Philadelphia native Jared Armstrong, a Jewish-American basketball player who starred at Slippery Rock University, is currently signed with Elitzur Ironi Ashkelon, a team in Liga Leumit, or National League, Israel’s second tier of professional basketball. Given his unique experience during the Hamas attacks on the nation, he has made several appearances via American media to discuss what it’s like right now in Israel for an athlete from the US. In his discussions, he mentions the importance of always staying safe in the Jewish nation – but even moreso now, with war breaking out in the Gaza region.
International basketball star Jared Armstrong | SCREENSHOT: 6abc Philadelphia/YouTube
Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing and kidnapping civilians randomly. As of Wednesday morning, at least 1,000 Israelis have been killed, 22 Americans are reported dead, and at least 2,700 Israelis are injured. Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, immediately declared war in response.
In an online chat with CBS 3 Philadelphia, Armstrong talked about his experiences on the day of the attack – and the feeling that the bombs were getting closer and closer – as Hamas continued striking Israel.
“As the day progressed, I would say an hour later, I heard the first one, the first boom,” Armstrong said. “Because I’m not too far from Gaza where the team I’m playing for [is]. I got a little bit nervous after that one because it started coming closer. I took a video because one was like 100 feet from my apartment. So, it could have easily hit us.”
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When speaking with Fox News Digital, Daryl Armstrong broke down how he is currently surviving the situation in Israel.
“The best way I could say it is: Try to stay alive,” Armstrong said. “Be smart about what you want to do. For me, I just try to stay in the house as much as I can, though obviously, you have to find a way to get groceries, all that type of stuff.”
“But your daily living is done for the time being. Safety-wise, it just isn’t smart. You don’t really know where Hamas is in Israel because they did get inside of Israel. And I know they’re consistently trying to catch them at night.”
Israel under attack! Prayers 🙏🏿 pic.twitter.com/Nkc9uKw1Ki
— Jared Armstrong (@JaredArmstrong_) October 7, 2023
“It’s just a bunch of uncertainty,” he explained. “I think Americans have to understand and have a little bit of compassion for a lot of players that live in America here. We don’t know our next job or our next move. We don’t know if the league is going to even start up. There’s just a lot of uncertainty. There are players that are trying to figure out how they’re going to make money over the next couple of months because they may be stuck in Israel, or they may be in another country for the time being – just sitting [and] waiting.”
There is currently no way to predict how long the combat will take place along the Gaza Strip, but most reports agree it could extend weeks, and possibly even spill into early 2024. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has raged for 75 years, since the establishment of the Jewish nation in the Middle East region in 1948.
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