Earlier this week I wrote a column about how the “Show must go on”, now I want to explain, why and how the show must go on no matter how difficult the situation Israel and the basketball league may be in to make it happen.

The Israel basketball league relies heavily on foreign players, primarily Americans who in the most part come to Israel to ply their trade for a season and then depart to the next stop in their hoop careers. Not all but most of these players very rarely play more than one year in Israel as most teams have to overhaul their imports every single year like a revolving door at a hotel.

Over the course of the season a team may also change up their foreigners and some may only end up playing a couple a games before being cut for another one. Just look at Nes Ziona who flipped three imports this past season in a move that not only saved their campaign which was off to a 1-5 start but also allowed them to win their first European title last month when they captured the FIBA Europe Cup.

Whereas the Israel soccer league uses their import allotment to supplement and hopefully help improve the local players, the basketball teams look at the foreigners in most cases to be the stars of the show. Without the Americans, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Holon, Hapoel Jerusalem and other teams would have massive trouble competing in Europe as well as in the domestic league.

The base of Israeli players who can play in the top league is weak and it was made even weaker when the league put a limit on naturalized Israelis. Those are players who immigrated to Israel and became citizens in order to play basketball and in some cases live for the rest of their lives in the country and do not count against the foreigner cap.

When the missiles started coming fast and furious into Israel from the Gaza Strip via Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, the import players were frightened and rightfully so. Many received calls, texts messages and the like from their loved ones back home in the United States wanting them to come back home. That is totally understandable and as someone who made Aliyah, immigrated to Israel 17 years ago my extended family was worried just the same.

However, my family who have been to Israel many times also know and understand the actual situation on the ground whereas the foreigner’s families do not and digest their news from places like CNN which usually doesn’t do the Holy Land much justice, if any.

Hearing air raid sirens is definitely not fun to say the least and when missiles are landing in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan and Holon it can make for a very harrowing situation. There’s no doubt that this is not one that the foreign players expected, but any time you sign a contract to play in Israel, this can be the unfortunate reality of living here.

Imports have been the lifeblood of the league for decades and while they are appreciated and in many cases loved by the fans, there must be a movement to continue to work on having more and more Israelis and naturalized Israelis play in the league and become those who can be counted on through thick and thin.

Some foreign players began publishing a post across social media which stated that the league should be cancelled immediately. This post rang very, very hollow.

What was shocking to me most was that there was not one mention of Israel, their home away from home over the past season plus. This was very sad to see.

It’s not their fight to fight. But there is also something called HaKarat HaTov, gratitude and thanks and there seemed to be very little of that.

The import players that remain should be acknowledged and thanked. It is to you that we have HaKarat HaTov and gratitude.

The league must go on despite the imports who have left and will leave. This is OUR league, OUR Israeli league. It won’t be a perfect ending, it will be far from it with many teams having makeshift rosters but we MUST end it on the court instead of off of it.

No one is expecting the imports to be at the forefront of this battle and neither should they be. But let this be a lesson to the teams.

Keep working on developing the youth. Yam Madar, Noam Dovrat, Tamir Blatt, Iftach Ziv, Yovel Zoosman and Deni Avdija.

Keep working hard on finding quality Jewish players from the Diaspora. Spencer Weisz, Frederic Bourdillon, John Dibartolomeo, Willy Workman and Ben Eisenhardt who should all be treated as equals just as their fellow Israelis.

That is where the real future of Israeli basketball lies.