Three years after Israeli attack that ended their careers, ex-soccer players call on FIFA to protect Palestinian rights

Jawahar Halbiyeh and Adam Jamous three years after they were shot and injured | Mondoweiss/Sheren Khalel

By SHEREN KALEL*

(April 24) – Adam Jamous and Jawahar Halbiyeh will never forget their last ever soccer practice, even if it was three years ago. It was nearing the end of winter on the last day of January — they were tired and it was late. Their hometown, in a section of occupied Jerusalem that lies on the West Bank side of the separation wall known as Abu Dis, is usually quiet by 10:30 when they were walking home. The sharp whiz of the first bullet cracking through the air came as a surprise.

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Child footballers killed by Israel get no justice

By Ali Abunimah*

(Aug. 29) – On 16 July 2014, Israeli forces fired missiles that killed the four Baker boys – Ahed, Zakaria, Muhammad and Ismail – as they played soccer on a Gaza City beach.

The killing of the boys, all aged between 10 and 11, was witnessed by international journalists at a nearby hotel.

Impunity of the NFL

By SALLY JENKINS, Washington Post

(May 10) – Read the latest legal filings against the NFL and the question that comes to mind is, where are the cops when you need them? There is direct evidence that the NFL’s medical personnel knowingly engaged in illegal painkiller abuses, yet federal law enforcement and other government arms have sat conspicuously on their hands, and have yet to issue so much as slap a wrist to the league. What’s needed and deserved here is a smack with a big stick.

Five Cuban players sign with Can-Am league

Pitcher Lázaro Blanco, and infielders Yurisbel Gracial and Yordan Manduley will be representing Les Capitales de Québec; while Miguel Lahera, also a pitcher, will play alongside shortstop Alexander Ayala in the ranks of Les Aigles de Trois-Rivières | Michel Contreras 

Canada beats US sled hockey team for world title

By NICK ZACCARDI

(April 20 ) – The U.S. sled hockey team’s first loss this season came in its most pivotal game.

Canada easily dispatched the U.S. 4-1 in the world championship final, keeping the Americans from claiming back-to-back world titles en route to the Paralympics next year. 

Inuit hockey funding cut in half

After being celebrated for a decade of good work, Nunavik Youth Hockey Development Program in northern Quebec is being told it had strayed from its crime prevention mandate to focus on winning tournaments.

The Nunavik Youth Hockey Development Program which was created in 2006 by former NHL player Joe Juneau.  (FACEBOOK/NYHDP NORDIKS)  

By ALLAN WOODS

MONTREAL (Feb. 28) —Joé Juneau spent a lifetime learning about teamwork and determination as a collegiate hockey player, an aeronautical engineering student and 13 seasons in the NHL.

He has been trying to instill those same values in the Arctic villages of northern Quebec with a hockey program aimed at keeping Inuit youth on a path clear of the hazards of boredom, unemployment, addiction and crime that plague the region.

48 selections in FIFA World Cup

The Council of the International Football Federation (FIFA) has approved the proposal to increase the number of teams participating in the World Cups from 32 to 48.