David Wiseman

Originally appeared in jns.org, March 24, 2026

Although players will not compete in the Billie Jean King Cup event in Bosnia, they will retain their ranking level for next year.

The Israel Tennis Association (ITA) has announced that Israel’s women’s national team will not participate in the Billie Jean King Cup tournament in April, citing security concerns related to travel and the current regional situation.

Israel had been scheduled to compete against Bosnia in the Europe/Africa Group II event. According to the ITA, concerns centered on both the security situation in Israel and the players’ safety while traveling abroad. Officials also noted sensitivities about competing in a destination perceived as less friendly toward Israel at this time, as well as the participation of teams from several Muslim-majority countries, including Egypt and Morocco.

The Billie Jean King Cup, formerly known as the Fed Cup, is the premier international team competition in women’s tennis and is often referred to as the “World Cup of Tennis.” This year’s competition features a record 148 nations competing across four regions: Africa, the Americas, Asia/Oceania and Europe.

Israel previously hosted the Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I tournament in Eilat in 2012, 2013 and 2016.

The ITA said it considered hosting this year’s event in Israel but determined it was not feasible given the current security circumstances.

Ronen Morali, captain of Israel’s team, said, “This was the right and wisest decision under the current circumstances. Following the concerns expressed by the players, most of whom are very young, and due to the understanding that we will not be harmed professionally by the move, we decided to submit an official request to the ITF not to participate in the tournament.”

The International Tennis Federation accepted the ITA’s formal request to withdraw.

Morali noted that, if the trip had been scheduled to take place now, “The Israeli security authorities would not have authorized us to go.”

He added, “Our responsibility is first and foremost to protect the players’ safety and security.”

Jonathan Erlich, captain of Israel’s Davis Cup team and a former Israeli doubles player, faced similar security challenges in September 2025, when Israel competed against Canada in a Davis Cup World Group I tie in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The matches were played without spectators at the Scotiabank Centre due to security concerns.

Erlich supported the women’s team’s decision. “I think they made the right decision. Going to a country that in normal days we not been loved so now will be too risky.”

David Wiseman, founder of the Facebook page Follow Team Israel, which highlights stories about Israeli and Jewish athletes and has more than 160,000 followers, said security considerations increasingly affect Israeli participation in international competitions.

“The unfortunate reality is that this is the world we live in. There are too many geopolitical considerations when an Israeli sports team competes around the world,” Wiseman said.

He cited recent examples in which Israeli athletes were unable to participate in international events.

In January 2024, Israel’s rock-climbing team and its top climber, Ayala Kerem, were barred from competing in the Dock Masters 2024 competition in Utrecht, Netherlands, due to concerns about potential security threats.

In October 2025, Israeli gymnasts, including Olympic medalist Artem Dolgopyat, were denied entry visas to the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia.

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Original article was published on The Jerusalem Post

Where can Israel and Jewish sports lovers read about female Israeli golfer Laetitia Beck tying for 53rd at the recent Meijer LPGA Classic, kayaker Talia Eilat winning the bronze at the European Championships, and the Israel South All-Stars baseball team going to the Little League World Series Regional Qualifier in Poland? They can read these stories and more – and catch a sneak preview of Team Israel’s Olympic uniforms – on the Follow Team Israel Facebook group!

Founder David Wiseman, a father of three who playfully places his date of Aliyah from Sydney, Australia, to Jerusalem to the 2004 Athens Olympics, is pleased to report that the Facebook group surpassed an astounding 100,000 followers in July.

A passion project

The page is a hobby and passion project for Wiseman when he is not doing his Buzz Dealer digital branding and online reputation management “day job.”

The project has combined his three loves – Israel, Judaism and sports for an audience he reports “is not always Jewish or Israeli and doesn’t always care about sports.”

standing in lights of sport arena (credit: INGIMAGE)

Wiseman reports that he “doesn’t provide scores, but rather stories – that is what they connect to.”  He is pleased to provide “a constant stream of positive content about Israel which is not political” and is unconcerned “if the person comes in No. 100, No. 14 or No. 2.  Wiseman just wants “to shine a little light on athletes and what they do.

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Original Article Published On The JNS

“It is just good news after good news; who wouldn’t want that, especially in times like this?” according to David Wiseman and Shari Wright-Pilo, who created a Facebook page to chart the journey of Israeli Olympic athletes and their designated sport.

Nearly 10 years ago, just before the 2012 London Olympics, new immigrants to Israel David Wiseman and Shari Wright-Pilo noticed a lack of what they considered to be much-needed English-language news and content about the Israeli Olympic team. They decided to do something about it; they created the Facebook group “Follow Team Israel” to share stories about the Olympics, as well as stories about Jewish athletes and sports teams from around the world. Now, nine years later and days away from the start of the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympics set to take place July 23 to Aug. 8, their page has 21,282 followers and is considered the premier English source about Israeli athletes.

“The page was created out of a shared love of two things: Israel and sport,” reports Wiseman, who made aliyah from Australia in 2005. “With most of the athletes playing sports that are ignored or neglected by traditional sports media, the page strengthens the connection between the fans and the athletes.”

Wiseman and Wright-Pilo, an immigrant from Toronto, Canada, have one goal. “It is just good news after good news; who wouldn’t want that, especially in times like this?” poses Wiseman, who feels that these hardworking, talented athletes deserve attention. “We do it because we want the athletes to know all they do for us, and that all their sacrifices aren’t in vain.”

Follow Team Israel continues to post a wide range of stories each day, covering such topics as Israeli windsurfer and Olympian Katy Spychakov; the two Orthodox American Jews drafted to Major League Baseball teams (Elie Kligman by the Washington Nationals and Jacob Steinmetz to the Arizona Diamondbacks); and Israeli Yam Madar, drafted by the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association. While the site posts only sports-related stories, Wiseman observes that the appeal is to a wider audience who cares about Israel.

David Wiseman and Shari Wright-Pilo. Credit: Courtesy.

“The irony is that most of them aren’t sports fans—couldn’t care less about it—but they love Israel, and they love to see people passionate about what they do/representing Israel,” says Wiseman.

The Jerusalem-based Wiseman, who works in digital branding and online reputation management, is excited about the upcoming summer Olympics, even if they will mostly be held without fans as a precaution against contracting and/or spreading COVID-19.

When asked to offer three to five Israeli athletes to keep an eye on at the upcoming Olympics, he had a hard time limiting himself. He reluctantly stopped at seven, noting, “It’s like picking a favorite grandchild.”

Wiseman’s list includes:

  1. Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, Marathon
  2. Israel’s baseball team, Team Israel
  3. Linoy Ashram and Nicol Zelikman, Individual rhythmic gymnastics (there is also a team)
  4. Judo (six men and six women, one in each weight division)
  5. Anat Lelior, Surfing
  6. Avishag Semberg, Tae kwon do
  7. Sagiv brothers, Triathlon (Ran and Shachar Sagiv will both compete; they come from a connected Israeli Olympic family. Their father is Olympic marathon runner Shemi Sagiv.)

Israel is planning to send 89 athletes to the Olympics (54 men and 35 women) to complete in 15 sports—nearly double the number of athletes who represented the Jewish state at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. The numbers are unusually high, in part, since 24 of the 89 are on Israel’s baseball team.

Linoy Ashram. Credit: European Gymnastics (https://www.europeangymnastics.com/).

Israel has won nine Olympic medals since it first participated in 1952. The first came in 1992 in the sport of Judo when Yael Arad won a silver medal. She was followed a day later by another judoka, Oren Smadja, who won bronze. Gal Fridman is the only Israeli to win a gold medal (windsurfing, Athens 2004) and so far the only Israeli to win two medals (bronze, Atlanta 1996).

This year’s Olympics will feature Israel’s first-ever archer (22-year-old Itay Shanny), surfer (21-year-old Anat Lelior) and equestrian team. The team of four show jumpers includes an eclectic group: Mexican-born Alberto Michan, who is in his third Olympics but representing Israel for the first time; Teddy Vlock, a 23-year old jumper who reportedly trains with Yale University in New Haven, Conn.; American-born 36-year-old Danielle Goldstein Waldman; and Ashlee Bond, whose father is Shlomo Goldberg/Steve Bond, the Israeli-born American model and actor.

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