{"id":448270,"date":"2026-05-18T20:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/448270\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T20:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:35:09","slug":"israeli-hoops-players-end-strike-return-to-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/448270\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli hoops players end strike, return to play"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel\u2019s Minister of Culture and Sports<\/a>, Miki Zohar, helped resolve the Israeli players’ strike after Hapoel Tel Aviv<\/a> had four of its five players foul out, ending the game against Bnei Herzliya prematurely.<\/p>\n

Herzliya defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv 70-59 in a game that ended in the second quarter as Dimitrios Itioudis\u2019s squad, which played with just five imports, saw four players foul out to end the clash. Justin Edler-Davis scored 21 points, and Zack Bryant added 18 points in the win, while Jonathan Motley scored 22 points in the loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, unfortunately, this was not a legitimate basketball game,\u201d Itoudis began following the game. \u201cBasketball<\/a> does not deserve a night like this. We did not lose on purpose; we only had five registered players. Although we had three good practices together, it\u2019s impossible to take anything seriously in a situation like this. Every worker has the right to strike.”<\/p>\n

The farcical result ultimately led to a resolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am pleased to announce that the Israeli players are returning to play, and the strike has ended. After many discussions with the Players\u2019 Association, the League Administration, and the team owners, we reached an agreement that the strike is ending, and the players will return to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"VASILIJEVASILIJE MICIC and Hapoel Tel Aviv are headed to the Euroleague playoffs in their first season in the competition, while Maccabi Tel Aviv\u2019s continental campaign is over. (credit: Courtesy)An especially important moment for local basketball players<\/p>\n

According to the agreement with the players, starting next season, the minister\u2019s framework will grant a budget of 2.2 million NIS only to teams that play with four foreign players throughout the entire season.<\/p>\n

Zohar also agreed with Basketball Association Chairman Amos Frishman to establish a steering committee in cooperation with the League Administration and the players, which will submit its conclusions with the aim of bringing the sides back to the negotiating table in order to reach agreements ahead of next season.<\/p>\n

Minister Zohar added, \u201cThe bizarre situation that occurred during the game between Hapoel Tel Aviv and Bnei Herzliya left no choice but to do everything possible to resolve the crisis. I\u2019m pleased that the players accepted my proposal and will return to play. I sincerely hope the sides will sit down as soon as possible to reach agreements for next season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The League Administration said, \u201cWe congratulate Minister Miki Zohar<\/a> for bringing the strike to an end. We would also like to thank Yaniv Levy for his efforts to help resolve the crisis in Israeli basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Players\u2019 Association Chairman Nir Alon commented: \u201cI thank Sports Minister Miki Zohar for his vigorous efforts and commitment throughout the process to resolve the crisis. Special thanks also to Naor Galili, who joined the mission and worked professionally and precisely to help reach agreements and allow the games to return to normal.<\/p>\n

Will Rayman scored 24 points, and Sahar added 22 points in the win.<\/p>\n

This is an especially important moment for local basketball players, including our future generation, and especially for Israeli basketball and the Israeli national teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the court, Maccabi Tel Aviv walloped Hapoel Galil Elyon 108-51 in a clash that was never close as youngster Oren Sahar starred for the yellow-and-blue in the first game that took place after the players’ strike.<\/p>\n

Will Rayman scored 24 points, and Sahar added 22 points in the win.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Hapoel Holon slipped by Maccabi Ra\u2019anana 95-93, while Hapoel Beersheba topped Maccabi Ramat Gan 101-95 in yet another game that was affected by the strike, as five imports and youth players took to the court for the contest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s Minister of Culture and Sports, Miki Zohar, helped resolve the Israeli players’ strike after Hapoel Tel Aviv…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4290,100466,85,46,106,34257,43,105,116],"class_list":["post-448270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-basketball","tag-hapoel-beersheba","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-israel-sports","tag-maccabi-tel-aviv","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-tel-aviv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}