Category: News

A blind bat | the performance in memory of Shauli Greenglick

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Shauli Greenglick RIP, a Maccabi fan and one of the closest friends of Maccabi midfielder Gabi Kanichowsky, was dreaming to become a singer. Shauli’s close friends reveal that when he wanted something he would go withy his truth all the way. Shauli’s voice had the judges of ‘Israel’s rising star’, the TV show that picks Israel’s submission for the Eurovision song contest, in his palm when he performed Hanan Ben Ari’s popular ballad ‘A blind bat’. Dressed in army fatigues and lieutenant’s stripes, Greenglick, and IDF reservist at the Nahal infantry brigade, performed on stage while on furlough from his mobilization in the war against Hamas since October 7th.

Despite being green-lit for the next round in the selection process, Greenglick, ultimately opted to withdraw from the program and return to Gaza where he was killed in action. His close friend told Greenglick: “Don’t give up your dream and continue in the competition”. But Shauli replied in a post he published: “Now I’m living an old dream, of fighting for the country… A new, different dream will have to wait a bit” Greenglick wrote in Facebook post published on December 14th. At the age of 26 and on December 26th Shauli fell in action in battles in the North of Gaza.

Ahead of this year’s Memorial Day for Israel’s Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Hostile Acts, Maccabi’s full-back, Avishay Cohen, together with Shauli’s siter, Michal Greenglick, a special version for the song was recorded where Shauli’s voice from his performance in ‘Israel’s rising star’ was added in.

Peter Roth (Artistic Management), Amos Ben David (Processing and Production) and Ofir Kaner (Mix) were the people behind the scenes who made sure this exciting project succeeds.

End of season fixtures announced

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The Israel Professional Football League announced the confirmed ONE ZERO League dates and kick-off times for the final three league rounds that conclude the 2023/24 campaign.

Maccabi that play their third successive away match on Saturday (20:30) as they face Maccabi Haifa at Sammy Ofer on MD33, host Hapoel Be’ersheva for MD34 at Bloomfield on May 18th. Maccabi then return to Sammy Ofer three days later for the MD35 midweek match against Hapoel Haifa (Tuesday, 20:30) and end the season with a home match against Maccabi Bnei Reineh at Bloomfield (20:30) on Saturday May 25th.

League fixtures:

MD34:

May 18th Bnei Sakhnin vs Maccabi Haifa (Doha, 20:30)

May 18th Bnei Reineh vs Hapoel Haifa (Nof Hagallil, 20:30)

May 18th Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Hapoel Be’ersheva (Bloomfield, 20:30)

MD35:

May 21st Bnei Reineh vs Bnei Sakhnin (Nof Hagallil, 20:30)

May 21st Hapoel Be’ersheva vs Maccabi Haifa (Turner, 20:30)

May 21st Hapoel Haifa vs Maccabi Tel Aviv (Sammy Ofer, 20:30)

MD36:

May 25th Bnei Sakhnin vs Hapoel Be’ersheva (Doha stadium, 20:30)

May 25th Maccabi Haifa vs Hapoel Haifa (Sammy Ofer, 20:30)

May 25th Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Bnei Reineh (Bloomfield, 20:30)

Watch: Davidzada after Bnei Sakhnin

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Maccabi Tel Aviv dropped two valuable points in the race for the league title as they were held to a 1-1 draw against Bnei Sakhnin at Doha. The point gained extended Maccabi’s lead at the top of the table to five points from second place Maccabi Haifa that hosts Saturday’s top of the table clash at Sammy Ofer. Ofir Davidzada faced the media at the end of the match and said: “We dominated the match and started the second half really well, scored the goal we wanted but the red card changed our plans”, the 33-year-old defender related to Felicio Milson’s dismissal in the 61st minute.

“We have four matches still left to play, with every match a final, so this title race will go all the way to the wire as we face a top of the table clash on Saturday” Davidzada said before adding: “We will leave what needs to be done in terms of preparations to the coaching staff who knows what needs to be done. We understand the meaning of this match, understand the rivalry as I know that professional footballers wait all season for matches like this. Such matches are fun, as one should enjoy them and come to win”.

On dealing with the fact the gap at the top stands on five, Davidzada said: “We are professional footballers and reached where we are at for a reason, so everything here is mentally strong. We have a coaching staff that knows to prepare us in the best possible way so everyone one of us needs to do whatever needs to be done and come prepared. We understand the importance of this match, we are ready for it as this is why we all play football”.  

Maccabi held to 1-1 draw in Sakhnin

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Preview

Maccabi Tel Aviv arrived at the Doha stadium for the ONE ZERO League MD32 against Bnei Sakhnin with a four-point-lead at the top of the table. Robbie Keane’s side that beat Sakhnin 2-0 when both teams met at Bloomfield last month, will aim to record their 23rd victory of the season and restore the lead at the top to seven points before facing Maccabi Haifa on Saturday.

Keane made no changes from the side that beat Bnei Reineh 3-2 as Roy Mishpati made his 30th appearance in Maccabi’s goal with Enric Saborit and Raz Shlomo lining-up as the two central defenders in front of him. Roy Revivo on the right and Ofir Davidzada on the left completed Maccabi’s back-four with Eden Karzev keeping his place in the anchorman role. Gabi Kanikowsky who scored his 10th goal against Reineh and Dor Perez who took his seasonal tally to 18 in all competitions completed Maccabi’s midfield trio.

Osher Davida who scored the opening goal last week, and Felicio Milson supplied the width to Keane’s formation with Eran Zahavi leading the attack seeking to score his 36th goal in all competitions. Joris van Overeem who recovered from a knee injury, was back in the squad for the first time and named amongst the substitutes together with Daniel Tenenbaum, Idan Nachmias, Dor Turgeman, Dan Biton, Yonas Malede, Eyal Golasa, Matan Baltaxa and Ido Shahar

First Half

Boosted by the support of around 2000 travelling fans, Maccabi began the match on the front foot and had the ball in the back of the net as early as the fourth minute. Sakhnin’s defense failed to clear a cross which fell to Osher Davida who slotted home from close range. But the referee assistant raised his flag for an offside against Davida before the goal was disallowed.

In the 16th minute, Dor Hugi charged half the length of the pitch before the ball fell to Basil Huri whose shot from the edge of the area forced Roy Mishpati to a double save. A minute later, the captains of both teams, Eran Zahavi and Hasan Hilu were booked by referee Orel Grinfeeld for a tussle near the center circle. Zahavi could have opened the score within a minute after he was teed up by Davida, but the veteran marksman blasted his shot high over the crossbar.

Hugi tested Mishpati once again with a shot which was easily collected by Maccabi’s keeper on 21 before Grinfeeld awarded a penalty at the opposite end two minutes later as he spotted a foul on Gabi Kanichowsky. The intervention of VAR called Grinfeeld to the screen as he overturned his initial decision and cancelled Maccabi’s spot kick.

Four minutes after the half hour mark Maccabi needed a last gasp tackle from Enric Saborit to rescue Mishpati from conceding after his attempt to clear the ball with his head caught him in no man’s land allowing Hugi a shot on goal.

Inside injury time Maccabi reached their best chances in the space of two minutes as Dor Peretz and Raz Shlomo couldn’t get enough contact on a telling cross which agonizingly crept wide of the far post. A minute later Sakhnin’s keeper Mohammed Abu Nil spread himself across the goal-line to deny Kanikowsky’s point blank effort.

Second Half

With no changes to either side at halftime, both teams emerged for the second half knowing that only something special would break the deadlock. Four minutes after the restart Kanichowsky carried the ball into the area before his shot was blocked by a Sakhnin defender. In the 53rd minute the deadlock was finally broken at the end of a spectacular Roy Revivo solo run down the right. Revivo’s pinpoint cut-back was swept by Davida in off the post to give Maccabi a promising 1-0 lead.

Four minutes later, Milson could have doubled Maccabi’s lead after Kanichowsky cushioned the ball for the Angolan winger whose shot was saved by Abu Nil. In the 61st minute and shortly after being booked for a tackle on a Sakhnin player, Milson, picked his second booking to leave Maccabi down with 10 men for the final half hour. As if losing Milson from Saturday’s match at Haifa wasn’t bad enough, Sakhnin exploited their numerical advantage in the 67th minute. Hilu rose high above Mishpati to head in a corner, level the score and dampen Maccabi’s mood.

Keane reacted with a double change in the 75th minute as Zahavi and Davida both bowed out and replaced by Matan Baltaxa and Yonas Malede. Sakhnin had the ball in Maccabi’s net in less than a minute later after a goalmouth scramble, but Grinfeeld spotted a handball and disallowed the goal.

In the 88th minute Peretz headed a ball over the bar before Keane made another change as Idan Nachmias came on for Revivo. Maccabi tried desperately to score a late winner, but the full-time whistle meant the spoils will be shared and the gap from second place set on five points with both sides facing each other at the weekend.   

The doctor who helped capture Adolf Eichmann

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The Maccabi Tel Aviv Academy hosted today (Tuesday) on the Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day, doctor Danny Elian who told the Club’s Under 16’s and Under 15’s about his father’s involvement in the operation to capture the Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann in Argentina and bring him to Israel for trial.

Yonah Elian was an Israeli anesthesiologist in the 50’s and 60’s and a Holocaust survivor. Despite being a civilian anesthesiologist, Elian took part in various undercover Mossad operations. Born in Romania in 1929, Elian who survived the Holocaust made Aliya and began working as an Anesthesiologist at Tel Hashomer hospital. Elian was recruited to the Mossad and in addition to his regular work, participated in various undercover operations until the late 60’s. He is best known for sedating Adolf Eichmann during the Mossad legendary operation to capture and repatriate the Nazi criminal in Buenos Aires in 1960 before he was smuggled onto a plane back to Israel to stand trial.

“Many times, I asked him, ‘Dad, why won’t you talk about this? What’s so secret?” Danny Elian, told the players as his father’s tale, and the secret he kept, only came to light in recent years.

Dubbed an “architect” of the Holocaust, Eichmann oversaw the deportation of Jews to their deaths. He escaped to Argentina after the war before he was tracked down by Mossad agents in 1960, captured Eichmann, held him in a safe house, then dressed him in an Israeli flight crew uniform and sneaked him past Argentinian airport authorities onto a plane headed back to Israel.

Elian senior, injected just the right dose of sedative to pass Eichmann off to Buenos Aires airport authorities as a sick crew member. Eichmann was brought to Jerusalem for a trial that was broadcast around the world, with more than 100 Holocaust survivors taking the witness stand. He was sentenced to death by hanging in December 1961. At age 56, Eichmann was hanged in June 1962.

The story of grandfather ‘Mimi’

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The story of my grandfather, Pinchas Schafer, or the way I called him ‘Mimi’ has been following me throughout my life.

Grandfather was born in 1919 in the small town of Rejowiec, Poland, as the son of Shaul and Roza Shmuklerman, and had three more siblings: two sisters and a brother. At the age of 15 grandfather relocated to the big city of Warsaw in order to help providing his religious orthodox family.

The story of his time during the Holocaust, grandfather refused to share with anyone for many years, including to his daughter, my mother, but I managed to extract it out of him ahead of my trip to Poland. He recorded me an audio tape with his story and I heard it for the first time in Poland.

While his brother dies before the Holocaust, grandfather’s parents and sisters were murdered by the Nazis. He survived the concentration and extermination camps of Majdanek and Auschwitz and during my trip to Poland, I reached the barrack where he stayed in the camp and while standing beside a massive pile of ashes of those who perished his image emerged before my eyes and this is when I cracked.

Several years later, grandfather gave a testimony as part of a Steven Spielberg project on the Holocaust, during which he revealed some facts which were never heard before (on how the Nazis forced him to make tiles from the ashes of those who were murdered).

After he was liberated from Auschwitz, grandfather made Aliya to Israel, settled in Petah Tikva and joined the Palmach (the elite fighting force of the Haganah) where he served under the Yiftach brigade. He changed his name from Shmoklerman to Schafer, in order to become a living memorial of his parents (Schafer being the Hebrew initials for Shaul, Pinchas and Roza). Grandfather fought in the War of Independence under the legendary Pilon, and was injured in the conquest battle of the Nabi Yusha fort which is also known as Metzudat Koach and is situated in the Upper Galilee.

In 1950 grandfather married the girl of his choice (grandmother) Rita and they had two daughters – my mother Varda (named after his mother Roza) and Hagit as the family lived in Giv’atayim where I was grew up. Grandfather supported Hapoel Petah Tikva FC and over the years had heated debates with my father, Israel, who is a die-hard Maccabi Tel Aviv fan who even played for the club’s youth academy. Throughout my childhood he had one hope which never materialized to transform my love to Maccabi. Yet he still enjoyed watching matches with me and enjoyed talking to me about football, but was mostly delighted to see me happy when the team did well and suffered with me when they didn’t.

Grandfather loved the country a lot and continued serving till his final days as he volunteered at the Ministry of Defence. During my military service, I even managed to spend some time with him when we served on the same bases.

Grandfather and Grandmother had four more grandchildren, with me being the eldest as both I and my sister gave them two more great grandsons and two more great-grand daughters. Grandfather Mimi’s eldest great-grandchild who is my eldest son, Eitam, is also a die-hard Maccabi supporter – might receive an additional middle name in his memory – Schafer.

Grandmother Rita passed away at the end of 2012 and my grandfather who couldn’t bear that died shortly after in the beginning of 2014. They are buried side by side at the Menucha-Nechona cemetery in Kfar Sava and for time to time Eitam and I visit their graves.

I love you grandfather, rest in peace.

 

The last survivor who raised a glorious family

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During my childhood I was surrounded by a warm loving couple of parents, an elder brother and sister and a large number of uncles, aunties and cousins. As a curious child I asked my mother how come she has so many brothers and sisters while my father has no siblings or even parents. The answer I received was “When you grow up we will tell you” and immediately added: “Don’t ask your father about this thing”. I managed to hold back for several days but eventually asked my father: “How come you don’t have any brothers and sisters?” to which he replied: “They were killed by the Nazis. When you grow up I will tell you about it”. 

So for many years he didn’t tell, and kept quiet. He didn’t want his beloved children to face evil. He only wanted to surround us with love and care. The years have gone by and only after I built a family of my own, my father began sharing with me his experience.

A child of a happy Lithuanian family that after the Nazis conquered it was placed in the Ghetto. When he was 14 years old his parents and sister was sent on one of the death marches in the seventh port at the end of which 4000 Jews were murdered. My father remained in the ghetto with his elder brother. They survived due to smuggling potatoes from outside the ghetto, but a year later the Nazis began sending the Jews to the death camps. My father managed to escape to the woods, but was caught after several months and sent to a concentration camp. He heard that his brother was killed and he was the only survivor of his family.

He managed to survive the concentration camp, amid the penal servitude and towards of the war was sent to a refugee camp in Germany. He spent three years, gained physical strength and even played football as a right winger for Maccabi Fohrenwald of Munich.

In 1948 he immigrated to Israel with no possessions and was immediately joined the army to fight. By the end of the War of Independence he was released from the army and started working. With great effort and endless love he managed together with mother Malka, to raise a glorious family. From the day he immigrated to Israel and until his last day he supported Maccabi Tel Aviv. When I was five years old he took me to my first ever football match of Maccabi at Bloomfield and since then I have been a dedicated fan.