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Toronto Raptors Jewish co-owner: Team will visit Israel if it wins NBA championship

The Raptors lead the Golden State Warriors three games to two in the best-of-seven series.

Toronto Raptors vs. the Washington Wizards on April, 27, 2018. Credit: Flickr.
Toronto Raptors vs. the Washington Wizards on April, 27, 2018. Credit: Flickr.

The Toronto Raptors are one game away from winning its first NBA championship on Thursday, in addition to gaining a complimentary trip to the ultimate Promised Land.

The team’s Jewish billionaire co-owner, Larry Tanenbaum, told several people during a recent trip to Israel, “If we win the NBA championship, I will come with the Toronto Raptors to visit the Holy Land.”

Tanenbaum, a prominent and philanthropic member of the Toronto Jewish community, helped found the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

The Raptors lead the Golden State Warriors three games to two in the best-of-seven series.

“This political environment could discourage congressional committee staff and federal agency personnel from pursuing investigations or enforcement actions involving antisemitism,” Karen Paikin Barall of the Brandeis Center told JNS.
“They get social credit within their political bases in terms of talking about settler violence and and taking up the side of the Palestinians on issues between them and Israel,” Rafael Mangual of the Manhattan Institute told JNS.
The U.S. envoy also said antisemitism “didn’t exist” during his upbringing and warned of an unintended clash between Israel and Turkey.
“There is not, and there will not be, a Palestinian state,” the Israeli prime minister pledged. He also called for the corruption trial against him to be dropped.