Kibbutz Kid, Deni Avdija, Makes Good With Portland Blazers

 Nadene Goldfoot

                                                                        

      Portland, Oregon's Israeli Basketball Player

Deni Avdija was born in kibbutz Beit Zera in Israel. His mother, Sharon Artzi, an Israeli Jew from the kibbutz, is a former track and field and basketball player. His father, Zufer Avdija, is an Israeli citizen of Gorani–Serbian heritage  who played basketball for the Yugoslavia national team before moving to Israel to play for Israeli teams

NBA star Deni Avdija from Portland Trail Blazers breaks Israel’s all-time scoring record. Away to go Deni !!!!

Deni Avdija (/ˈdɛni əvˈdiːjə/ DEN-ee əv-DEE-yə; Hebrew: דֶנִי אָבְדִיָה; born 3 January 2001) soon to be 25, is an Israeli professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays the small forward position, and is nicknamed "Turbo" for his fast-paced drive and aggressive playing style.     

 From 2017 to 2020 he played for the Maccabi Tel Aviv. From 2020 to 2024 he played for the Washington Wizards.

The son of former Serbian-Gorani basketball player Zufer Avdija, he started playing basketball in the fourth grade for his hometown club Bnei Herzliya Basket, and then in 2013 for Maccabi Tel Aviv. He excelled as a youth player. He debuted for their senior team in 2017, at age 16, becoming the youngest player in club history. Two years later, he became the youngest player to ever win the Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP award, and led his team to the Israeli Basketball Premier League championship.

Portland Trail Blazers (2024–present)

On 6 July 2024, Avdija was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Bub Carrington, Malcolm Brogdon, and several draft selections.

On March 2, 2025, Avdija recorded his first triple-double against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He recorded his second triple-double on April 2, 2025, in a game against the Atlanta Hawks, scoring 32 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists, in 38 minutes of playing time.

Avdija averaged 23.4 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists over the 13 games he played in March 2025, doing so while shooting 51.0% on field goals, and 45.7% on Three-point attempts. This was the most productive month of Avdija's career up to this point, garnering attention from multiple sources across the league.Only one Israeli player, Deni Avdija, has played for the Portland Trail Blazers, joining them in 2024 and quickly becoming a key player and the first Israeli-born player in the NBA to record a triple-double, making history for Israeli basketball. 

Four Jewish players will play in the NBA this season. Their teams go from coast to coast and each project to make big impacts for their teams this season. Deni is one.  

Deni Avdija's Impact

Historic Trade: Avdija, a forward from Beit Zera, Israel, was traded to Portland from the Washington Wizards in the 2024 offseason.

• All-Time Scoring: He became Israel's all-time leading NBA scorer during the 2025-2026 season.
• Key Player: He emerged as a franchise cornerstone, leading the team in scoring and playmaking, notes The Jerusalem Post. 

Avdija can't go wrong with athletic parents.  He's bound to perform well, we figure.  

 Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deni_Avdija

Kidnapped Hostages By Hamas Palestinian Terrorists Like Gilad Shalit

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                   Inside a tunnel dug by Hamas Palestinian terrorists used to bring in weapons, kidnapping attacks, holding hostages

"Erez, 12, and four other members of the Kalderon family are feared to be among an estimated 150 Israelis, many of them civilians, taken hostage by Palestinian militants during the broadest invasion of Israeli territory in 50 years. About 1,300 other Israelis were killed, according to a government statement."

News on TV has been showing people all over the world holding demonstrations demanding that Israel free the hostages as if they're the ones holding them. Some are Americans and other foreigners.   Don't they realize that the hostages are being held by an unscrupulous people most likely in underground areas entered by tunnels?                                     

Gilad Shalit was one such hostage.  Gilad Shalit (גלעד שליט‎^ⓘ, Gilˁad Šaliṭ, born 28 August 1986) is a former MIA soldier of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who, on 25 June 2006, was captured by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid via tunnels near the Israeli border. Hamas held him captive for over five years until his release on 18 October 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange deal. That happened 17 years ago, and the Palestinians have only become more vile in executing such acts of kidnapping.  

Again, Hamas was responsible. " During his captivity, Hamas rejected requests from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit Shalit, claiming that such visits could compromise his location". 

The Al Shifa hospital in Gaza has patients dependent on the hospital for their life.  The call for decency has been to avoid the hospital.  That's why it's a perfect place to hide terrorists, and has been the method of the Palestinians.  This is why it's so hard for Israel to get to the terrorists; they are hidden in schools, hospitals, mosques, etc. 

Wounded Palestinian transferred to Barzilai  for treatment:  People: Akef el Kanua

Very close to the Gazan hospital is the large hospital in Ashkelon where all people use, Jews and Muslims. It's  The Barzilai Medical Center that has had to move to the basement of the hospital due to so much bombing by terrorist rockets.  It was being attacked by such years ago that has never let up, it seems.  Palestinians have shown no empathy for this hospital that even serves Palestinians.  

"During his captivity, he was denied visits from the Red Cross and any communication with family members, both of which he was entitled to as a captured soldier under the Geneva Conventions. Furthermore, his captors demanded a form of ransom, although not necessarily of a monetary nature, in exchange for his release. The only instances of contact between Shalit and the outside world during his captivity, prior to his eventual release, consisted of three letters, an audio tape, and a DVD. These were provided to Israel in exchange for the release of 20 female Palestinian prisoners."  He holds dual Israeli and French citizenship, the latter via his grandmother.

     The bus station in Tel Aviv, hit by terrorists so often

When Biden says "innocent Palestinians," I cringe a little.  Hamas terrorists

come from these people.  That's who raised them and taught them to hate

Jews.  They're all brainwashed, if you ask me, some more than others in 

accepting their way of life. I know of all the ways Israel tried to make peace

that was rejected.   

Palestinians are thumping to free Palestine from sea to river or some such 

chant, but they only own the home they lived in, moving there at the earliest

since 2005 possibly.  They never had a country of Palestine.  They simply

were living in Gaza.                

    Israel moved its own Jews out of Gaza in order to bring peace with the Palestinians.  They gave the land to them.  They left their businesses whole for them to proceed with to make a living.  With the implementation of the plan, IDF installations and forces were removed and over 9000 Israeli citizens living in 25 settlements were evicted. By 22 September 2005, Israel's withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip to the 1967 Green Line, and the eviction of the four settlements in Samaria, was completed. Israel did all they could  to bring on peace.  

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilad_Shalit

https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/barzilai-hospital

https://embassies.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/Maps/Pages/Israels%20Disengagement%20Plan-%202005.aspx#:~:text=With%20the%20implementation%20of%20the,settlements%20in%20Samaria%2C%20was%20completed.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/09/world/middleeast/hamas-hostages-israel-gaza.html