Nine months after winning the gold medal in tennis at the Paralympic Games, Israeli Noam Gershony is competing in the World Cup in Turkey with Team Israel. Gershony, who was severely injured in a helicopter crash during Israel’s Second Lebanon War, is joined in the competition by teammates Shraga Weinberg and Patrick Ben Uliel. After a few winning matches Sunday, Israel was ranked in second place at the tournament. Dudi Sela has climbed up from the 110th spot in the men’s tennis rankings to number …More

After 10 weeks, Olympic gymnast Alexandra Raisman’s “Dancing with the Stars” journey is up, as she and partner Mark Ballas were eliminated from the 16th season show. Raisman and Ballas managed to stay safe for nine weeks, and were never up for elimination in that time. On Monday’s show they competed against three remaining dancing teams: Jacoby Jones and Karina Smirnoff, Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough, and Zendaya and Val Chmerkovskiy. Aly was so excited about the finale and wished the …More

Two Israeli soccer legends, both members of Israel’s national team, retired this weekend: Nir Davidovich and Walid Badir. The players ended their respective careers with a match against each other Saturday night, earning an emotional standing ovation from the crowds. Maccabi Haifa (Davidovich) beat Hapoel Tel Aviv (Badir) 3:2, but the climax of the game came when both players were substituted, cheered on by fans of both sides. “This was the most emotional moment of my career,” said Davidovich. …More

David Beckham, the British midfielder who is known for his good looks and marriage to former Spice Girl, Victoria Beckham, has announced that he will retire from soccer when the season ends. The 38-year-old has championship titles from practically every team that he has played for—Manchester United, Real Madrid, A.C. Milan, and St. Germain. His success on the field, combined with his looks and savvy marketing has made him one of the biggest stars in soccer, and a household name. “If you had told me …More

Last week Aly Raisman had to say farewell, at least on TV, to one of her closest friends on the show, Sean Lowe. “I'm really sad Sean's gone. He'll still be in LA, so I'll see him. And it's funny because in the beginning, I never expected to get close with Sean, but he's such a nice guy and so down-to-earth. We always hung out on set. He's like an older brother,” she said about his departure. The semi-finals of “Dancing with the Stars” brought out more of Raisman’s competitive edge, …More

As Team Israel prepares for a friendly match against Honduras’ soccer team in New York on June 2, which will mark the first official Israeli appearance in the city in decades, head coach Eli Guttman held a phone press conference from Israel Monday afternoon. “We know a lot of Jewish people over there [New York] are waiting for us, and we want them to proud of the Israeli National team,” said Guttman. Israel’s soccer team is currently ranked 59th in the world, and second place in their …More

Pascale Bercovitch has a firm handshake and a ready smile. She’s hard to keep up with as she takes an elevator to a cafe on the ground floor of her gym in northern Tel Aviv and talks about her hopes to compete in 2016 in Rio De Janeiro. It’s easy to forget that she’s 45 years old and has no legs. “I love to find my limit and push it, to succeed more than I did yesterday,” Bercovitch told JTA. “What interests me is the journey.” For Bercovitch, who has represented Israel …More

On July 23 the Israeli National Basketball team will start training for the European Championships in September. As the players met with Arik Shivak and the rest of Team Israel’s coaching staff, Omri Casspi took the opportunity to discuss his past season, scoring more DNP (Did Not Play) games than points. Ever since the native Israeli failed to replicate the beginning of his NBA career, there has been talk of him returning to play for Israel’s powerhouse, Maccabi Tel Aviv. The forward debunked those …More

While Yossi Benayoun has been suffering anti-Semitic abuse on Twitter, basketball and soccer fans in the holy land have continued to cross all lines, causing riots and interfering with police work. In Israeli soccer, Beitar Jerusalem’s fans are causing most of the commotion during bouts with Saknin. Beitar management has also been targeted by a violent group of racist fans that call themselves “La Familia” and are dedicated to “Keep Beitar Pure” as signs stated months ago in a match …More

Israeli soccer star Yossi Benayoun fielded anti-Semitic abuse this week, directed at his Twitter account on his birthday. The abuse has led to a police investigation in the UK, initiated by Chelsea, Benayoun’s current team. Yossi received many birthday wishes by fans on Twitter, but not everybody took the opportunity to bless him. He decided to retweet the nasty tweet, which resulted with his team calling the police. Last month, Chelsea launched an investigation after Benayoun said he was the victim of …More

As the stakes get higher on ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars,” Aly Raisman nailed not one, but two routines during the eighth week of the hit show. But there was still time for fun, as both Tom Bergeron, host of “Dancing with the Stars,” and Raisman’s father celebrated this week: Monday night was the first time this season that the contestants had to perform two routines. For their first dance, Raisman and partner Mark Ballas danced an Argentine Tango, and completely nailed …More

Another great week for Israeli athletes across the board in international competitions, as more of Israel’s national teams returned home with medals. Israelis brought home medals in judo, gymnastics and shooting. Sergey Richter won bronze at Ft. Benning, GA in Olympic-style shooting on Monday, adding another medal to his career. The 23-year-old Israeli won the European title in February, and was ranked 4th in the world. This medal is Richter’s second in the current season’s world competition …More