Nineteen professional football Hall of Fame stars arrived in Israel this week for a week-long event headlined "Touchdown in Israel: Mission of Excellence." The event was sponsored by Jewish billionaire and owner of current NFL champion New England Patriots Robert Kraft, who accompanied the former players to Israel. Kraft attended a festive ceremony launching the event on Sunday, held at the Kraft Stadium he built in Jerusalem. The ceremony was attended by a large crowd of players and fans. In 1994, Kraft purchased the football team he loved as a fan, despite its lackluster record. After the purchase, the Patriots saw a steady string of successes, turning into the team with the most titles in the league, including four Super Bowl victories. "It reminds me of the story of Moses," Kraft told Israel Hayom in an interview Sunday. "For 40 years, the team was in the desert, and the moment I bought it, it began winning titles." At the ceremony, Kraft sang the Israeli and the American national anthems, and had trouble concealing his excitement. "I am very emotional," he said. He added that his personal and business decisions, including the decision to purchase the financially failing team, were "made out of passion." Kraft expressed his joy at being in Jerusalem and his hope to see an Israeli player in the NFL. "I grew up in a traditional family," he said. "I put on tefilin when I was young. My first trip to Israel was in 1963, for my honeymoon, and I remember how angry I was when I looked out from the balcony at the King David Hotel and saw armed Jordanian soldiers keeping me from visiting the holy sites. "After the Six-Day War, we were all able to go and pray. I was in favor of building bridges between the peoples." Kraft declared that after the U.S., "Israel is my favorite place to be. Where else can you find the two holiest sites to the monotheistic faiths side by side-" Asked whether his team's most recent victory, achieved in the final seconds of the game, was the sweetest, Kraft said, "I think the first victory was the most exciting. But thank God we won the last game too, and with God's help we will win the next game." As for purchasing a team in Israel, Kraft was hesitant. He said he had been approached about purchasing a basketball team a few years back, but decided to focus on one thing at a time. "If you want to focus, it is best to focus on football and soccer, since I also own a soccer club," he said. The idea to bring the 19 Hall of Famers to Israel came from Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer, himself a former player in the Israeli football league. "I was on a trip to Canton, Ohio, and I visited the Hall of Fame. I thought to myself that these people are like modern gladiators; people in American worship them. They have the same value as a year's worth of public diplomacy [for Israel]," he said. Only 295 former players have had the privilege of wearing the Hall of Fame gold jacket, and only 168 of them are still alive. Of those, 19 were in Jerusalem on Sunday, receiving the warmest Israeli welcome.
