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The Jewish Sport Report: Orthodox NBA prospect Ryan Turell’s New York homecoming
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Happy Friday, sports fans!
The NBA trade deadline is Feb. 9, which means the deals will start rolling any minute.
The Washington Wizards made a significant move this week, trading forward Rui Hachimura to the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday. Team president Tommy Sheppard said getting Deni Avdija more playing time was a key factor in the move.
“When we really looked at what we needed was to get Deni more responsibility, more opportunity to play,” Sheppard said.
How did the NBA’s lone Israeli player respond? He dropped 15 points on Tuesday.
Ryan Turell’s New York homecoming
Ryan Turell will play his first NBA G League game in New York Feb. 4. (Courtesy Motor City Cruise/Courtesy Klipped)
When the Motor City Cruise take the court against the Long Island Nets in an NBA G League matchup in New York next weekend, Los Angeles native Ryan Turell will be cheered on more than the typical road team’s bench player.
That’s because the Feb. 4 matchup will be the former Yeshiva University star’s first game back in New York, and Y.U. fans plan to show up in full-force.
“I don’t think people realize, there’s so many Y.U. fans that have watched Ryan play for four years at Y.U., and now they’re gonna have a chance to see him in a G League uniform in New York,” said Simmy Cohen, a Y.U. superfan who plans to attend the game.
The game was originally scheduled for 11 a.m., in the middle of Shabbat.
“We just told the Nets, hey, by the way, you have Ryan Turell, it’s his return to New York, a lot of Jews from Long Island and the surrounding area would love to attend, if you made the game after sundown,” said Brad Turell, Ryan’s father.
Within 24 hours, the game was moved to 7 p.m.
Read more about Turell’s highly-anticipated return to New York right here.
Halftime report
WHAM! Brooklyn Nets fans are likely familiar with Bruce Reznick, the octogenarian superfan who goes by “Mr. Whammy” and taunts opposing players with his signature hand gestures. Reznick, who turns 87 on Wednesday, may be onto something — opposing teams have a lower foul shot percentage in Brooklyn than against other teams.
AND THE NOMINEES ARE… The nominees for the 2023 Hobey Baker award for best collegiate men’s ice hockey player have been announced, and Devon Levi, Luke Hughes and Yaniv Perets are all candidates. Voting is now open; the ten finalists will be announced in March, and the winner in April.
BRAD NEWS. Former MLB skipper and current Team Israel coach Brad Ausmus was reportedly a finalist for the general manager opening with the defending champion Houston Astros. But he lost out to Atlanta Braves scouting executive Dana Brown.
MAY HER MEMORY BE A BLESSING. This week we are remembering Rebecca Lorch, a champion strongwoman who won 2020’s America’s Strongest Woman competition in her weight class. While her family celebrated the first night of Hanukkah on Dec. 18, Lorch took her own life. She was 32.
In the presence of greatness
Left to right: Justin Shafritz, Bobby Eilers, Shaul Ladany and Stephanie Dahan (Courtesy Maccabi USA)
More than 350 Jewish athletes from around the world gathered in Germany earlier this month for the first Maccabi Winter Games since 1936. Yes, you read all of those facts correctly.
Maccabi USA sent around 30 competitors, who took home three gold, six silver, and nine bronze medals. But for 18-year-old skier Bobby Eilers, one of the best parts of the experience happened off the slopes. Shaul Ladany, who survived both the Holocaust and the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage massacre, visited the games to speak with the athletes and share his experience.
“Listening to Ladany speak was one of the highlights of the games,” Eilers said, according to Maccabi USA. “If we didn’t compete at all I would have been satisfied just hearing such an incredible story of survival.”
Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day — learn more about Ladany’s incredible story here.
Jews in sports to watch this weekend
IN HOCKEY…
Tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET, Jack Hughes and the New Jersey Devils take on the Dallas Stars. Check out this insane pass Hughes made — from his knees — to set up a game-winning overtime goal earlier this week. Zach Hyman and the Edmonton Oilers host the Chicago Blackhawks Saturday at 10 p.m. ET. Hyman was honored by the NHL for his stellar nine-point performance last week.
IN BASKETBALL…
Ryan Turell and the Cruise are in Georgia this weekend to take on the College Park Skyhawks tonight at 7 p.m. ET and 3 p.m. on Sunday. Deni Avdija and the Wizards face the New Orleans Pelicans Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.
IN GOLF…
Max Homa is in San Diego this weekend for the Farmers Insurance Open. Homa began the year by tying for third place at the Tournament of Champions. He is currently ranked No. 16 in the PGA Tour (but definitely No. 1 in humor).
Jewish teammates FTW
Team Israel outfielder Kevin Pillar has signed a minor league deal with the Atlanta Braves. If he makes the big league club, Pillar will be teammates with Jewish ace Max Fried.
Beyond excited to be joining the @Braves can’t wait to join such a historic franchise and help these guys get back on top!
— Kevin Pillar (@KPILLAR4) January 20, 2023
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The post The Jewish Sport Report: Orthodox NBA prospect Ryan Turell’s New York homecoming appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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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.