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Originally appeared at jns.org on July 14, 2026.

After becoming the first Israeli women’s national basketball team to win a European medal, the team reflected on the bond that fueled its remarkable run.

The cheers that greeted Israel’s under-20 women’s basketball team at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Monday evening were for more than a silver medal. After becoming the first Israeli women’s national basketball team to win a medal at a European championship, the players returned home following a week that captivated sports fans across the country.

Israel capped its remarkable run at the Fédération Internationale de Basketball Amateur (FIBA) U20 Women’s EuroBasket competition in Lithuania on Sunday by winning the silver medal, falling 79-66 to France in the championship game.

The team was welcomed by family members, supporters and Israel Basketball Association officials before holding a celebratory press conference at the airport.

Israel reached the final after finishing second in Group A, then defeated Hungary 96-79 in the Round of 16, edged Poland 80-79 in the quarterfinals, and beat Belgium 78-69 in the semifinals.

Maya Zilbershlag of Israel drives past France’s Sarah Cisse, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, during the FIBA U20 Women’s EuroBasket championship game in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 12, 2026. Credit: FIBA.

To advance to the knockout stage, Israel won two of its three group games. After narrowly losing to defending champion Spain in its opener, Israel rebounded to defeat Croatia 87-85 before rallying from a 13-point deficit to beat host Lithuania 74-71.

France, which has won four of the last nine European U20 titles, raced to an 18-0 lead in the championship game against Israel’s starting lineup of Mayan Cohen, Ayala Oren, May Bayko, Maya Zilbershlag and Gal Raviv.

Israel steadily fought back, cutting the deficit to eight by the end of the first quarter. France led 44-31 at halftime and extended its advantage to as many as 23 points in the third quarter. Israel answered with a 9-0 run in the fourth, trimming the deficit to 68-58 with five minutes remaining, but France held on for the 79-66 victory.

Raviv led Israel with 29 points and eight rebounds and was named to the tournament’s All-Star Five. Ayala Oren added 16 points and 10 rebounds, Maya Zilbershlag scored 12 points with six rebounds, May Bayko had four points, Neta Meisher added three and Mayan Cohen scored two. Cohen had poured in 26 points and tied the tournament record for three-pointers in Israel’s semifinal victory over Belgium.

France’s Sarah Cisse was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player after averaging 15.4 points and 10 rebounds per game. She was joined on the All-Star Five by teammate Ines Pitarch-Granel, Spain’s Ines Sotelo Miguez, Lithuania’s Daniele Paunksnyte and Israel’s Raviv.

The tournament’s top five finishers were France, Israel, Spain, Belgium and Poland.

Gal Raviv addresses the media at Ben-Gurion Airport on Monday after Israel’s U20 women’s national basketball team returned from Lithuania with a historic silver medal at the FIBA U20 Women’s EuroBasket. Credit: IBBA.

‘The girls have a crazy desire to succeed’

At the airport press conference, head coach Tal Nathan credited the team’s chemistry and resilience for its historic achievement.

“The girls have a crazy desire to succeed, they love each other and that’s the point. I walk around the hotel all day and notice the special bond between the players—that’s what helped us get out of stressful situations during the games. The ability to recover from a game that ended in the evening and play tomorrow evening requires physical and mental readiness, and we did it excellently. That’s the greatness of the girls.”

Raviv said hearing Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, before every game gave the team extra motivation.

“The anthem made us all come ‘crazy’ to every game. We are disappointed with the loss in the final, but very proud of the history we made.”

Israel Basketball Association Chairman Amos Frishman praised the team’s determination throughout the tournament.

“This tremendous achievement will always be remembered by the players. I even heard about girls who were injured and their ability to play was in doubt. From here I want to say to the men’s teams too—that it is possible to play even with minor injuries. I want as many young girls as possible to go and play basketball—we have a bright future!”

You paved the way for the next generation.

Liron Cohen, chairwoman of the Israel Basketball Association’s Women’s Professional Committee, said the players had inspired the next generation of Israeli athletes.

“I am very excited to stand here on the administrative side and see what the players did throughout the championship. You paved the way for the next generation. You were born basketball-playing girls and you swept up an entire country after you,” she said.

“The history that you made will never be forgotten. Everyone will go on her own way and find her own place, but the things you did on the national team—with the flag and the anthem of Israel—will be remembered forever. Nothing compares to that!”

The silver medal was the first ever won by an Israeli women’s national basketball team at a European championship, capping a breakthrough tournament that saw Israel upset several higher-ranked opponents and capture the imagination of basketball fans back home.

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Originally appeared in jns.org on July 9, 2026.

Despite facing hostility throughout the tournament, Team Israel captured gold and now has its sights set on qualifying for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

(July 9, 2026 / JNS) Israel’s women’s box lacrosse team brought home a gold medal from the inaugural European Box Lacrosse Championship, which concluded in the Czech Republic on July 4.

The squad—made up of players ages 17 to 28—advanced through pool play against England, the Czech Republic, Finland and the Netherlands before defeating Ireland in the semifinals and Germany 10-1 in the championship game.

But the team’s athletic success was only part of the story.

“It felt hostile,” Ian Kadish, CEO and executive director of the Israel Lacrosse Association (ILA), told JNS in a phone interview from his home in Ashkelon. Also participating in the interview was ILA Board Chair Dan Kraft.

Kadish, a former college lacrosse player and member of Israel’s national team who made aliyah in 2018, recounted numerous uncomfortable incidents throughout the tournament.

“There were chants of ‘genocide,’ people wouldn’t shake our hands after games, and some people wouldn’t stay inside for the national anthems,” he said.

Despite the hostility, Kadish stressed that the team never felt physically unsafe, crediting what he described as “top-notch security”—the most extensive he has experienced in his years as both a player and coach.

He believes some of the animosity also stemmed from Israel’s reputation as a powerhouse in international lacrosse.

“People like to see the big dogs lose,” Kadish said.

That made the championship victory all the more meaningful.

“At a time when it feels we don’t have a lot of light and positivity, it was awesome to win the tournament, against all odds,” he said.

Dan Kraft, ILA’s board chair, is the son of philanthropist and Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots. The Kraft family has long supported sports initiatives in both the United States and Israel, including donating millions of shekels toward a new sports complex in Kfar Galim. The family also funded Kraft Family Stadium in Jerusalem’s Gan Sacher and facilities at Sportek in Jerusalem’s Emek Arazim. The Daniel Kraft Family National Lacrosse Center in Ashkelon is the only lacrosse-specific facility in Europe and the Middle East.

Kraft said the experience ultimately strengthened the players.

“Experiencing what they did helped bring the team closer together,” he said. “It helps with the chemistry of the team and it helps them perform. It was us versus the world—symbolic of what the Jewish people have experienced for more than 3,000 years.”

The box lacrosse arena where Israel’s women captured gold at the inaugural European Box Lacrosse Championship once served as an SS operations center during World War II. Credit: Shutterlax.

From a Nazi past to Olympic dreams

The tournament venue itself carried historical significance.

“The box lacrosse tournament has been held here for the last 10 or 15 years,” Kadish said. During a previous visit, a local resident pointed out that the arena occupies the site of a former municipal building used by the SS as a staging ground and operations center during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia.

Kadish and Kraft shared two photographs taken at the same location—one showing Nazi troops assembled outside the building during World War II, and another showing Israel’s women celebrating their European championship victory in front of the same structure.

“You can clearly see the same building behind the marching soldiers, and our Israel women winning the European championship in front of it,” Kadish said. “Quite jarring.”

Today, the site has been converted into the LCC Radotín box lacrosse arena.

With the tournament behind them, the players have returned home and are setting their sights on qualifying for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, where lacrosse will return to the Olympic program.

Kraft explained that traditional field lacrosse features nine field players and a goalie, while box lacrosse is played with five field players and a goalie in a faster-paced indoor format.

“We still have to qualify in the next 12 to 18 months,” Kraft said. “The fact that they won in such dominant fashion is promising. We are the inaugural European champions. As chairman, I love what it represents.”

Meanwhile, Kadish and the ILA continue expanding the sport across Israel through outreach to schools, camps and physical education programs, particularly in Ashkelon and communities near the Gaza border.

“Lacrosse has been the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. over the last 20 years in terms of participation,” Kraft said. “Kids in Israel want to do what is cool.”

Israel’s next generation of players

One example is 17-year-old Alma Shabatov of Sderot, who first encountered the sport in middle school and has since developed into a national team player and youth coach.

“I knew it from the TV show Teen Wolf,” she recalled with a laugh. “That is why I joined. Apparently a lot of us in Israel did.”

She quickly fell in love with the sport.

“I loved my coaches and teammates, and I’m staying with it,” she said.

Rachel Rosen, Israel Lacrosse’s director of women’s programming, invited Shabatov to join the senior women’s national team while also beginning a coaching career.

“Alma is the most passionate and resilient woman player in a long time,” Rosen said. “It is a pleasure to watch her play, grow and always be happy to be there. She sees this as the greatest opportunity ever.”

Kadish, Rosen’s fiancé, agreed.

“She picked up an unfamiliar sport and stuck with it through the worst of times,” he said.

Shabatov admitted she was nervous entering the European tournament.

“I am one of the few Israelis, I am the youngest and I was hesitant at first,” she said.

She also encountered repeated anti-Israel and antisemitic abuse.

“It is not the first time I have experienced antisemitism in lacrosse abroad,” she said. “People hate us just for wearing the flag. They were shouting at us during the opening ceremony: ‘F*** you. Go to hell. We hate you. Die.’”

She quickly refocused on the competition.

“I realized we don’t need anyone—just ourselves,” she said.

Shabatov recently moved into an Israel Lacrosse apartment in Ashkelon and hopes to earn elite athlete status during her IDF service.

Rosen said the organization has supported Shabatov through individual coaching, transportation to practices and travel assistance. She noted that Shabatov is one of several players from Gaza Envelope communities participating in the program.

“We definitely get kids who gravitate to lacrosse from the south—from Ashkelon, Kiryat Malachi, Be’er Tuvia and Beersheva,” Rosen said. “We bring a different perspective to sports and share it through school visits.”

Although thrilled by the gold medal, Rosen said she was not surprised by the result.

“We prepared on and off the field. We were a close-knit group of girls,” she said. “When we got to Prague, we said, ‘This gold is ours, and someone will have to take it from us.’ I knew we could win gold, and I’m super proud of our efforts—and glad we could make Israel proud.”

Looking back on the ILA’s growth since its founding 15 years ago, Kraft said the championship reflects the organization’s three core missions: strengthening Jewish identity and connections to Israel among Diaspora Jews, growing the sport within Israel, and competing successfully on the international stage.

“This championship checks all three of our tenets,” he said.

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Originally appeared in JNS.org on July 10, 2026.

Despite falling short in the series, Team Israel celebrated a historic performance, new friendships and valuable preparation for the European Championship.

Israel’s Under-19 National Baseball Team came close to accomplishing the improbable against Team USA at the 2026 Maccabiah Games at Ezra Schwartz Memorial Field in Ra’anana. Before this year’s series, Israel had defeated the Americans only once. This year, Team Israel raced to a surprising 3-1 series lead before dropping the final four games.

Despite the heartbreaking finish, Team Israel had plenty to celebrate. Both teams acknowledged just how far the Israeli program has progressed since the last Maccabiah they faced each other in 2022.

Freddy Bain, Team Israel’s manager, who represented Israel as a player at the 2017 Maccabiah, was understandably disappointed that his team could not close out the series. He said the players shared that feeling.

“The players were disappointed—but the experience was not a disappointment,” Bain told JNS.

“You show up to win—even though the odds are against you,” he added, noting that Israel had beaten Team USA only once before this year. “We played really well.”

Wayne Stofsky, head coach of Team USA’s Under-19 baseball team, July 8, 2026. Credit: Courtesy of Wayne Stofsky.

Building a stronger program

Wayne Stofsky, head coach of Team USA, admitted he was far from certain his team would prevail.

Stofsky, who played twice in the College World Series, coached Team USA at the 2022 Maccabiah, serves as director of athletics at the David Posnack School in Davie, Fla., and has helped numerous players reach the professional ranks through Cannons Baseball University, said, “I didn’t expect to win. I knew it would be competitive.”

He said his players were “ecstatic,” especially since an estimated 80% of them will not continue playing baseball in college.

“If this is their last baseball experience, it was a pretty good one,” he said.

Stofsky described the winding path that brought his team to Israel.

“We picked two teams in June 2024—a top team and a second team—with 18 players each,” he said.

When the 2025 Maccabiah was postponed because of the war in Gaza, Team USA lost 12 players from its top squad, two from the second team and two assistant coaches. Rather than hold new tryouts for 2026, Stofsky rebuilt the roster from players he had already evaluated during tryouts in four U.S. cities.

Then came the war with Iran.

“We lost 19 more players,” he said. “At that point we decided not to bring a second team.”

The tournament had originally been scheduled to include four teams—one from Israel, two from the United States and one from Canada. In the end, only Team Israel and a single American team competed.

“Instead of having two teams of 18, we had one team of 17,” Stofsky said. “But it felt good. Everyone wanted to be here and be part of the journey.”

For Stofsky, baseball is only part of the Maccabiah experience.

“I tell them baseball is just the avenue that gets you here,” he said. “The experience is much more than baseball.”

The two teams spent hours together both on and off the field, including a postgame pizza party and a visit to a shawarma restaurant.

Arnie Fielkow, Maccabi USA’s baseball chair, a former Maccabiah basketball player and sports attorney, agreed that assembling the team had been particularly difficult because of the postponement and the changing roster.

Now that the delegation is in Israel, he said, the experience has exceeded expectations.

“The opening ceremony was so special, and we got to see the Nova site,” he said. The team also visited Sderot and continued “connecting with Israel” through educational tours.

Both Fielkow and Stofsky praised the remarkable improvement of Israel’s baseball program.

“I am very proud of Israel Baseball,” Fielkow said. “Their improvement in play is unbelievable.”

Stofsky pointed to Israel’s deeper pitching staff, stronger infield and several players capable of competing in NCAA Division III baseball.

“They are advancing the sport,” he said.

He also believes the two-team format ultimately made for a better competition.

“Each game was competitive,” he said, noting that several contests were decided by one or two runs. “It was good for us and for the Israeli kids. It gave them a sense of how to compete and what to do.”

Team Israel’s Under-19 baseball players gather for a post-game meeting following their Game 6 loss to Team USA at the 2026 Maccabiah Games in Ra’anana on July 8, 2026. Photo by Howard Blas.

More than baseball

The seven-game series also served as ideal preparation for Team Israel’s next challenge.

Bain spoke with JNS as the team prepared to board a flight from Ben-Gurion Airport for the Under-18 European Baseball Championship, to be held in Trieste and Ronchi dei Legionari, Italy, from July 13-19.

“It is a quick turnaround and not a lot of time to be sad,” he said.

Team Israel manager Freddy Bain in the dugout before game versus Team USA in Ra'anana, July 7, 2026. Photo by Howard Blas.
Team Israel manager Freddy Bain in the dugout before game versus Team USA in Ra’anana, July 7, 2026. Photo by Howard Blas.

Looking back on the Maccabiah, Bain believes the experience extended well beyond the results.

“Within a game, it is hard to see the big picture,” he said. “Afterwards, you can see what it is all about—it is a celebration of world Jewry.”

He said many Israeli players were already chatting with their American counterparts on FaceTime from the airport.

“The American kids are a great group of kids,” Bain said. “It is nice seeing the kids interact and trading gear—even after seven intense games.”

Stofsky, who also spoke with JNS from Ben-Gurion Airport after a two-hour wait in the security line, was delighted to hear that his players were already keeping in touch with the Israelis.

“That is pretty cool. I didn’t know that,” he said. “The players got along really well. They got to the stadium two hours early, so they had time to hang out. They had pizza and shawarma together, and they were trading uniforms and hats. Maybe they were making friends for life.”

While grateful for the friendships and the opportunity to strengthen Jewish connections, Stofsky admitted there was still room for a little competitive satisfaction.

“It is not just about baseball,” he said with a smile, “but winning makes the trip a lot more fun and exciting!”

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