Young, Gifted, and Israeli

The Portland Trail Blazers lost; they’re out of the NBA Playoffs. This hasn’t come as a surprise. The seventh-seeded Blazers were eliminated after scraping one win off of the San Antonio Spurs, the team currently boasting the second-highest odds at winning the championship. Any other year and casual NBA fans from around the country would collectively shrug as another wanna-be-underdog-story ends anticlimatically. But this year, many flooded to social media sites like X in a crude celebration not for the victory of the young and talented Spurs, but for the demise of the “zionist apologist,” “war criminal,” “IDF terrorist” Deni Avdija (all tweets from the last 24 hours). 

Politics were never Deni’s intention. He served part of his mandatory service in the IDF before his “exceptional athlete” exemption let him leave early. “I obviously stand for my country,” said the Blazer forward in a January interview with the Basketball Network. But still, even for that interview, Deni continues to get online hate simply because he is Israeli. This is an all-too-common story for Israelis in American culture. So as a small todah to all of these brave representatives who have faced xenophobia in the wake of their successes, I’ve compiled a list of some of the most prominent young Israelis today, from athletes to movie stars. 

Deni Avdija

We had to start the list with Deni, who just this year became the first ever Israeli all-star in the NBA. In the last month, Deni had the second-highest scoring playoff debut game of all time with 41 points, brought the Trail Blazers to their first playoff appearance in five years, and finished third in the voting for Most Improved Player. He has been representing his country strongly, having won gold in back-to-back U20 European championships in 2018 and 2019. The 25-year-old had by far the best season of his career, despite all the hate.

Ben Saraf / Danny Wolf

These two Israeli rookies combine with Deni as the only three Israeli players in the NBA. At three, they set the record for the most Israelis ever in the league. Both these pros play in Brooklyn, which has seen an alarming uptick in anti-semitic events. Yet to truly feature in the Nets’ squad, Saraf and Wolf will appreciate the two more seasons before Israel challenges for a medal at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. 

Anastasia Gorbenko

Gobrenko is a 22-year-old swimmer from Haifa. Already, she has won 8 World and European gold medals while breaking most of the Israeli national records for women’s swimming. After winning silver in the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Qatar, Gorbenko was booed while on the podium. “I’m proud to represent my country,” said Gorbenko after the ceremony. An Israeli of Ukrainian heritage, Gorbenko has had to stay remarkably strong to exist in this world, let alone to break swimming records.

Odeya Rush

The 28-year-old Israeli actress is quickly becoming a household name. With major roles in The Giver, Goosebumps, and Lady Bird in the mid-2010s, Rush is now a star-level actress. She has the lead role in the new comedy-horror Corporate Retreat which has already debuted at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival and is coming out on May 22nd in the U.S. 

Rush lived in Haifa until her family moved to Alabama when she was nine. She is unapologetic about her support for Israel, often helping bridge the gap between America’s sensationalized media and real events happening in Israel.

Max Oleartchik

Max is the oldest person on this list. He is a 39-year-old bassist from a musical family. His father, Alon Oleartchik, has been a Polish-Israeli rock singer since the 1970s. Alon’s father, Max Olearczyk, was a Polish composer in the 1940s and 1950s. Grandson Max was part of the four-piece indie-rock band Big Thief from 2016-2024. As a founding member of the band, he was a massive part of their first five albums. Their most recent album, Double Infinity, which he was not involved in the creation of, features lines that seem to reference him and his absence. The song Los Angeles in particular, with lines like “two years feels like forever,” seems to be about Max. Today, Oleartchik is an active advocate for peace in the Middle East. He shows how to openly show frustration with the Israeli government while still remaining a proud Israeli individual.