Author: David Leibermann

(JTA) — Veteran catcher Ryan Lavarnway announced his retirement from baseball Wednesday, ending a journeyman career that featured 10 seasons in the MLB and multiple appearances with Team Israel. “I have played on eight big league teams and worn the uniform of 18 other clubs, mostly in the minors, concluding with a stint on Team […]

(JTA) — In a country that is deeply divided, where attending anti-government protests has become a weekly ritual for many, at least one idea still unites the right and left: Israel appears to be hurtling toward a constitutional crisis. The crisis — which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu termed a “governmental breakdown” during a recent visit […]

(JTA) — Avi Mayer, a pro-Israel activist and communications professional with a large following on social media, has been named the next editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post. Mayer, 38, will take over for the current editor of the 90-year-old English language newspaper in mid-April, after Passover. “I look forward to working with the Post’s outstanding […]

(JTA) — Many fans were despairing as Team Israel trailed Puerto Rico 6-0 in the World Baseball Classic last week, but the team’s Twitter account had a different message. “We will never give up,” the account tweeted. “After all, Moses was once a basket case.” While the quip couldn’t stave off the team’s ultimate 10-0 loss, […]

TEL AVIV (JTA) — When Daniel Schleider and his wife, Lior, leave Israel next month, it will be for good — and with a heavy heart. “I have no doubt I will have tears in my eyes the whole flight.” said Schleider, who was born in Mexico and lived in Israel for a time as […]

(JTA) — Since December, Israel’s top diplomat in New York has found himself in an odd-couple relationship with the government he represents. Now, that relationship looks like it may be on the rocks after he criticized his government’s signature legislation. Asaf Zamir, Israel’s consul general in New York, was appointed to the position in 2021 […]

(JTA) — An Israeli-American former U.S. Marine was seriously injured in a terror attack in the Palestinian West Bank village of Huwara. David Stern, a resident of the Israeli West Bank settlement of Itamar, was driving through the village with his wife when a Palestinian gunman shot at their car. Stern was hit in his […]

(JTA) — An American Jewish group that has provided aid to Jewish communities in crisis for more than a century has become the target of one of Israel’s newly empowered far-right ministers. Itamar Ben-Gvir, who serves as national security minister, said on Wednesday that he was shutting down a program dedicated to reducing violence in […]

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 […]

(JTA) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned of the possibility of civil war if the governing coalition won’t agree to a compromise on its judicial reform legislation. The statement is one of the most dire pronouncements by a senior Israeli official about the tumultuous fallout from the judicial proposal, which has sparked fierce debate, months […]