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Jack Jedwab: Maccabi Tel Aviv return home after nearly two seasons of post-October 7 exile

Emotional Tel Aviv homecoming restores fragile normalcy for fans and a Canadian ex-Raptor

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In Jewish memory, the story of Judah and the Maccabees is not simply about victory. It is about return — return to home and to the rhythms of ordinary life. It is about resilience in the face of disruption and the restoration of connection after rupture.

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For nearly two seasons, one of Israel’s two EuroLeague professional basketball teams, Maccabi Tel Aviv, lived through its own, far more modest version of exile. Following the events of October 7, EuroLeague games were played far from Israel, in Belgrade, Serbia — warmly hosted, but far from home. The bond between team and fans — one of the most emotional connections in sport — was interrupted. Players competed as Israeli supporters watched from afar. Something important was missing.

Jack Jedwab: Maccabi Tel Aviv return home after nearly two seasons of post-October 7 exile Back to video

When the EuroLeague voted two years later in October 2025 to allow the return, many fans cried with joy — not because a championship was at stake, but because normalcy, fragile and precious, had found its way back. When professional basketball returned to Tel Aviv in mid-December 2025, it represented more than a scheduling change. It marked the restoration of a small but vital pleasure of daily life.

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Basketball in Israel now ranks second only to soccer in national popularity. The country fields two professional teams in the EuroLeague — Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv — a remarkable presence on Europe’s biggest stage. The sport’s recent surge aligns with the rise to NBA stardom of Israeli-born forward Deni Avdija of the Portland Trail Blazers, whose success has energized younger fans and deepened national pride. At the same time, the EuroLeague — including Israel’s clubs — has attracted a growing number of former NBA players. For Israeli athletes, that means the opportunity to compete alongside seasoned veterans whose experience was forged at the highest level.

Among them is Canadian forward Oshae Brissett, a former Toronto Raptor who has quickly become one of Maccabi’s leaders. His presence is a reminder that Israeli basketball today is deeply connected to the global game, even as it remains intensely local.

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Last week, against Germany’s Bayern Munich, there were no ancient battlefields or history-altering dramas unfolding — only a basketball game played at full emotional volume. Nearly all 12,000 attendees were dressed in yellow and blue, transforming the arena into a sea of colour and unity. From the opening tip to the final whistle, the chants never stopped. Fans stood nearly the entire game, urging their team forward. When “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem, filled the arena, the emotion was palpable. The gathering itself mattered.

The atmosphere was electric. I was at the game and must admit that it was hard not to get caught up in the excitement of what became a dramatic overtime win. As the final seconds of regulation ticked away, the building seemed to vibrate with shared hope and anxiety. When you are in Israel, going to see the Maccabi play offers an important feel for the people’s resilience — their capacity to rally, to endure and to find joy together even after prolonged disruption.

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On this night, Brissett was a key contributor to the Maccabi’s comeback victory. With less than ten seconds remaining in regulation, he calmly sank the free throw that forced overtime. In the extra period, he delivered a steal and basket that helped seal the win.

Yet, the deeper significance lay less in the score than in what Brissett himself has described since arriving. Born in Toronto, he has said that from the moment he stepped off the plane he “felt the love of the fans.” He speaks about the warmth shown to him in markets and coffee shops, and about being struck by the energy people bring in support of the team. He has observed that playing for one of the two Tel Aviv clubs feels like representing not just a city but an entire country — a sentiment that will sound familiar to many followers of the Toronto Raptors. That it comes from Brissett, himself an ex-Raptor, carries a certain irony.

It is equally clear that the feeling is mutual — the Maccabi fans’ embrace of Brissett reflects something larger about Israeli basketball culture: the fusion of sport, civic pride and shared identity.

In Jewish tradition, the Maccabees stood for perseverance in difficult times. A basketball team is not fighting historic battles. But sport can remind us, on a human scale, how shared experiences can restore a sense of ordinary life and the importance of not taking simple pleasures for granted.

What stayed with me that night was not so much the overtime win, but that the connection between the team and its supporters was briefly suspended but never broken.

Jack Jedwab is president of the Association for Canadian Studies and the Metropolis Institute.

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