Israeli Basketball

Chanan Golub
The George Washington University

Over the last three and half years, it seems that not a day goes by without hearing about tragedy occurring in Israel. The television images of buses with blown-out roofs and shattered windows, bloody faces and bodies of innocent victims who lay lifelessly on the ground are everlasting. As a citizen, I lived in Israel for seven years between 1984 and 1991, through the first intifada ("uprising") and the Gulf War. These last few years have been very frustrating and demoralizing.

However, I’m not going to write about what I think about the peace process or why I think militant Palestinians are to blame for the destruction of the work that Yitzhak Rabin z"l, Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak have undertaken. I’m not going to talk about what my Israeli cousins, schoolmates, or friends think about living in terror or how their lives have changed since September 2001.

Why are Israelis in a joyous mood?

I would rather talk about the excitement, happiness, and sheer jubilation that most Israelis are experiencing this season. Why are Israelis in this joyous mode? No, it’s not because of Passover and the overwhelming joy of eating matzah for eight days (seven days in Israel) or that current Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon has decided to have a duel with Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for control of the Likud Party. Israelis are getting excited over BASKETBALL.

Many of you might not know that Israeli basketball has become very popular over the last ten years and that Israeli basketball players have had chances to make it to the NBA. Nadav Henefeld was a standout in the early "90s at the University of Connecticut; Doron Sheffer continued the tradition by becoming a star at UCONN and became the first Israeli drafted by an NBA team, the Los Angeles Clippers in 1998. Then came Oded Katash, considered, by far, the best Israeli player since the likes of Jamchey and Berkovitz. He was given a tryout contract with the New York Knicks in 1999, but decided to return to Israel due to the strike that occurred during the 1999-2000 season.

An Israeli on an NBA team?

Today, one can find Israeli players, both male and female, on many college basketball teams, and one in particular is garnering most of the attention. Amit Tamir, a forward on the University of California – Berkeley, could become the first Israeli to ever make an NBA team. Although Israelis are proud of their countrymen’s great success and achievement in playing in the United States and Europe, they have been engulfed and captivated with the success that their domestic teams are having in Europe.

European Basketball has three leagues, which feature teams from across Europe. These leagues include the Euroleague, the ULEB Cup, and FIBA Europe League. Teams from Europe are assigned to each league based on their overall record during the previous year, in their respective Domestic League. Israel, therefore, sent Maccabi Tel Aviv to the Euroleague, Hapoel Jerusalem to the ULEB Cup, and Hapoel Tel Aviv and Iscar Nahariya to FIBA Europe. All four teams made it to their respective league playoffs.

Maccabi Tel Aviv is one win away from making it to the Final Four of the Euroleague, taking place in Tel Aviv at Yad Eliyahu. Hapoel Jerusalem beat, in dramatic fashion, a team from Serbia – they won by three points in a game played in Jerusalem – and they advance now to the championship game of the ULEB Cup where they will face Real Madrid of Spain. Although Iscar Nahariya lost in the quarterfinals, Hapoel Tel Aviv advanced to FIBA Europe’s Final Four.

All in all, Israeli basketball teams are making great strides and are taking Europe by storm. And I for one couldn’t be happier or prouder of these accomplishments than I am right now. I have even gotten into the habit of going online and seeing the play-by-play of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s games in the Euroleague, as well as Hapoel Jerusalem. Although for all intents and purposes and, for any Israelis reading this, Kol Ha’Olam Kulo Maccabi Tel-Aviv, (‘the entire nation is Maccabi Tel Aviv’).

Join Israelis in celebrating basketball

However, whether you’re a supporter of Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Jerusalem, Hapoel Tel Aviv, or Iscar Nahariya, or if you like basketball or not, we should all be proud as Jews and supporters of Israel, of the success that "OUR" teams are having this year. This is a chance for Jews from all over the world to get behind Israel, not because of another tragedy or to call for governments to help stop anti-Semitic acts from taking place, but to join Israelis in celebrating the continuing success of their basketball teams.

* Editor's Note: As we go "to press," we are delighted to be able to wish a hearty mazal tov to Captain Erez Katz and Hapoel Jerusalem for their victory in the ULEB Cup!

[Posted 4/19/04]