Gal Mekel urges finishing the playoff series abroad after suspended Jerusalem-Tel Aviv semifinal

Gal Mekel, co-owner of Hapoel Jerusalem, said after Thursday’s suspended semifinal playoff game against Hapoel Tel Aviv that the teams should finish the series outside Israel if needed. Speaking on Sport 5’s “5 BaAvir” on June 15, 2026, he said the goal is to resume from the fourth quarter, with the same score and foul situation as when play stopped.

Mekel described confusion and panic in the arena after police entered the court and the game was halted. He said he returned from the restroom to find officers on the floor, while players and their families went to the locker room amid uncertainty. “It was very strange,” he said, adding that “there was fear and panic” and that foreign players in particular would not know what was happening. He said the team wanted to keep playing and compete.

Responding to criticism that Jerusalem did not return because it trailed by 10 points, Mekel rejected claims of “populism and conspiracy theories,” and said Jerusalem had come back from a bigger fourth-quarter deficit last season. He also dismissed calls for an automatic technical loss, saying the situation was not unsportsmanlike conduct but an emergency involving people, not machines. Mekel said coach Yonatan Alon and owner Matan Adelson showed leadership by speaking publicly.

Looking ahead, Mekel said the club will make its legal case and hopes “logic, humanity and sportsmanship” prevail. He said the team’s players are expected to attend practice, while the schedule remains uncertain, including Maccabi Tel Aviv’s game against Hapoel Holon. Mekel argued that the league should have shortened the season and even cited Spain’s COVID bubble as a model. He said a bubble would be his preferred solution, warned that dragging the playoffs into late June could badly damage Israeli basketball, and said a messy finish with few foreign players and youth players would hurt next season. On EuroLeague prospects, he said Hapoel Jerusalem has applied for a wild card, but its chances are low unless the situation in Israel improves.