Israeli guard Zehavi joins Bobcats

Orie Zehavi is ready to chase a dream and escape a nightmare.

The Israeli guard has committed to the Brandon University Bobcats men’s basketball team for the 2026-27 Canada West season after serving in the military for more than two years.

“I’m very, very excited. It was my dream ever since I was a kid to go and play abroad, especially in the U.S. or Canada, and I’m very excited to join the team and experience the whole thing of going to college and studying, being abroad and meeting new people,” Zehavi said.

“The situation here made it more obvious for me that I wanted to try to step out of it and see how it feels out there in a place where it’s more calm, there’s not a lot of stress.”

Zehavi has been fortunate to spend most of his mandatory 32-month service doing office work, despite turning 18 just a few months before the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that sparked the Gaza war.

The situation is beyond complicated, one even most people living in it don’t fully understand. What’s clear is the views of those calling the shots aren’t shared by the vast majority of the citizens.

“At the end of the day, everyone here wants peace and wants to be good with everyone,” Zehavi said. “I hope the situation enables us to be in peace and live the rest of our lives without any wars because it’s really taking a toll on everyone here.”

Long before Zehavi joined the military, he wanted to pursue post-secondary basketball in North America. He has both Israeli and American passports, as his grandparents on one side met in the United States before moving to Israel.

Zehavi started playing soccer as a kid, while also taking karate lessons. The karate facility was located under a basketball gymnasium, and one day while waiting for his mom to pick him up from a session, he watched a few minutes of a basketball practice.

Right away, he knew he wanted to play.

Zehavi grew up playing club ball in his hometown of Shoham, a city of about 24,000 located 26 kilometres east of Tel Aviv.

He joined Maccabi Rishon of the Israeli Basketball Premier League last year, a squad that included NCAA tournament cult hero DJ Burns, who took the No. 11 seed N.C. State Wolfpack to the 2024 Final Four.

Zehavi saw very little court time, but is ready to step into a bigger role now.

“He’ll play multiple positions for us, he can shoot it, he’s got some size at about 6-6,” said Bobcats head coach Gil Cheung.

“Just a tougher kid that’s played a lot of club, academy basketball out there.”

Cheung connected with Zehavi a few months ago and the 20-year-old said it only took a few days for him to feel BU was the place to go.

He’s a strong shooter and feels he can defend all five positions. He joins a BU team that went 8-12 last year but graduated two massive pieces in fifth-years Sultan Bhatti and Travis Hamberger.

The team also lost second-year guard Darko Karac, who transferred to the Nipissing Lakers of Ontario University Athletics.

As the third import alongside Americans Malik Brown and DeMarco Duncan, Zehavi has a path to key minutes as he joins the team along with Chestermere, Alta., forward Roman Jensen and Vanier College transfers Didou Sowadan and Yussef Jawad.

Zehavi has been watching Canadian basketball tape and already knows how to adjust.

“The game is higher paced and a lot more aggressive, so that’s a thing I’m looking to improve on in the off-season,” Zehavi said.

“On the offensive side, to be more of a creator, not just the one who usually finishes plays but to create for others.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com