Agricultural Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) has responded to reports that the Israeli national basketball team has a game scheduled during Rosh Hashanah.
"FIBA's [the International Basketball Federation] decision to start the game after the holiday starts ignores the prior requests to advance the game. It's a form of spitting on the perception of the State of Israel and hundreds of thousands of fans, both religious and secular, who will honor the holiday with prayer and a meal."
Ariel added that "I hope and want to believe that this decision does not have any scent of anti-Semitism, even though they did schedule earlier games for other teams. I call on the Minister for Culture and Sport and the Prime Minister to immediately involve intervene with FIBA to change the game's time and respect the holy day."