This summer’s Maccabiah Games mark the first major international event in Israel since October 7, 2023, spotlighting Jewish unity, Israeli resilience, and the power of sport

The largest sporting event of 2025 is set to take place in Israel this June, with more than 7,000 participants from Israel and all around the Jewish world participating in 44 different sports in the 22nd Maccabiah Games. “That’s a message to the world from both Israel and world Jewry,” Amir Gissin, CEO of Maccabi World Union, the organization behind the games, told The Media Line. “We are here. We are here to stay. We’re stronger than ever. We did not break under the pressure. And what we are planning is a celebration of resilience and of unity. This is what the Maccabiah is about.”

These games will be the first since October 7, 2023, and the largest international event to take place in Israel since the attacks. The war has continued since that date, with 59 hostages still held in Gaza and Israel under constant threat from Iran’s proxy forces across the region. Just this week, a ballistic missile launched by Yemen’s Houthis struck an access road leading to Ben-Gurion International Airport, the country’s main gateway to the world, injuring six people. For Roy Hessing, CEO of the Maccabiah, it was clear that the war could not be a reason to cancel the games.

The message that we were very clear about it from the Israeli government to the leadership of Maccabi World Union was that we are not going to postpone or cancel the games. We should show everybody, everybody means the Israelis, the Jewish communities from around the world, and you know what, to our neighbors as well, that Israel is here to exist and we must think about joy and hope.

“The message that we were very clear about it from the Israeli government to the leadership of Maccabi World Union was that we are not going to postpone or cancel the games,” Hessing, who played water polo professionally for many years and later ran the Israeli Water Polo Association, told The Media Line. “We should show everybody, everybody means the Israelis, the Jewish communities from around the world, and you know what, to our neighbors as well, that Israel is here to exist and we must think about joy and hope.”

The event is set to be defiant and hopeful, but it will also acknowledge the tragedy of October 7 and the war that followed. “The opening ceremony, as well as some other activities, are going to be very emotional, very important. We’re not going to have the Maccabiah like a long Memorial Day for October 7 victims, but we are going to salute them, and it’s going to be a unique one,” Hessing said.

Gissin and Hessing spoke to The Media Line from the Maccabi World Union headquarters in Ramat Gan’s Kfar Maccabiah complex. Maccabi leadership operates from the headquarters, not only preparing for the Maccabiah, but also running the worldwide movement of nearly half a million members in 70 countries.

Opening ceremony, Maccabiah 2022. (Maccabi World Union)

Walking through the corridors of the building, Gissin, a former consul general of Israel in Toronto who joined the Maccabi movement more than 50 years ago, stopped to appreciate the photos on the walls tracing the Maccabiah’s history back to its first games in 1932. 

The third Maccabiah, which took place in 1950, was the first to be held in the State of Israel. “That was a moving event, many visitors from abroad,” Gissin said. “But for me, it was significant that in this Maccabiah, 75 years ago, my father participated and won a gold medal in the field hockey competition. The interesting thing was that in the field hockey team, out of the 11 players, six were from my family—my father, his three brothers, and two cousins.”

A few steps down the hall are photos from the ninth Maccabiah Games, held in 1973—the same year that Gissin joined Maccabi Tzair, the organization’s youth movement. 

“I was testing to participate in the drills that were in the opening ceremony, and I was not accepted. So, big trauma. So I had to come back to the movement on the bigger and higher positions. So this is what I do right now, trying to fix the trauma of the ninth Maccabiah,” Gissin joked.

Kfar Maccabiah isn’t just the headquarters for Maccabi movement leaders and the site of historical remnants from previous games. For months after the attacks, Maccabi World Union turned the complex into a sanctuary for survivors of the attacks and evacuees from the border area. In recent months, the headquarters has housed returning hostages and their families as part of their path to recovery.

Through our reach and Maccabi clubs all over Israel, and through our center, Kfar Maccabiah, the Maccabiah village, we’ve had the chance since October 7 to host and help all segments of Israeli society who needed help the most, the evacuees, the Nova survivors, and as it is now well known, the returning freed, kidnapped and their families.

“Through our reach and Maccabi clubs all over Israel, and through our center, Kfar Maccabiah, the Maccabiah village, we’ve had the chance since October 7 to host and help all segments of Israeli society who needed help the most, the evacuees, the Nova survivors, and as it is now well known, the returning freed, kidnapped and their families,” Gissin said.

The ongoing war contributes to the importance of bringing together Israelis and world Jewry for a sporting competition, but it also contributes to the logistical challenges. 

Even before the war, putting on such a huge event wasn’t easy. Gissin said that the Maccabiah has 95% of the number of athletes participating in the Olympics, but only 3% of the Olympics’ budget. With a budget of 200 million shekels, or around $55 million, it is significantly smaller. “We walk carefully on a tightrope,” he said. “We need to be very careful with expenditure.”

Hessing noted that the event brings in the equivalent of around $95 million for Israel. “Economically, it’s really good for the State of Israel, especially while we’re talking about after COVID and after war,” he said.

Tourism to Israel was just bouncing back from the pandemic when the October 7 attacks took a heavy toll on the industry. Having 30,000 participants and their supporters staying in Israeli hotels will be a boon for the industry, Hessing said.

“We really help the hotels, the accommodation centers, to be fully booked,” he explained. “If you try to book a bed from July 1 until July 22, you won’t be able to find a lot of space in Israel. Doesn’t matter where you are going to try to find it.”

Unlike in the Olympic Games, which host their athletes in a central Olympic village, during the Maccabiah Games, “the entire country becomes the Olympic village,” Hessing said.

Part of the benefit of hosting participants all around the country is that they will have the opportunity to see the less familiar face of Israel. “They have a great experience to understand better how Israel works, to understand its periphery as well,” Hessing explained, noting that those staying in the north will have the opportunity to visit the Druze city of Daliyat al-Karmel and get to know Israel’s Druze population better.

Hessing said that the last time an event with such a high level of production was set to take place in Israel was on October 7, 2023, when Bruno Mars was going to perform in Tel Aviv.

We work on the Maccabiah actually a few months after the previous Maccabiah, which means that we have around three and a half years to prepare ourselves for this event, from the Israeli government to the different municipalities, from hiring so many employees and having many people are coming to be volunteers at the Maccabiah.

“Behind the scenes, it’s a crazy event,” he said. “We work on the Maccabiah actually a few months after the previous Maccabiah, which means that we have around three and a half years to prepare ourselves for this event, from the Israeli government to the different municipalities, from hiring so many employees and having many people are coming to be volunteers at the Maccabiah.”

Logistical hurdles range from running competitions safely in the heat of Israel’s summer to ensuring that the thousands of participants are always close to a bomb shelter in case of sirens. “I do believe that when we look at the big picture, we Israelis, we live here. We’re used to this situation,” Gissin said. “It’s a society that is ready to deal with many situations. And when our guests are coming, we’ll do our utmost to keep them safe.”

‎(L-R) Isaac Herzog, Joe Biden, and Yair Lapid at the Maccabiah 2022 opening ceremony. (Maccabi World Union)

Gissin noted that a city that hosts the Olympics will likely do so only once, or at most, perhaps once every 50 years, which means everything must be learned and executed from scratch. “We have an Olympic-size event in Israel every four years. So the level of experience of the people that run it is very, very high,” he said. “So when I look at the Maccabiah as a whole, I’m saying we’re well equipped to do it and to do it right.”

Hessing said that interest in participating in the Maccabiah remains strong, despite the rise in global antisemitism. “The Jews that are coming from the diaspora, and of course the Israelis, are waiting for the Maccabiah,” he said. “They are getting their recognition. In a few sports, they prefer to come to compete at the Maccabiah instead of going to compete at the world championships—in swimming, for example. And especially in these times, they understand that we need them now more than ever, and that it’s the right place for them to come and to compete and to show solidarity.”

Still, athlete numbers have decreased this year, with around 7,000 participants from around 50 countries, down from around 10,000 participants from nearly 65 countries in the 2022 games. That decrease is likely the result of security challenges, lack of flights, and high travel costs. Around 30% of the participants in the games are under 18, and many parents are wary about sending their children to Israel under such circumstances.

Fundraising has also been a challenge for Maccabi World Union. Despite support from the Israeli government, private sponsors, and organizations like the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Jewish National Fund, the Maccabiah is still “not where we want to be in terms of fundraising,” Gissin said.

Not all countries with Jewish communities will be sending delegations to the games, such as Iran, which has a Jewish population of around 8,000. The Turkish delegation, which has attended previous games, hasn’t yet received permission from the government to attend, Hessing said.

I do believe that by the end of the day, we’ll find the right formula, the right way that they will be able to represent Turkey and be part of the games. It’s not too late. We still have three months to work on it. I can tell you that we’re doing all efforts in order to bring them here and I really hope to see them because as we said before, sports is the bridge between everything and we should try to bring them here to celebrate life, to celebrate together as one big Jewish family, and we want to see the Turkish delegation as part of this joy and hope as well.

“I do believe that by the end of the day, we’ll find the right formula, the right way that they will be able to represent Turkey and be part of the games,” he continued. “It’s not too late. We still have three months to work on it. I can tell you that we’re doing all efforts in order to bring them here and I really hope to see them because as we said before, sports is the bridge between everything and we should try to bring them here to celebrate life, to celebrate together as one big Jewish family, and we want to see the Turkish delegation as part of this joy and hope as well.”

This year, athletes for team sports from countries with small delegations will be allowed to participate in a team made up of athletes from all countries under the banner M25. “There are many small communities that we want to give the opportunity to compete at the Maccabiah,” Hessing said, citing Paraguay’s 1,000-person Jewish community and Serbia’s 3,000-person Jewish community as two examples. Some countries’ delegations may be as small as one or two athletes, he said.

“We don’t want to miss each and every single Jewish guy or girl that wants to come to compete at the games,” Hessing continued. “We are doing our research in order to make sure that we contact them and they will be here this summer.”

Beach volleyball, Maccabiah 2022. (Gilad Kavalerchik)

While the athletes coming from abroad are all Jewish, all Israeli citizens are eligible to compete in the games. “It means that around 10% of the Israeli delegation are not Jews, and it is amazing for us because we want to live in a place that on the football national team, we have all the Israelis—from Druze to Arabs to Muslims, and of course to Israeli Jews,” Hessing said.

He described the games as a fantastic opportunity for athletes, especially for the thousands of Maccabiah participants who are 18 and under, many of whom are competing in their first international event.

“There are some scouts that can see them and take them from Israel or the other way around, from the United States or from other countries to come and to compete for the State of Israel, and all of a sudden to become official players, athletes for the different national teams for Israel,” Hessing said.

The Maccabiah Games have the ability to change the life of a young athlete, but they also hold a broader geopolitical significance. In 2022, President Joe Biden attended the Maccabiah opening ceremony.

There’s a chance that President Donald Trump will attend this year’s game, Gissin said. “It’s too early to declare names of dignitaries coming, but I think that the international profile of the Maccabiah today is higher than ever,” he said. “And we do get a lot of inquiries and interest from different places in the world. So I’m sure it will not be boring. The opening ceremony is going to be quite an event.”

Bringing international attention to Israel and the Jews for an event like the Maccabiah Games means something different since October 7, with antisemitism on the rise and as Israel has become increasingly isolated internationally and divided internally.

“My worries as an Israeli citizen and as a Jew are, where are we going to be both internally in Israel, where is the Israeli society going to be with the terrible division that we have right now, and where is the Jewish world going to be facing this very wild wave of antisemitism? These are the challenges,” Gissin said. “This is what worries me. And our role as Maccabi World Union and as those who run the Maccabiah is to make it the best event possible, because that will be our way to help bring Israelis together and Israelis and Jews together.”

That way of thinking went into the theme for this year’s Maccabiah: “More Than Ever.” Hessing said that this Maccabiah is set to be the most important and meaningful one in the event’s history, helping Israelis become less cynical and more solidly Zionist.

“I truly believe that those that came to Israel to show solidarity, we must and we want to hug them back, and the Maccabiah will be an amazing opportunity for us, the Israelis, to say thank you, to all the Jewish communities, to the leadership that they showed and to the amazing help that they gave to the State of Israel,” he said.

Nothing will stop the Maccabiah. Nothing will make us go backwards and say, no, actually let’s postpone or let’s cancel. That will not happen. The Maccabiah is going to take place here in Israel. We’re going to have 10,000 athletes marching in Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem, and I think that that will be the best message that we can send the world and the Jewish people.

“More Than Ever” is also a call for the Maccabiah Games to go on, no matter what. “Nothing will stop the Maccabiah. Nothing will make us go backwards and say, no, actually let’s postpone or let’s cancel,” Gissin said. “That will not happen. The Maccabiah is going to take place here in Israel. We’re going to have 10,000 athletes marching in Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem, and I think that that will be the best message that we can send the world and the Jewish people.”