Yael Elbag Image by haaretz

Image by haaretz

The Israel Sports Association for the Disabled banned a table tennis player from representing Israel for two years, saying that she played in a tournament last Yom Kippur.

Yael Elbag, in her fifties, was accused of participating in a doubles match on the Day of Atonement, thus ignoring a Culture and Sports Ministry directive banning Israeli athletes from competing on Yom Kippur.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Yael Elbag Image by haaretz

Elbag, the 2011 Israeli champion, became disabled several years ago following a disease. On September 12 she flew to the Czech Republic for a tournament that was to be played during the Yom Kippur weekend.

Elbag says she was told that she was prohibited from playing, but was unaware it was a directive, and therefore told her partner in the doubles tournament she was injured, thus enabling her to refrain from actually playing on Yom Kippur. She adds that she wasn’t representing Israel, and that the letters ISR, appearing next to her name in the tournament, were no more than a technicality.

“The directive cannot refer to a private person, such as myself, who travels without a coach, and doesn’t play with an Israeli uniform. They say I represent Israel but they don’t even supply me with a shirt. I’m an independent person taking a trip alone to some forsaken Czech village, but I’m dependant on them, because they’re the only way one can register for tournaments.”

For more go to Haaretz

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re in the middle of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 22.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount