 million cubic meters, compared to 86 million at the same time last year.
Latyan Dam, another key reservoir, is only about nine percent full. “Latyan’s water storage is just nine million cubic meters,” Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Javanbakht said recently, calling the situation “critical.”
On Saturday, Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi said “we are forced to cut off the water supply for citizens on some evenings so that the reservoirs can refill.”
The ongoing crisis is giving rise to increasing speculation that further shortages could trigger nationwide protests and social unrest.
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US Forces Working with Israel on Gaza Aid, Israeli Official Says
A Palestinian carries aid supplies that entered Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
US forces are taking part in overseeing and coordinating aid transfers into the Gaza Strip together with Israel as part of US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan, an Israeli security official said on Saturday.
The Washington Post reported on Friday that the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) will replace Israel in overseeing aid into Gaza. It cited a US official and people familiar with the matter as saying Israel was part of the process but that CMCC would decide what aid enters Gaza and how.
The Israeli security official said that Israeli security services remain part of policy, supervision and monitoring with decisions made jointly, and that the integration of the CMCC was already underway.
A spokesperson for the US embassy in Jerusalem told Reuters that the US was “working hard, in tandem with Israel and regional partners, on the next phases of implementing” the president’s “historic peace plan.” That includes coordinating the immediate distribution of humanitarian assistance and working through details.
The US is pleased by the “growing contributions of other donors and participating countries” in the CMCC to support humanitarian aid to Gaza, the spokesperson said.
TOO LITTLE AID GETTING IN
Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed a month ago to a first phase of a peace plan presented by Trump. It paused a devastating two-year war in Gaza triggered by a cross-border attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, and secured a deal to release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
The CMCC began operating from southern Israel in late October, tasked with helping aid flow and stabilizing security in Gaza, according to the U.S. Central Command.
While the truce was meant to unleash a torrent of aid across the tiny, crowded enclave where famine was confirmed in August and where almost all the 2.3 million inhabitants have lost their homes, humanitarian agencies said last week that far too little aid is reaching Gaza.
Israel says it is fulfilling its obligations under the ceasefire agreement, which calls for an average of 600 trucks of supplies into Gaza per day. Reuters reported on October 23 that Washington is considering new proposals for humanitarian aid delivery.
The Israeli official said that the United States will lead coordination with the international community, with restrictions still in place on the list of non-governmental organizations supplying aid and the entry of so-called dual-use items, which Israel considers to have both civilian and military use.