Joe Mazzola stopped the press conference after the preseason game to condemn the attack on Israel: “They have been suffering for 10,000 years”
While in world football there are more and more voices of support for the Palestinians, in the NBA they continue to express solidarity with Israel. After a number of players sided with Israel and this morning the league itself announced that it “stands with Israel”, Boston coach Joe Mazzola stopped the press conference at the end of tonight’s preseason game against Philadelphia (the Celtics’ 106:114 victory) to send reinforcements to Israel. “The things that are more important than basketball are to identify with what people are going through in the world. In light of what is happening in Israel now, the world should prayAnd to think a lot,” said Mazzola, who visited Israel twice before. “After I visited Israel, I began to understand – all kinds of things happen in the United States, we are not perfect and people are hurt here every day, but sometimes we don’t understand the difficulties of other people in the world. It’s hard to think about what’s going to happen in Israel in the near future, and you’re still talking to me about basketball and not about that…it’s important to be aware of these matters.”
According to Mazzola, “It doesn’t matter if you’re Jewish, Muslim or Christian, Israeli or Palestinian. I know one thing – a lot of dangerous situations happen there. The United States has existed for 400 years, but the Jews have been suffering for 10,000 years. it gives youPerspective…they live in a very difficult area, and we all need to give it some thought.”