The sight of young Orthodox boys racing across a soccer field against Muslim children from Tayibe may seem almost unimaginable to many people around the world. Yet on playing fields across Israel, these encounters take place regularly. Through The Equalizer (Sha’ar Shivion), children from Jewish, Arab, Druze, Bedouin, religious and secular communities meet through soccer – not only to compete, but also to build friendships and break down barriers that often keep their communities apart.
It all began in 2009, when a group of students from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem volunteered with Ethiopian immigrant families and noticed that many of the children were spending their afternoons without structure or support. They decided to start a soccer team, hoping to offer a sense of belonging, purpose and community.
What began as a small grassroots initiative soon grew into something much larger. The founders quickly realized that soccer could be more than a game — it could serve as a powerful educational tool, helping children build confidence, develop leadership skills, strengthen academic engagement and form meaningful connections across Israeli society.
Today, The Equalizer operates 649 teams serving approximately 12,000 children and teenagers across Israel through soccer, basketball and swimming programs, all designed to promote education, leadership and social empowerment. Working with local schools and communities, the organization creates opportunities for young people who might otherwise never meet to interact through tournaments, joint activities, and educational programs.
At its core, The Equalizer uses sport as a common language — one that allows children from different backgrounds to meet, compete and discover shared ground despite their differences.
During our interview in Jerusalem, Gavriel Halevi, deputy CEO of The Equalizer, explained that while sports initially draw children in, they ultimately serve a much broader purpose.
“Our vision is to create a platform where everyone respects one another,” Halevi said. “We want to foster meaningful dialogue, shared values and common ground and provide an educational framework for young people. We take their passion – almost their obsession – with sports and channel it toward strengthening and uniting Israeli society. Today, The Equalizer is the largest platform in Israel bringing together young people from different communities in the name of education, equality, and a shared society.”
Halevi explained that each participant takes part in four structured weekly activities, two sports practices and two educational sessions led by trained coaches and mentors. While the practices build teamwork and confidence, the educational sessions offer a safe space to discuss personal experiences, process emotions and develop leadership and communication skills.
The program also brings together children from communities that rarely interact. Through tournaments, leadership courses and shared activities, young people from across Israel’s social, religious and cultural spectrum meet and often form friendships that extend far beyond the soccer field.
“When you come to one of our tournaments, you see genuine friendships,” Halevi said. “Children from kibbutzim talking with kids from development towns, religious teenagers spending time with Muslim youth from Arab communities.”
He recalled a particularly striking example. “Three students from a religious yeshiva high school in Yeruham attended a coaches’ training course alongside young people from Kfar Qasim. The yeshiva had suffered heavy losses during the war, while many of the participants from Kfar Qasim had never met Jewish teenagers before. By the end of the course, they had become close friends. They shared rooms, the Kfar Qasim participants taught the others how to dance dabke and they discovered just how much they had in common.”
“There is no other program like this in Israel,” Halevi said. “Many of these kids arrive with preconceived ideas about one another, and we give them the opportunity to build genuine friendships.”
According to Halevi, the impact lasts long after the programs end. “When I interview the children later, I see how their perceptions of one another change,” he said. “They become curious about each other’s cultures instead of fearing them. They stop seeing one another as a threat and begin to see each other simply as fellow Israelis. We see this transformation not only among the children, but among the coaches as well.”
Participants often remain in touch through WhatsApp groups, continuing conversations about soccer and daily life long after the activities end. For Halevi, these lasting relationships are among the clearest measures of success.
The organization’s role took on an entirely new dimension following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack. Just three days later, while thousands of families from border communities were evacuated to hotels and temporary housing across Israel, The Equalizer’s coaches were already on the road.
“Our children were traumatized,” Halevi recalled. “Many had witnessed horrific events, lost friends or family members and suddenly found themselves living in hotel rooms far from home. We knew we couldn’t wait.” Halevi personally traveled to an evacuation center in Eilat, where he was immediately recognized by the children. “I’ll never forget one mother taking me from room to room,” he said. “The children would look at me and ask, ‘You’re from The Equalizer – where is Aviel?’ He was their beloved coach.”
Within days, Aviel arrived and restarted activities at the evacuation center. Similar scenes unfolded across Israel as The Equalizer established programs in approximately 70 evacuation sites. Children who had been confined to hotel rooms were once again running, playing and reconnecting in an environment that felt familiar and safe.
“For many of these children, the coaches became the people they trusted most,” Halevi said. “Parents called them whenever a child was struggling. In many ways, our coaches became anchors of resilience for these communities.”
What began as soccer practices evolved into safe spaces where young people could rebuild routines, process trauma and gradually regain a sense of normalcy during one of the darkest periods in Israel’s recent history.
The organization is now expanding its educational mission with a new initiative designed to teach spoken Hebrew to Arab children. The program responds to what Halevi described as a significant gap in conversational language skills in some communities.
“In some communities, children’s Hebrew is almost nonexistent,” he said. “Many don’t know how to communicate in Hebrew, and that limits their opportunities in life – from higher education to employment. It also means they consume information almost exclusively in Arabic and have fewer opportunities to interact with wider Israeli society.”
According to Halevi, the need became clear early in his time with The Equalizer. “One of the first things I noticed was that many of the children couldn’t speak Hebrew at all,” he said. “Schools have been asking for spoken Hebrew instruction because they understand how important it is.”
This year, The Equalizer launched a pilot program in partnership with the nonprofit Nisan, introducing spoken Hebrew to 90 students. They are now going to expand to five schools in Israel’s Triangle region. Rather than traditional classroom learning, the lessons are integrated into sports activities and based on the children’s interests.
“In the very first lesson, the children order their soccer uniforms, learning colors and numbers in Hebrew,” Halevi explained. “Later, they’re asked to commentate a soccer match in Hebrew. The goal isn’t simply to teach a language, it’s to expand the world they live in.”
