Soccer: Israel has gone up in the FIFA ranking, due to “friendly” win over Finland (2:1) a couple of weeks ago. Lior Refaelov’s goal at the final minutes of the game boosted Team Israel ten notches up to the No. 66 spot in FIFA’s world rankings. Good news for Coach Gutman and the Israeli team as they look ahead to the next match against Portugal in the early qualification stages of the FIFA World Cup. Stats and rankings are published once a month by the soccer association. The top 3 …More

The Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) has teamed up with Football Association (FA) to produce an educational video about the Holocaust that will be shown in schools across the UK. The seven and a half minute video, which features players from Steven Gerrard to Joe Hart, will be sent to secondary schools across England as part of a long term program about the Holocaust. The program also includes survivors speaking to more than 60,000 students each year. Karen Pollock, Chief Executive of HET, which successfully …More

FIFA has decided to punish the Hungarian National Soccer Team for the anti-Semitic chants by fans at a match against Team Israel last August. Team Hungary will face a 40,000 Euro fine, and Hungarian fans are banned from showing up at the upcoming game between Hungary and Romania in the early qualification stages of the World Cup, scheduled in March. As Hungary hosted a friendly match with the Israeli team, local fans were yelling and chanting “dirty Jews,” “Auschwitz,” and “Viva …More

Hummus Day pioneer Ben Lang plans to also pioneer International Falafel Day. [The Times of Israel] FIFA President Sepp Blatter calls on Israeli soccer officials to “urgently” help a Palestinian player on a hunger strike in Israeli custody. [The Times of Israel] The first female Druze dentist in Israel is also a pilot and a lawyer. [Ynet] Five ministers and Members of Knesset receive warnings for missing more than one-third of the Knesset’s winter sessions. [Arutz Sheva 7] Jews and Latinos …More

Greece are preparing to put their unbeaten record on the line in tomorrow's UEFA EURO 2012 Group F qualifier away to Israel in Tel Aviv, and areeager to continue their fine form. Fernando Santos' side have not been beaten in his 12-game tenure so far and sit top of their group with four wins and two draws from their six matches. They face a stiff test in Tel Aviv tomorrow night, however, and go into the match without defender Nikos Spyropoulos and forward Stefanos Athanasiadis. Santos' men then meet Latvia in Riga …More