Israel hopes visits by Wildcats, other college teams will show 'it's very, very safe'

TEL AVIV, Israel — After inviting the Arizona and Kansas State men’s basketball teams to Israel for a tour he hopes they broadcast enthusiastically back to the United States, Daniel Posner was asked about the security situation.

After all, it’s all been in the news for years, decades even, hasn’t it? The Israeli-Palestinian tit-for-tat conflicts. Tensions to the south in Gaza, to the north with Lebanon and to the southeast with Saudi Arabia.

Bombings. Shootings. Drones. Political drama. All that.

Posner shared a news story from his phone with the Kansas State coaches.

“It said, `Twenty people were killed and 30 people were wounded over the weekend. Last weekend, 25 people were killed and 40 people were injured,’ “ Posner said.

“Those stories were from Chicago. I said, ‘You wouldn’t have a problem getting on a plane to O’Hare Airport and recruiting there, right? But when you read that there’s a terrorist who kills someone, that’s not local news. It makes global news.”

A former hedge fund manager from New York, Posner said he advises his children to steer clear of certain areas at home but allows them to roam anywhere during their visits to Israel.

“Everybody gets nervous, everybody gets scared. But then you come to Israel, and you see how safe it is,” Posner said. “That doesn’t mean that there are incidents that happen from time to time and you need to be vigilant. You shouldn’t be on your phone when you’re walking around. But, you know, it’s very, very safe.”

Maxim Quint, a Catalina Foothills High School graduate now living in Israel, expressed a similar view. Joining the Wildcats’ traveling party for a Shabbat dinner on Friday in a Jerusalem hotel, Quint shook his head slightly when the topic came up.

“Statistically,” he said, “Israel is safer than Tucson.”

According to the Global Peace Index of the Institute of Economics and Peace, an Australia-based think tank with offices around the world, both the United States and Israel rank “low” in their state of peace. The U.S. is ranked 131st overall while Israel rates 143rd.

But, citing police statistics, the Jerusalem Post reported in September 2022 that Israel’s murder and homicide rate was less than one-third than that of the United States.

Whatever the case, Posner, a former hedge fund manager from New York, has been trying to change the narrative. He sought partners to help fund Athletes for Israel, then recruited individual athletes and teams to visit Israel, with the hope that their visits will help build a different sort of reputation and combat anti-semitism.

Posner also put Tamir Goodman, once called the “Jewish Jordan” as a Baltimore-area basketball prodigy, on the ground to help. Goodman spent a year playing at Towson University but, partly over his refusal to play during the Friday night-Saturday evening Shabbat, moved on to play professionally in Israel — and never left.

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Goodman jumped into Athletes for Israel, and has been bouncing all around the UA and K-State tours this week, trying to mend bridges and cultures the way he has throughout life.

“I’m an observant Jew who graduated from a predominantly African-American Christian (high) school,” Goodman said. “I roomed with a Muslim basketball player in college. And then I came over here and played professionally with players from all over the world.

“I just naturally felt like diversity has been such a blessing in my wife. Why not share it with as many people as possible?”

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, well known internationally within the Jewish community for his commitment to and support of the faith, brought in his Tigers last summer for the first college team tour sponsored by Athletes for Israel.

This time, event organizer Complete Sports Management recommended Posner consider Arizona and Kansas State for Israel, largely because of UA coach Tommy Lloyd and K-State coach Jerome Tang.

“Jerome is a very spiritual and religious guy, and Tommy is a very international guy,” said Lea Miller, CEO of Complete Sports Management. “The two personalities were really a great fit for us.”

They also have pretty good teams. Kansas State is coming off an Elite Eight appearance in 2022-23, Tang’s first season after he was a longtime assistant coach at Baylor. Lloyd runs a perennial Western power that has led the Pac-12 in attendance for decades.

“Arizona is a big-time college program, and they have tens of thousands of people following this trip right now,” Posner says. “People are watching it and seeing that these guys are having a great time. They’re having fun, they’re visiting all the historical sites, they’re playing high-level basketball.

“They’re finding nowhere to bond as a team is better than Israel. Israel is where everybody’s roots are from, whether you’re Christian, whether you’re Jewish, whether you’re Muslim. We’re all from here. This is where Jesus walked 2,000 years ago.”

Over the past week, the Wildcats have walked where Jesus was said to have walked. They went to the tomb where he was said to be buried, to the area where he was said to have been born. They’ve also visited markets packed full of people, smells, sounds, tastes, trinkets, rugs and a million other things they don’t see at home.

In addition, the Wildcats detoured through the Judean Desert for a float in the Dead Sea and held a short clinic for Jerusalem youth. They didn’t forget about basketball either, practicing all but one day while beating Israel Select 124-77 on Monday in an exhibition game.

It hasn’t always been easy — the Wildcats have had a tightly-packed schedule — but overall, Lloyd has been describing the sort of trip Posner was hoping both sets of Wildcats would have.

“It’s been amazing,” Lloyd said. “There’s a lot of aspects you can look at this from. We’re bringing a bunch of young guys, especially our American players who’ve never really traveled internationally, and getting them to come to Israel. It’s really eye-opening for them.”

Exclusive coverage of UA hoops Mideast Tour — only in the Star and at Tucson.com/Pascoe