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Podcast: North Star with Ellin Bessner
Episode: Prominent Canadians in Israeli hockey speak out after the IIHF abruptly banned Israel from competition
Description: Last week, the International Ice Hockey Federation—the sport's governing body—announced they were barring Israeli national teams from competing in crucial championship matches this winter. The move is seen by many as an unfair penalty against the Jewish State in the wake of the war with Hamas, in which an estimated 25,000 Palestinians have been killed, resulting from Hamas's terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
IIHF officials insist their decision was not political, but instead made purely for security reasons: they couldn’t guarantee Israeli athletes' safety from protestors during upcoming matches in Bulgaria, Serbia and Estonia. Nontheless, Israel’s hockey...