Spike Lee, Kyrie Irving wear pro-Palestinian outfits to NBA All-Star Game featuring first Israeli player

February 16, 2026

By PHILISSA CRAMER

(JTA) — Deni Avdija scored five points and made four assists and one dunk in his first NBA All-Star Game — the first All-Star appearance ever for an Israeli player.

But while Avdija’s Team World squad fell...

Israel’s bobsled team is chasing more than medals in its first Olympic outing in Milan

February 16, 2026

By JACOB GURVIS

(JTA) — No matter what happens when Israel’s bobsled team hits the ice next week at the 2026 Winter Olympics, team captain Adam “AJ” Edelman has already had a year for the history books.

The 34-year-old Brookline,...

Harrison Bader, Dean Kremer headline as Team Israel announces its World Baseball Classic lineup

February 06, 2026

By JACOB GURVIS

(JTA) — A pitcher for the Minnesota Twins whose father-in-law is an Israeli-American pharmaceutical executive and political activist is one of the new additions to Team Israel ahead of next month’s World Baseball Classic.

With sixth edition...

16 Jewish and Israeli athletes to watch in the 2026 Winter Olympics, from the ice rink to the alpine slopes

January 30, 2026

By JACOB GURVIS

(JTA) — All eyes might be on Israel’s unlikely bobsled squad, making its first appearance at the Winter Olympics, but there are actually a slew of Jewish and Israeli athletes headed to Milan.

The 2026 Milano Cortina...

Alex Bregman, who drew a Jewish star on his cap after Oct. 7, inks $175M deal with the Cubs

January 16, 2026

By JACOB GURVIS

(JTA) — For the second year in a row, Jewish star third baseman Alex Bregman has signed a lucrative free-agent contract with a team that is run by a Jewish executive and plays in a historic ballpark...

Argentine tennis star Diego Schwartzman now plays soccer for a Jewish club in Buenos Aires

September 21, 2025

By JUAN MELAMED

(JTA) — BUENOS AIRES — Former top-10 tennis player Diego Schwartzman, once ranked among the world’s best, is now playing soccer for one of Buenos Aires’ Jewish sports clubs.

Schwartzman’s sporting life has long been tied to...

Jewish baseball fans have created an exhaustive list of Jewish players. They missed Monte Pfeiffer.

August 15, 2025

By SCOTT BARANCIK

(JTA) — For the first time in decades, a long forgotten major league baseball player has been posthumously identified as Jewish.

Monte Pfeiffer, who played a single game for the Philadelphia Athletics some 112 years ago, had...

Israeli-American poker pro Michael Mizrachi wins $10M main event at World Series of Poker

July 18, 2025

By GRACE GILSON

(JTA) — Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, an Israeli-American poker champion who has made a name for himself as one of the most prolific players in the game’s history, won the main event title at the World Series...

Brooklyn Nets pick two Jewish players in NBA draft

June 27, 2025

By JACOB GURVIS

(JTA) — In the span of a few minutes on Wednesday, the Brooklyn Nets single-handedly doubled the Jewish population in the NBA from two to four.

The Nets selected Israeli Ben Saraf and Israeli-American Danny Wolf back...

Maccabiah Games postponed to 2026, as Israel-Iran war disruptions start to pile up

June 17, 2025

By PHILISSA CRAMER

(JTA) — The Maccabiah Games scheduled for Tel Aviv next month will be postponed to 2026 amid widespread disruption wrought by the Israel-Iran war.

The games, seen as akin to a Jewish Olympics, had been set to...