Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Former UNLV player Ben Carter making his way in turbulent Israel

Ben Carter

Courtesy of FIBA

Las Vegan and former UNLV basketball player Ben Carter (13), now playing basketball professionally in Israel, fights for position against Romania’s Rares Uta as a shot goes up in their game Feb. 19 in Gliwice, Poland, during the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers. Israel’s Rafael Menco (12) is at right. The conflict between Israel and Hamas forced a 11-day stoppage in play just as the Israeli Premier League’s playoffs were to begin. Carter hopes the recent cease-fire will hold permanently — and not just for basketball reasons.

Former UNLV basketball player Ben Carter was in the midst of his best pro season yet when everything abruptly came to a halt.

After rockets started to fly and fighting broke out between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli Premier League was forced to postpone its schedule just as playoffs were set to begin.

Carter, a power forward for Hapoel Eilat, found himself turning his attention from the court to matters of life and death.

“It’s definitely weighing on me mentally,” Carter said. “I have family in the country, friends I’ve made for a long time, and they’re in areas that are being affected. For them to go through this, and all the civilians on both sides of the conflict to have to go through war and fighting is never easy on any side.”

Carter grew up in Las Vegas, but he was born in Israel and is of Jewish heritage, so when his college career came to an end in 2018 he wasted little time in signing a professional contract to play in his homeland.

Three seasons later, he could not have been happier with his international career.

“Israel is an amazing country,” Carter said. “There are so many things that make playing here great. Besides my heritage and having family here and my father playing here, they’ve got everything — the weather is good, the beaches, the food is amazing, the culture and lifestyle is very open. They like to live life out here. It’s a very Americanized culture, in a way.”

Carter’s idyllic life, however, was disrupted when the violence broke out May 10, with Hamas firing rockets into Tel Aviv from Gaza and Israel carrying out retaliatory airstrikes. A cease-fire began Friday, but the fighting put players — many of whom, like Carter, hail from other countries — in a position of having to make a difficult decision.

Some, like Carter’s teammate Josh Nebo, decided to leave the country. Nebo, an American who graduated from Texas A&M in 2020, was in his first year with Hapoel Eilat, and when the fighting erupted he returned to the United States.

Carter, however, is choosing to stick it out in Israel. It was not a decision he made lightly.

One of the biggest factors in Carter’s decision to stay is his institutional knowledge of the region.

His father, Mike Carter, was a top player in the Israeli league for 11 years (his jersey is retired by Hapoel Holon) and is still regarded as a legend in basketball circles there. He met Ben’s mother during his time in Israel, and Ben was born in Tel Aviv. Though the family eventually made its home in Las Vegas when Ben was 6 months old, the Middle East is not so foreign to the Carters.

That includes the region’s long history of violent conflict.

“Obviously I’m aware of the situation here in this region of the world with Israel and the surrounding countries,” Ben Carter said. “This is definitely the most extreme it’s been since I’ve been here.”

Mike Carter has been in Israel for the past month, traveling with his son, and has been able to provide some perspective. Mike was playing in Israel when the Gulf War began, so this is not his first time experiencing unrest in the region.

“We had to wear gas masks and we had to shelter in sealed rooms,” Mike Carter said. “The league stopped back then just like it is now.”

Eilat is also protected by its geography. The city is located on the Red Sea in the southern part of the country and is removed from the worst of the violence. In Eilat, it’s mostly business as usual with restaurants, beaches and other tourist spots carrying on with little disruption.

“Fortunately, I haven’t been around where the fighting has been the worst,” Ben Carter said. “I haven’t really felt what other players have been going through. There’s so much conflict going on in the country right now, but in Eilat it’s probably the safest place in Israel.”

Carter has had close calls. His team played May 9 in Tel Aviv, though he was fortunate enough to leave the city before the bombings began.

Ben “hasn’t really felt it where we are in Eilat,” Mike Carter said. “We got away from Tel Aviv before the sirens. Down here we don’t hear sirens, don’t see rockets in the sky.”

Mike Carter flew to Israel to be with his son shortly after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine in April. When dad arrived, Ben was in the midst of his best pro campaign; the 6-foot-8 forward was averaging 8.2 points and 4.5 rebounds as the season was suspended.

That individual success is another reason Carter is eager to resume the season, but he understands why other players are choosing to head home.

Click to enlarge photo

Las Vegas native and former UNLV basketball player Ben Carter currently plays professionally in the Israeli Premier League. He's pictured May 11 in Bat Yam, Israel.

“I’m trying to stay connected,” Carter said. “I’ve been speaking with other Americans in the league, talking about what they’ve going through. A lot of players have already left or are planning to leave. The league has been postponed for the last week and we’ve been sitting and waiting for some sort of direction.”

The Premier League resumed Thursday, and Carter’s Hapoel Eilat squad is set to play its first game since the restart today. Hapoel Eilat, which is currently third in the league standings (26-17), is scheduled to face fourth-place Hapoel Gilboa Galil in the city of Gan Ner.

The league has to conclude by June 15, when player contracts expire. At that point, Carter plans to return to Las Vegas, where he’ll help run the family’s coffee shop while maintaining his fitness for next season.

Carter is under contract for next year and has no qualms about returning to Israel in 2022.

Meantime, Carter wants to assure friends and family back in Las Vegas that he’s safe and that he’s hopeful the fighting in the region will come to a permanent end soon.

“A lot of people have called and texted and reaching out on Instagram, checking on me and my father,” Carter said. “I try not to get into politics too much because I know it’s a sensitive subject and not everyone has the same perspective on the conflict. At the end of the day I think everyone in this region wants peace, and there’s a lot of understanding that needs to happen first.”

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy