NZ Breakers' head coach Mody Maor has revealed the "significant" emotional toll the conflict between Gaza and his native Israel is taking on him, as he's forced to watch from afar while his loved ones are caught up in the conflict.
The situation was sparked by a Hamas incursion into Israel on October 7 that led to the deaths of about 1400 Israeli people, including children and the kidnapping of many others. Israel is now responding with regular bombardments and a blockade of the Hamas-governed Gaza.
"Very difficult," said Maor. "Very tough.
"My mind is completely here and focused on the people in this locker room and the club but my heart is back home.
"My family is in shelters. My friends are at war."
Maor arrived in New Zealand five years ago as an assistant to then head coach Dan Shamir, who left his contract with one year remaining to return to Israel. He previously worked as an assistant for Israeli teams Hapoel Holon and Hapoel Jersualem.
He took the reins in May 2022 and had an immediate on the Breakers' fortunes, helping propel them to the ANBL finals, where they fell agonisingly short of securing the franchise's fifth championship.
Maor describes October 7 – the day Hamas began its strike – as "one of the most horrific days in the history of Israel."
"1400 people murdered in one day. Civilians, women, children, babies," he said.
"I don’t want to recant the horrific stories because I can't do it without breaking down."
Adding to Maor's pain has been what he perceives as a general misunderstanding of the situation by the New Zealand and Australian public.
"To make matters tougher has been the response and the way the community around New Zealand and Australia seem to have been understanding what's going on in the conflict," he added.
"There are still 200 people held hostage and at the same time in the city that I've called home for the past five years there's people marching the streets with swastikas."
The Breakers recently returned from a trip to Melbourne to play local side Melbourne United, where Maor recalls alleged acts of prejudice described by friends he'd made during the team's two-year COVID-19 enforced relocation.
"We were in Melbourne where there's a big Jewish community that welcomed us as if it were a home when we relocated there through COVID," he said.
"Elderly women are being accosted in supermarkets for buying kosher meat.
"We went to an Israeli restaurant that we frequently went to during covid times in Melbourne and this guy had been receiving death threats on his phone, and this side of the world just stays quiet about it."
While he's been in frequent contact with his friends and family back in Israel, Moar says the ever-present uncertainty has made daily life challenging.
"Nobody's okay. It's an horrific thing what's going on. Thank God at this moment everybody [my loved ones] is safe.
"I hope for a peaceful and quick resolution but it's very complicated times."
Breakers forward Finn Delany says he's seen the impact the situation has had on his coach, whose leadership he describes under such testing circumstances as "inspirational".
"Obviously it's an extremely emotional matter," said Delany.
"The way Mody led us over the past couple of weeks with what he's going through is nothing short of inspirational.
"It's heartbreaking. Feeling it firsthand under Mody and how it's affected him. It's our job to support him in any way we can."
The Breakers face Adelaide 36ers at Auckland's Spark Arena on Thursday.
