Kevin Youkilis, bench coach for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic, responded on social media to someone who accused him of being disloyal to America.
“Proud to be American, proud to be Jewish and proud to be coaching Israel Baseball. Yalla,” the Jewish former Boston Red Sox wrote. “It’s just baseball.”
Youkilis, who is nicknamed the “Greek god of walks,” has been very outspoken about Jew-hatred on social media since Oct. 7.
His response came to a podcast host who wrote that “Kevin Youkilis, a former MLB all-star and two-time World Series champ, decided to coach for Team Israel over Team USA in this year’s World Baseball Classic, even though he was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and has never lived in Israel.”
“This is a perfect example of where Jewish people’s loyalty really lies, because it’s certainly not with America,” the podcaster wrote.
Gabrielle Starr, a Red Sox writer for the Boston Herald who has also been outspoken on Jew-hatred, wrote that “Youk wasn’t asked to coach for Team USA.”
“Do you take issue with every American-born WBC player and coach who isn’t playing for Team USA or only Jews?” she wrote.
Starr added in another post that “including Team USA, 16 of the 20 World Baseball Classic teams have at least one USA-born player on their roster. Exceptions are Cuba, Australia, Japan and Venezuela.”
“This is publicly accessible information on mlb.com for anyone who isn’t focused on making ridiculous, factually inaccurate claims about Jewish people,” she wrote.
