Playing Hoops in Palestine: The Early Development of Basketball in the Land of Israel, 1935-56

Israel’s basketball achievements have been substantial: in 1977, 1981 and 2001 Maccabi Tel Aviv won the European Club Championship, while in 1979 the Israeli national team finished as runners-up to the Soviet Union in the European National Championship. Nonetheless, Israeli basketball is a unique case: it is located geographically in Asia, competes in the European arena, and is dominated by imported American players. 1 Clearly, the game has come a long way from its frail beginnings in the 1930s. By adopting a developmental approach, this article traces conceptually and historically the multifaceted nature of the early days of Israeli basketball and the process by which Israeli basketball became one of the most popular games in the land of Israel. The development of Israeli basketball in its early years has to be seen as interdependent with the broader political economy of what later became Israel and in conjunction with the close relationship between the developing sport organizations and the development of an Israeli state. Moreover, it is argued that the development of sport in Israel in general, and especially of basketball, can be understood adequately only by presenting it in its historical context. The processes of state formation, population growth, urbanization, militarization and, most germane for present purposes, the development of sport are not isolated but rather interdependent and therefore of importance when discussing the development of sport in general and basketball in particular. 2