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The Jewish Sport Report: A Jewish guide to Super Bowl Sunday

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Happy Friday, Jewish Sport Report readers! And it’s a happy Friday indeed, because baseball season is upon us.

Pitchers and catchers report to spring training next week, the games begin Feb. 24 and the 2023 World Baseball Classic is less than one month away.

If you close your eyes, you can almost smell the fresh-cut grass and hear the crack of the bat.

The WBC begins March 8, and the official rosters for all 20 teams were announced Thursday night.

Here is Team Israel’s full roster — which features an unprecedented 15 Jewish players with MLB experience.

And this weekend, a new documentary on the team, “Israel Swings for Gold,” will premiere at a film festival in Atlanta. I spoke to the director about the film.

A Jewish guide to Super Bowl Sunday

(JTA illustration by Grace Yagel; Images: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund 1953, Creative Commons)

Before we fully dive into baseball season, this weekend is, of course, all about the Super Bowl.

While there won’t be any Jewish players on the field when the Kansas City Chiefs face the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday in Phoenix, there are still plenty of Jewish angles to the game.

First, there’s Eagles general manager Howie Roseman and owner Jeffrey Lurie, both of whom are Jewish.

Roseman is a New Jersey native who has worked for the Eagles since 2000. Lurie, a film producer from Boston, bought the Eagles in 1994.

During the DeSean Jackson antisemitism controversy in 2020, during which the then-Eagles star posted (and then deleted) antisemitic quotes online, Jackson apologized personally to Roseman and Lurie.

For Jewish Eagles fans, the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philly is selling Eagles (and Chiefs) mezuzahs.

But some Jewish fans are feeling conflicted about the big game — with longstanding concerns renewed after Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest after an onfield hit last month.

“Although Hamlin’s medical crisis was a rare on-field occurrence, the trauma surrounding his collapse stirred up age-old questions for me, and for many of us, about the toll football takes on the bodies of its players,” Rabba Yaffa Epstein writes in a JTA essay. “What are we allowing to happen to these young men, in the name of sportsmanship, entertainment and national identity? When the Super Bowl airs on Sunday, what is our responsibility as spectators?”

Epstein, a scholar and educator with the Jewish Education Project, explores what Jewish tradition has to say about this dilemma — and offers a path forward for Jewish fans who still want to enjoy the game. You can read her piece here.

And if you do plan to watch the game, our friends at The Nosher suggest some Jewish inspiration for your Super Bowl snacks.

Halftime report

GOLDEN. Israeli judoka Gili Sharir won a gold medal at the Paris Grand Slam judo tournament last weekend, and Gefen Primo won bronze. Israel has long been a judo powerhouse.

THE AMAZINS. New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is doing things his own way — including spending more money than anyone else. Cohen offered a rare interview to ESPN’s Jeff Passan this week, sharing insight into his plan to change baseball in New York and beyond. Check it out.

KINSLER RETURNS TO TEXAS. Former All-Star second baseman Ian Kinsler is in high demand. The 2018 World Champion is managing Team Israel in next month’s WBC, and he’s also now working for his old team, the Texas Rangers, as a special assistant to the general manager.

NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN. Mat Ishbia, the Jewish billionaire who bought the Phoenix Suns and Mercury from suspended Jewish owner Robert Sarver, has officially taken the reins of his new NBA franchise. He made it clear right away that he will prioritize fixing the team’s workplace culture, according to ESPN.

Kyrie Irving has Jewish family?

Kyrie Irving looks on from the bench during a game against the Indiana Pacers at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Oct. 31, 2022 (Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)

NBA star Kyrie Irving is now a Dallas Maverick, but he didn’t leave the drama of his antisemitism scandal behind in New York.

Irving was traded to Dallas, a team owned by Mark Cuban, who is Jewish and had spoken out during Irving’s controversy last year. Cuban said the eight-time All-Star was “not educated about the impact” of his online platform.

At a press conference with his new team on Tuesday, Irving was asked why he deleted his apology post — which at the time was viewed as a critical step toward him returning from his suspension.

“I delete things all the time and it’s no disrespect to anyone within the community,” Irving said.

Irving said he stood by his apology. But he also shared some new information about his family.

“I stand by who I am and why I apologized. I did it because I care about my family and I have Jewish members of my family that care for me deeply,” Irving said. “Did the media know that beforehand, when they called me that word — antisemitic? No. Did they know anything about my family? No. Everything was assumed.”

It’s unclear which members of Irving’s family are Jewish, or if he is expressing the Black Hebrew Israelite ideology promoted in the film he shared, which includes the claim that African Americans are the genealogical descendants of the ancient Israelites.

Jews in sports to watch this weekend

IN HOCKEY…

Jakob Chychrun and the Arizona Coyotes play the Chicago Blackhawks tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET. Chychrun has been a frequent subject of rumors with the NHL trade deadline approaching on March 3. Saturday is an action-packed day in the NHL — Quinn Hughes, Zach Hyman, Adam Fox, Chychrun, Jack Hughes and Jason Zucker are all playing.

IN BASKETBALL…

Deni Avdija and the Washington Wizards host the Indiana Pacers Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. Ryan Turell and the Motor City Cruise face the Oklahoma City Blue tonight and tomorrow, both at 7 p.m. ET.

IN GOLF…

Max Homa will look to keep the momentum going this weekend at the Phoenix Open. Homa announced this week that he will join Tiger Woods’ TGL league in 2024, a partnership with the PGA Tour. David Lipsky, who grew up just miles away from Homa, will also be on the green in Phoenix.

Hut, hut, hora

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft dances at a wedding ceremony for Ukrainian couples who did not have Jewish weddings in their native country, Boston, Feb. 7, 2023. Rabbi Shlomo Noginski is on his left. (Photo by Igor Klimov)

The New England Patriots may not be playing in the Super Bowl, but owner Robert Kraft still had plenty to celebrate this week. Here he is at a Chabad wedding event in Boston for couples from the former Soviet Union who were not able to have Jewish ceremonies there.


The post The Jewish Sport Report: A Jewish guide to Super Bowl Sunday appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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Pomona College Pledges to Punish Pro-Hamas Activists Who Breached Oct. 7 Memorial Event

Screenshot of footage of pro-Hamas group raiding event held to honor Israelis who died during Oct. 7 massacre. Photo: Screenshot

Pomona College officials are investigating an outrage in which masked pro-Hamas activists breached an event held on the California campus to commemorate the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in which Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists raped, murdered, and abducted women, children, and men during their rampage across southern Israel.

Footage of the act circulating on social media shows the group attempting to raid the room while screaming expletives and pro-Hamas dogma. They ultimately failed due to the prompt response of the Claremont Colleges Jewish chaplain and other attendees who formed a barrier in front of the door to repel them, a defense they mounted on their own as campus security personnel did nothing to stop the disturbance, according to video of the incident and witnesses who spoke to The Claremont Independent.

“We have seen videos of the incident, and they are shocking and deeply disturbing,” Pomona College president Gabi Starr said in a statement. “It is both outrageous and cruel to interrupt a space where members of our community come together to mourn. Antisemitic hate cannot be tolerated here. Our community is better than this.”

Issuing a call for assistance in identifying the culprits, she continued, “While we have not yet identified the individuals, we are examining video footage taken during the event, as well as security footage to determine how access could have been gained.”

Claremont Hillel, the center of Jewish student life at the Claremont Colleges consortium, of which Pomona College is a member, denounced the incident as “completely unacceptable,” adding, “Jewish students must be able to gather, grieve, and remember without fear or intimidation. We are grateful for Pomona College’s swift response and strong condemnation of this incident, and we are working closely with the administration to strengthen safety protocols and support our students in the wake of this upsetting incident.”

Pomona College has historically followed through on its promise to punish antisemitic activity.

In October 2024, it imposed severe disciplinary sanctions, ranging from expulsion to banishment, on 12 students who participated in illegally occupying and vandalizing the Carnegie Hall administrative building on the first anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.

A Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) spinoff, Pomona Divest from Apartheid (PDfA), led the assault on the building, flooding Carnegie Hall to graffiti its walls — with messages such as “F—k Pomona” and “From the river to the sea” — and to wreck “AV equipment, printers, plaques, and various materials.” The students destroyed important college “memorabilia” too, a campus paper reported at the time.

“The destruction in Carnegie Hall was extensive, and the harm done to individuals and our mission was so great,” Starr said after the incident. “Starting this week, disciplinary letters are going out to students from Pomona and other Claremont Colleges who have been identified as taking part in the takeover of Carnegie Hall. Student groups affiliated with this incident are also under investigation.”

Pro-Hamas groups at other higher education institutions are facing even worse consequences for their behavior.

A Santa Clara County, California grand jury has indicted, on federal charges of vandalism and trespassing, nearly a dozen pro-Hamas students from Stanford University who commandeered then-school president Richard Saller’s office in June 2024.

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, anti-Israel activists associated with the campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) raided Saller’s office, locking themselves inside using, the Stanford Daily said at the time, “bike locks, chains, ladders, and chairs.” The incident was part of a larger pro-Hamas demonstration in which SJP demanded that the university adopt the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as the first step to its eventual elimination.

Twelve students in total had participated in the action, including one non-student, but the 12th student has reportedly become a “cooperating witness,” having agreed to tell on his friends in exchange for clemency. The remaining 11 are accused of causing some $300,00 in damages to Saller’s office and the administrative building in which it is located. As such, “Stanford is demanding restitution,” according to an email the group’s lawyer, Jeff Wozniak, sent to The Stanford Daily.

US college campuses saw an alarming spike in antisemitic incidents — including demonstrations calling for Israel’s destruction and the intimidation and harassment of Jewish students — after the Hamas terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. In a two-month span following the atrocities, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 470 antisemitic incidents on college campuses alone. During that same period, antisemitic incidents across the US skyrocketed by 323 percent compared to the prior year.

To this day, Jewish students report feeling unsafe on the campus. According to a new survey conducted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS), the vast majority of Jewish students around the world resort to hiding their Jewishness and support for Israel on university campuses to avoid becoming victims of antisemitism.

A striking 78 percent of Jewish students have opted to “conceal” their religious affiliation “at least once” over the past year, the study found, with Jewish women being more likely than men to do so. Meanwhile, 81 percent of those surveyed hid their support for Zionism, a movement which promotes Jewish self-determination and the existence of the State of Israel, at least once over the past year.

Among all students, Orthodox Jews reported the highest rates of “different treatment,” with 41 percent saying that their peers employ alternative social norms in dealing with them.

“This survey exposes a devastating reality: Jewish students across the globe are being forced to hide fundamental aspects of their identity just to feel safe on campus,” ADL senior vice president of international affairs Marina Rosenberg said in a statement. “When over three-quarters of Jewish students feel they must conceal their religious and Zionist identity for their own safety, the situation is nothing short of dire. As the academic year begins, the data provides essential insights to guide university leadership in addressing this campus crisis head on.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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UK Authorities Call for ‘Immediate Review’ of Local Ban on Israeli Soccer Fans Amid Government Outrage

Soccer Football – UEFA Europa League – Maccabi Tel Aviv v GNK Dinamo Zagreb – TSC Arena, Topola, Serbia – Oct. 2, 2025, Maccabi Tel Aviv players pose for a team group photo before the match. Photo: REUTERS/Zorana Jevtic

The police and crime commissioner of the West Midlands Police (WMP) force in the United Kingdom has called for an “immediate review” of a decision to ban fans of the Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv from attending the club’s UEFA Europa League game against Aston Villa next month following outrage from British government officials.

Simon Foster said he is requesting an urgent reassessment of the decision, made by Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG), to determine “whether or not this decision and recommendation is appropriate, necessary, justified, reasonable, and a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim,” which is to ensure the safety and security of those attending the match on Nov. 6 at Villa Park in Birmingham. “That must include consideration, of all and any suitable, alternative options,” he added.

Foster concluded by saying that any decision or recommendation about the Nov. 6 match is ultimately a matter for the SAG to determine alongside the “independent, objective, and impartial operational policing judgement” of WMP.

Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans will not be allowed to attend the match at Villa Park in Birmingham because of security concerns, and the move has drawn condemnation from government officials in Israel and the UK, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“This is the wrong decision. We will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets,” Starmer wrote on X. “The role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation.”

Aston Villa said on Thursday that the decision was made by the SAG, a body comprised of several professional authorities responsible for issuing safety certificates for events at Villa Park. The SAG informed the club and UEFA that no away fans would be allowed to attend the game, the team noted.

“Following a meeting this afternoon, the SAG have formally written to the club and [European soccer body] UEFA to advise no away fans will be permitted to attend Villa Park for this fixture,” Aston Villa said in a statement. “West Midlands Police have advised the SAG that they have public safety concerns outside the stadium bowl and the ability to deal with any potential protests on the night.”

The team added that it was in “continuous dialogue with Maccabi Tel Aviv and the local authorities throughout this ongoing process, with the safety of supporters attending the match and the safety of local residents at the forefront of any decision.”

West Midlands Police said on Thursday it supports the SAG’s decision, and that police classified the match as “high risk” after “a thorough assessment.”

“This decision is based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crime offenses that occurred during the 2024 UEFA Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam,” the police force said in a released statement. “Based on our professional judgement, we believe this measure will help mitigate risks to public safety.”

A spokesperson for Downing Street said there are talks “at pace, across government” to resolve the issue regarding the ban against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.

“Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is meeting officials to discuss what more can be done to try and find a way through to resolve this, and what more can be done to allow fans to attend the game safely,” the spokesperson said, as cited by the BBC. “The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Local Government, Steve Reed, spoke to the local council this morning, and the Home Office is urgently working to support police to try and find a way through this.”

The UK’s Conservative Party Leader Kemi Badenoch said the ban was a “national disgrace” and called on Starmer to “guarantee that Jewish fans can walk into any football stadium in this country.” Conservative MP Matt Vickers criticized the move as “utterly outrageous” while MP for the Liberal Democrat party Ed Davey demanded that the ban be reversed “as soon as possible” and said, “It’s completely wrong to tackle antisemitism by banning its victims.” Reform UK leader and MP Nigel Farage wrote on X: “This takes racial discrimination to a whole new level.”

The British nongovernmental organization Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) told the Birmingham City Council and West Midlands Police that it intends to bring a judicial review over the decision. “Our lawyers are writing to the council and police in accordance with the pre-action protocol for judicial review,” CAA wrote in a statement on X. “Police forces and local councils must do whatever it takes to ensure that Britain is safe for everyone … We will do whatever it takes to overturn this pernicious ban which has humiliated and angered the whole country.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar described the ban as a “shameful decision” and called on UK officials to reverse the “coward” move against Israeli soccer fans.

Ian Austin, the UK’s trade envoy to Israel, said he was “appalled” by the ban and called on police to review the decision.

“It looks like they have capitulated to a campaign by trouble-makers and abdicated their responsibility to ensure people can go about their lawful business safely,” he said. “Birmingham is a great international city. It welcomes visitors from all over the world, and they must be able to come in safely. International sport is one of our most important exports and this has major implications for fixtures in the future.”

In November 2024, Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were violently attacked by fans of the Dutch soccer team Ajax followed a European League match between the two teams in Amsterdam. During the premeditated and coordinated violence, Maccabi fans were chased with knives and sticks in the streets, run over by cars, physically beaten, and forced by their attackers to say, “Free Palestine.” Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema called the attackers “antisemitic hit-and-run squads” who went “Jew hunting.”

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US Rep. Seth Moulton Announces Return of AIPAC Donations, Cites Disagreement With Netanyahu Government

US Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) speaking at a press conference at the US Capitol. Photo: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

US Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) announced on Thursday that he was returning donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and would no longer accept contributions from the prominent lobbying group, citing disagreements with its support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

In a statement posted to social media, Moulton claimed that AIPAC, which seeks to foster bipartisan support in Congress for the US-Israel alliance, has “aligned itself too closely” with Israel’s current leadership. However, the Massachusetts Democrat reaffirmed his “friendship” with Israel and his commitment to the country’s right to exist and defend itself.

“I support Israel’s right to exist,” Moulton said, “but I’ve also never been afraid to disagree openly with AIPAC when I believe they’re wrong. I’m a friend of Israel, but not of its current government.”

Moulton added that, in addition to returning donations from AIPAC, he will “refuse to accept any donations or support from them.”

The lawmaker also acknowledged the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, saying that he’s “cautiously optimistic that the recent breakthrough in Gaza will move us closer to ending the horrific violence in the region.”

Moulton’s statement came amid ongoing tumult within the Democratic Party over the Israel-Hamas war. He expressed optimism that “a political resolution that allows Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side in peace” could move the region closer to stability.

AIPAC, one of the most influential pro-Israel advocacy organizations in the US, has long argued that Washington has both moral and strategic regions to support the Jewish state, including shared democratic values and national interests. Critics often accuse AIPAC of aligning too closely with Israel’s right-wing leadership, while its supporters argue that its efforts transcend partisanship and are vital to ensuring Israel’s security and US regional interests.

AIPAC donated $10,000 to Moulton’s campaign in 2023 and 2024, while individuals affiliated with the group gave $32,850, according to OpenSecrets. That makes AIPAC the top contributor to Moulton’s campaign over the last two years.

Moulton’s campaign told The Hill that his team is in the process of returning $35,000 in AIPAC donations and that all refunds will be reflected on the campaign’s 2025 report, which is due on Jan. 31, 2026.

A quarterly Federal Election Commission finance report that the campaign filed on Wednesday shows that $15,560 in AIPAC donations from the third quarter of 2025 will be returned.

In recent months, AIPAC has come under immense criticism, with left-wing progressive activists and lawmakers accusing the group of unduly influencing US politicians. At the same time, Israel has become substantially less popular within the Democratic Party, according to recent polling, which shows Democratic voters increasingly opposing US military aid to Israel and erroneously accusing the Israeli military of perpetrating “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza.

Moulton this week launched a campaign to unseat incumbent Sen. Ed Markey (MA) in the Democratic primary, in a matchup that has been framed as a generational battle between the elderly incumbent and a potential new wave of younger leadership.

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