Author: David Leibermann

KIBBUTZ GEZER, Israel (JTA) — Bill James, the influential baseball writer, historian and statistician, once described the great Yankee first baseman Don Mattingly in only four words: “100% ballplayer, 0% bulls—.” The same can be said of Alon Leichman, the first athlete born in Israel to make it to the major leagues, having just been named […]

(JTA) — New York Yankees outfielder Harrison Bader, whose father is Jewish, shared this week that he will no longer play for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, citing a desire to remain healthy after an injury-plagued 2022 season. The 2023 Major League Baseball season begins only days after the WBC concludes in […]

(JTA) – For months, prominent pro-Israel and right-wing groups have pushed the narrative that the University of California-Berkeley’s law school is permitting antisemitism among its students. Now the federal government is weighing in, as the U.S. Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights says it will investigate claims that the school hasn’t done enough to protect […]

(JTA) – An extended legal battle over ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry’s operations in Israel appeared to come to a close as its parent company announced it had reached an agreement with the brand’s independent board of directors. Unilever, the British conglomerate that owns Ben & Jerry’s, said Thursday in a statement, “The litigation with […]

(JTA) – On the cusp of forming a new government, incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his inclusion of far-right groups in his coalition amid domestic and global criticism of his alliances with extremist figures. “They’re joining me, I’m not joining them,” Netanyahu said in an NPR interview Thursday during the final stretch of […]

(JTA) — Turkey arrested 44 people on Wednesday for what officials claimed was their involvement with Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, Turkish media reported.  Those arrested appear to be largely Turkish citizens, and the group includes several private detectives, as well as the director of a private detective firm named Ismail Yetimoglu. No Israelis were […]

TIBERIAS, Israel — In a year when Israel has seen more immigrants move to the country from former Soviet republics than any other year over the last decade, there was plenty to discuss, worry about and celebrate at a major gathering of such Jews at Israel’s only lakeside city, Tiberias. On the first weekend in […]

Shaanan Streett, one-sixth of the Israeli hip-hop/funk group Hadag Nahash, says that it’s all well and good for musicians to advocate for social-justice causes, but that doesn’t mean the music can’t also be fun. Streett seems to have accomplished both goals, as his band’s songs are featured in protests for various causes while remaining catchy […]

Matan Kahana was an F-16 fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force, so he’s not one to back down from a difficult mission. When he entered politics and served as Israel’s minister of religious services in Naftali Bennett’s coalition government, Kahana gave himself a politically perilous assignment: to loosen the grip of haredi Orthodox rabbis […]

(JTA) — Benjamin Netanyahu, the incoming Israeli prime minister who has said that Donald Trump was Israel’s best-ever friend in the White House, said the former president’s dinner a week ago with two antisemites was a “mistake.” ‘I think that that’s what I would say about President Trump’s decision to dine with this person I […]