Former Seton Hall stars safe after Hamas attack on Israel
Former Seton Hall stars Isaiah Whitehead and Khadeen Carrington are both playing professionally in Israel this season but have left the country after the Hamas attack on the country this past weekend.
Whitehead and Carrington starred on the 2016 Seton Hall team that won the Big East Tournament championship under former coach Kevin Willard.
Whitehead, a native of Coney Island who plays for Ironi Ness Ziona in the Israel Premier League, Tweeted that he “made it out of Israel safely” and Willard, the current Maryland coach, told NJ Advance Media that “Isaiah is home.”
“They both texted me for my birthday on Saturday and I asked them, ‘Was they good?’ and they said they were good,” Pirates coach Shaheen Holloway, who played professionally in Israel, said Monday by phone. “They said their teams both flew them out [to Greece].” It’s unclear if Whitehead flew to the U.S. from Greece or remains there.
A second-round pick of the Utah Jazz in 2016, Whitehead has also played professionally in Russia, Kazakhstan, Montenegro, Germany and Turkey.
Carrington’s team, Hapoel Jerusalem, flew him to Greece on Saturday and he remains there.
“Khadeen is safe. He’s in Greece where his team flew the foreign players to await what’s next,” his agent, Dan Curtin, told NJ Advance Media by phone.
Neither Whitehead nor Carrington were immediately available for comment.
Carrington’s team is owned by American-Jewish investor Matan Adelson and plays in the European Champions League, so the team could still play the season in Europe even if the Israeli league is postponed or canceled. No announcement has been made on the league’s status after the attack on Saturday by Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
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There are reports out of Israel that Carrington is becoming a naturalized Israeli player and will play for the Israeli National Team in the future.
“I’ve played [in Israel] before but I haven’t lived there so it’s going to be dope,” Carrington, who has also played professionally in France, Belgium, Spain, Germany and Montenegro, told NJ Advance Media in August before he left for Israel.
“It’s a good team, good organization. We play in the Champions League besides the Israel League, so it’s definitely going to be a good experience living out there, too. I’m looking forward to this year.”
Former NBA star Amar’e Stoudemire also played for Carrington’s current team after his NBA career, and reportedly owned a share of the team until this year.
In an Instagram post, Stoudemire condemned people who support Hamas or remain hesitant or silent about supporting Israel.
“I woke up this morning with some disturbing news out of Israel that Hamas [are] kidnapping children, putting them in cages, killing women, killing the elderly,” the former Knicks star said. “That’s some coward s**t. That’s cowardly. And for all y’all Black Live Matter [supporters] who ain’t saying nothing, [saying] ‘Let me figure out exactly what’s happening before saying anything’, [bleep] you.
“Figure out what? It ain’t never been cool to kidnap kids and put them in cages, ain’t never been cool to kill women and [the] elderly. Never been, no matter where you’re from, what you represent, or trying to be. Don’t matter. They never been no cool.”
