| Israel National Baseball Team | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Information | |
| Country |  Israel |
| Confederation | Confederation of European Baseball |
| Manager | Nate Fish |
| WBSC ranking | |
| Current | 21 (11 November 2025)[1] |
| Highest | 18 (2 times; latest in March 2020) |
| Lowest | 74 (December 2012) |
| World Baseball Classic | |
| Appearances | 2 (first in2017) |
| Best result | 6th (2017) |
| Olympic Games | |
| Appearances | 1 (first in2020) |
| Best result | 5th |
| European Championship | |
| Appearances | 4 (first in2019) |
| Best result | 2nd (2021) |
TheIsrael National Baseball Team (Hebrew:נבחרת ישראל בבייסבול) represents Israel in international baseball competitions. It is managed byNate Fish.
At the 2017 WBC, Team Israel came in 6th. In 2022, Israel was ranked 20th in the world. The Israel national baseball team competed at the2020 Summer Olympicsin 2021, where it beat Mexico and finished 5th. It also competed in the2023 World Baseball Classic, where it did not progress to the quarterfinal round.
Team Israel will compete in the2026 World Baseball Classic from March 6-11, 2026, atLoanDepot Park in Miami in Pool D. It will faceTeam Venezuela,Team Netherlands,Team Dominican Republic, andTeam Nicaragua. American-Israeli former 4x All Star and 2x Gold Glove winning second basemanIan Kinsler will be the team's manager.
In the 1970s American immigrants started playing baseball in Israel. In December 1986, theIsrael Association of Baseball (IAB) was formed as anon-profit organization to develop baseball in Israel. Israel has baseball teams in all age groups from 10 to 30.
In 2015, Israel senior national team pitcherDean Kremer became the first Israeli to be selected in the Major League Baseball draft.[2] He was picked by theSan Diego Padres in the 38th round. Kremer opted to fulfill his college commitment, and play for theUNLV Rebels baseball team.[3] After playing for the Rebels for the 2016 season, Kremer was drafted by theLos Angeles Dodgers in the 14th round of the 2016 draft.[4] In 2019, Kremer reached Class AAA for the first time, pitching for theNorfolk Tides of theInternational League. In 2020, Kremer made his debut for theBaltimore Orioles, becoming the first Israeli citizen to pitch in the major leagues.[5]
Prior to the2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC), Israel was the 41st-ranked national baseball team in the world (and ranked 16th in Europe).[6][7] After its performance in the 2017 WBC, in which Team Israel came in 6th, the team was ranked 19th in the world (and 4th in Europe).[8] The most recent ranking was released in 2022, with Israel ranked 20th in the world.[1] The Israel national baseball team that competed at the2020 Summer Olympics was composed mostly ofIsraeli-American Jews, with fourIsraeli-born players.[9]
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In 2019 Israel won theEuropean Baseball B-Pool competition, with a 5–0 record. It then won the best-of-three2019 European Qualification Playoff Series, with a 2–0 record. Consequently, it qualified for the2019 European Baseball Championship 12-team tournament in Germany, where it came in fourth. As one of the top five teams in the Championship, it thereby moved on to compete in theAfrica/Europe 2020 Olympic Qualification tournament. It won that tournament, and thus qualified to be one of six national teams that competed in 2021 inbaseball at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
At theOlympics in 2021 the team facedJapan,Mexico,South Korea, theUnited States, and theDominican Republic. Israel beat Mexico but finished 5th, after losing to the Dominican Republic 7-6 in the Round 2repechage.
The team also competed in the2023 World Baseball Classic, where it defeated Nicaragua but lost to Venezuela and did not progress to the quarterfinal round. However, its win guaranteed it a spot in the following Classic. Among the players who played for the team were All Star outfielderJoc Pederson and starting pitcherDean Kremer.
The senior national team manager is Israeli-American formerMajor League BaseballWorld Series champion,World Baseball Classic champion, four-time All Star, and OlympianIan Kinsler.
The following is a list ofprofessionalbaseball match results currently active in the latest version of theWBSC World Rankings, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.[10]
Win Lose Void or postponed Fixture
| Euro Championship Q | July 1 | Greece  | 7–14 | Israel | Blagoevgrad Field,Bulgaria |
| 10:00EET | Boxscore | Attendance: 75 |
| Euro Championship Q | July 2 | Israel | 11–1(F/8) |  Serbia | Blagoevgrad Field,Bulgaria |
| 10:00EET | Boxscore | Attendance: 85 |
| Euro Championship Q | July 3 | Israel | 8–0 |  Bulgaria | Blagoevgrad Field,Bulgaria |
| 17:30EET | Boxscore | Attendance: 50 |
| Euro Championship Q | July 4 | Israel | 13–12(F/10) |  Russia | Blagoevgrad Field,Bulgaria |
| 13:30EET | Boxscore | Attendance: 60 |
| Euro Championship Q | July 5 | Ireland  | 3–10(F/7) | Israel | Blagoevgrad Field,Bulgaria |
| 10:00EET | Boxscore | Attendance: 42 |
| Euro Championship Q | July 6 | Israel | 5–3 | Russia | Blagoevgrad Field,Bulgaria |
| 10:00EET | Boxscore | Attendance: 126 |
| Euro Championship Q | July 26 | Lithuania  | 2–12 | Israel | Utena Hippodrome,Lithuania |
| 14:00EET | Boxscore | Attendance: 354 |
| Euro Championship Q | July 27 | Israel | 15–0(F/5) | Lithuania | Utena Hippodrome,Lithuania |
| 14:00EET | Boxscore | Attendance: 402 |
| Euro Championship GS | September 7 | Czech Republic  | 1–6 | Israel | Weyersberg Park,Germany |
| 12:30CET | Boxscore | Attendance: 150 |
| Euro Championship GS | September 8 | Israel | 4–3 |  Sweden | Weyersberg Park,Germany |
| 12:30CET | Boxscore | Attendance: 150 |
| Euro Championship GS | September 9 | Germany  | 2–4(F/10) | Israel | Bonn 1,Germany |
| 19:00CET | Boxscore | Attendance: 500 |
| Euro Championship GS | September 10 | Great Britain  | 4–7 | Israel | Weyersberg Park,Germany |
| 12:30CET | Boxscore | Attendance: 150 |
| Euro Championship GS | September 11 | Israel | 4–13 |  Netherlands | Bonn 1,Germany |
| 15:00CET | Boxscore | Attendance: 250 |
| Euro Championship QF | September 13 | Israel | 8–2 |  France | Bonn 1,Germany |
| 11:00CET | Boxscore | Attendance: 200 |
| Euro Championship SF | September 14 | Israel | 6–7 |  Italy | Bonn 1,Germany |
| 19:00CET | Boxscore | Attendance: 1,000 |
| Euro Championship 3rd | September 15 | Spain  | 16–11 | Israel | Bonn 1,Germany |
| 15:00CET | Boxscore | Attendance: 1,200 |
| Summer Olympics GS | July 29 | Israel | 5–6(F/10) |  South Korea | Yokohama Stadium,Japan |
| 19:00JT | LP:Jeremy Bleich HR:Ian Kinsler (1),Ryan Lavarnway (2) | Boxscore | WP:Oh Seung-hwan HR:Oh Ji-hwan (1),Lee Jung-hoo (1),Hyun-soo Kim (1) | Attendance:0 |
| Summer Olympics GS | July 30 | United States  | 8–1 | Israel | Yokohama Stadium,Japan |
| 19:00JT | WP:Joe Ryan HR:Tyler Austin (1) | Boxscore | LP:Joey Wagman HR:Danny Valencia (1) | Attendance:0 |
| Summer Olympics R1 | August 1 | Israel | 12–5 |  Mexico | Yokohama Stadium,Japan |
| 12:00JT | WP:Zack Weiss HR:Danny Valencia (2) | Boxscore | LP:Manny Barreda | Attendance:0 |
| Summer Olympics R2 | August 2 | Israel | 1–11(F/7) | South Korea | Yokohama Stadium,Japan |
| 12:00JT | LP:Joey Wagman | Boxscore | WP:Cho Sang-woo HR:Oh Ji-hwan (2),Hyun-soo Kim (2) | Attendance:0 |
| Summer Olympics R2R | August 3 | Israel | 6–7 |  Dominican Republic | Yokohama Stadium,Japan |
| 19:00JT | LP:Zack Weiss HR:Danny Valencia (3) | Boxscore | WP:Luis Felipe Castillo HR:Jeison Guzman (1),Johan Mieses (1) | Attendance:0 |
| Euro Championship GS | September 12 | Russia | 1–2(F/10) | Israel | Paschetto Stadium,Italy |
| 20:30CET | Boxscore | Attendance: 75 |
| Euro Championship GS | September 13 | Israel | 10–0 | France | Paolo II Palace,Italy |
| 16:00CET | Boxscore | Attendance: 50 |
| Euro Championship GS | September 14 | Great Britain | 4–11 | Israel | Aluffi Stadium,Italy |
| 10:00CET | Boxscore | Attendance: 40 |
| Euro Championship QF | September 16 | Israel | 3–2 | Czech Republic | Paolo II Palace,Italy |
| 20:30CET | Boxscore | Attendance: 80 |
| Euro Championship QF | September 17 | Israel | 11–5 | Italy | Paolo II Palace,Italy |
| 20:30CET | Boxscore | Attendance: 585 |
| Euro Championship F | September 19 | Israel | 4–9 | Netherlands | Paschetto Stadium,Italy |
| 20:30CET | Boxscore | Attendance: 570 |
| World Baseball Classic GS | March 12 | Nicaragua  | 1–3 | Israel | loanDepot Park,United States |
| 12:00ET | LP:Jonathan Loáisiga (0–1) | Boxscore | WP:Richard Bleier (1–0) Sv:Robert Stock (1) | Attendance: 19,955 Umpires: HP – Maikol Tibabijo, 1B –Ron Kulpa, 2B – Tim Meyer, 3B –Andy Fletcher |
| World Baseball Classic GS | March 13 | Israel | 0–10(F/8) |  Puerto Rico | loanDepot Park,United States |
| 19:00ET | LP:Colton Gordon (0–1) | Boxscore | WP:José De León (1–0) | Attendance: 27,813 Umpires: HP –Ron Kulpa, 1B – Alejandro Pecero, 2B –Chris Guccione, 3B – Tim Meyer |
| World Baseball Classic GS | March 14 | Israel | 0–10(F/7) | Dominican Republic | loanDepot Park,United States |
| 19:00ET | LP:Jacob Steinmetz (0–1) | Boxscore | WP:Roansy Contreras (1–0) HR:Manny Machado (2) | Attendance: 33,307 Umpires: HP –Mike Estabrook, 1B –Andy Fletcher, 2B – Chris Graham, 3B – Maikol Tibabijo |
| World Baseball Classic GS | March 15 | Venezuela  | 5–1 | Israel | loanDepot Park,United States |
| 12:00ET | WP:Jesús Luzardo (1–0) HR:Eduardo Escobar (1),Eugenio Suárez (1) | Boxscore | LP:Robert Stock (0–1) | Attendance: 18,277 Umpires: HP:Andy Fletcher. 1B:Ángel Hernández. 2B: Maikol Tibabijo. 3B: Alejandro Pecero |
| Israel roster – 2023 World Baseball Classic roster | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | |||
| Pitchers | Catchers Infielders | Manager Coaches
| ||
| Israel roster – 2023 World Baseball Classic roster | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | |||
Pitchers
| Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
| Manager Coaches
| ||
Team Israel competed in the September 2012Qualifier Round 1, inJupiter, Florida, againstSpain,France, andSouth Africa. Israel won easily in their first game. Israel then beat Spain in the winner's bracket. Spain then eliminated South Africa to earn a rematch with Israel, in the final game. Spain won the winner-take-all final game, 9–7 in 10 innings, to advance to the main tournament.
In September 2016, Team Israel competed in the 2017Qualifier 4 round.Colorado Rockies coachJerry Weinstein served as the manager.[12] Israel's roster included 20 MLB-affiliated minor leaguers, making up 86% of the team, more than any other team in the qualifiers even before including recent Major Leaguers.[13]
Israel won all three of their games in the qualifier, beatingGreat Britain twice andBrazil once.[14][15][16] With the win, Israel advanced to play inPool A inSouth Korea in March 2017, againstSouth Korea,Taiwan, andthe Netherlands.[17]
Prior to the start of the 2017 tournament,ESPN considered Israel, ranked 41st in the world, to be the biggest underdog in the tournament, referring to them as the "Jamaican bobsled team of the WBC".[18][19] Israel began theround robin tournament with wins against world # 3 Korea and world # 4 Chinese Taipei,[20] and world # 9 Netherlands.[21] Team Israel's first round performance afforded it a spot in the second round, inPool E in Japan, and ensured its participation in the2021 World Baseball Classic tournament.[22]Ryan Lavarnway was named Pool A MVP.[23]
In the first game of the second round, Team Israel beatTeam Cuba (world # 5) by a score of 4−1.[24] Israel lost the next two games, to the Netherlands and world # 1 Japan, and came in third in Pool E.
In 2018 a documentary was released entitledHeading Home: The Tale of Team Israel, which covered the experience of Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic.[25][26]
Team Israel competed in the2023 World Baseball Classic.[27] They played in Miami, Florida.[27] Israel facedTeam Puerto Rico,Team Dominican Republic,Team Venezuela, andTeam Nicaragua.[28]
American-IsraeliIan Kinsler, a formerMajor League All Star and two-timeGold Glove winner, and Israeli Olympian, managed the team.[27] Among the players who committed to play for the team were All Star outfielderJoc Pederson, outfielderAlex Dickerson, catcherGarrett Stubbs, and American-Israelis catcherRyan Lavarnway, infielderDanny Valencia, and infielderTy Kelly, along with prospectsMatt Mervis (who in 2022 led Minor League Baseball in RBIs and was third with 36 home runs),Zack Gelof,Colton Gordon, andSpencer Horwitz.[28][29] Pitchers on the team included Israeli-AmericanDean Kremer,Richard Bleier,Robert Stock,Jake Bird, and American-IsraelisJake Fishman,Zack Weiss, andBubby Rossman, whileScott Effross was slated to be on the team but injured his arm.[28][30][31][32]
Others who it was thought might possibly join Team Israel included All Star pitcherMax Fried, pitcherNoah Davis, pitcherKenny Rosenberg, and outfielderMike Moustakas.[28] Third baseman All StarAlex Bregman chose not to play in the WBC, first basemanRowdy Tellez chose to play for Team Mexico, andAdam Ottavino chose to play for Team Italy.[28][33] Gold Glove outfielderHarrison Bader, outfielderKevin Pillar, and pitcherEli Morgan originally intended to play for the team, but at the end of the day did not play.
Brad Ausmus was be one of the team's coaches.[34] He was a former Team Israel manager, had managed in the major leagues for five years, and during his 18-year playing career won three Gold Glove Awards for his defense.[34]Kevin Youkilis was the team's hitting coach.[34] In his 10-year major league career, he won two World Series titles with the Boston Red Sox, was a three-time All Star, and won a Gold Glove Award.[34]Jerry Narron, who in his 30-year career had been as a manager or coach with eight different major league teams and been the third base coach for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic qualifier, also served as a coach for the team.[34]
Team Israel, ranked No. 19, will compete in the2026 World Baseball Classic from March 6-11, 2026, atLoanDepot Park in Miami in Pool D. It will face Team Venezuela, Team Dominican Republic, Team Netherlands, and Team Nicaragua. American-Israeli former 4x All Star and 2x Gold Glove winning second basemanIan Kinsler will return as the team's manager.[35]
Major leaguers Israeli-American pitcherDean Kremer, outfielder and formerGold Glove winnerHarrison Bader, pitcherColton Gordon, and catcherGarrett Stubbs have said that they plan to play for Team Israel in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.[36][37]
Other possible returners include 2x All Star outfielder/DHJoc Pederson, first baseman/second basemanSpencer Horwitz, first basemanMatt Mervis, and second basemanZack Gelof. Other potential new additions include 3x All Star and 3x Gold Glove winning pitcherMax Fried, 3x All Star and Gold Glove winning third baseman/shortstopAlex Bregman, pitchersScott Effross,Eli Morgan, andJared Shuster, and infielderChase Strumpf.[38]
Team Israel won the2019 European Baseball Championship - B-Pool in early July 2019 inBlagoevgrad,Bulgaria,winning all five of its games. It thus advanced to the playoffs againstTeam Lithuania in the2019 Playoff Series at the end of July 2019 for the last qualifying spot for the2019 European Baseball Championship.[39] Israel won the best-of-three playoff series 2–0, and thereby qualified for the2019 European Baseball Championship.
In preparation for possible qualification by Israel to playbaseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics, 10 American baseball players madealiyah in 2018 in order to qualify under the citizenship requirement for the 2019 European Baseball Championships and the Olympics. The players wereCorey Baker,Eric Brodkowitz,Gabe Cramer,Blake Gailen,Alex Katz,Jonathan de Marte,Jon Moscot,Joey Wagman,Zack Weiss, and Jeremy Wolf (who lives inTel Aviv).[40][41][42] They were followed in 2019 byJeremy Bleich,Ty Kelly,Nick Rickles,Danny Valencia, and Ben Wanger.[42][43]
In Round 1 of the 2019 European Baseball Championship, Israel went 4–1 (defeating world # 18the Czech Republic,Sweden,Germany, andGreat Britain while losing tothe Netherlands). The team thereby advanced to the Championship's eight-team playoffs, with Mitch Glasser leading all Championship batters in runs with 7, and Blake Gailen tied with Germany's Marco Cardoso for the lead in hits, with 8.[44] In the Championship playoffs, Israel defeatedTeam France in the quarterfinals, lost toTeam Italy in the semi-finals, and came in fourth.[45] In the Championship, Joey Wagman led all pitchers with a 0.00 ERA over 10.2 innings.[46][47]
At the2021 European Baseball Championship held September 12–19, 2021, inTurin,Italy, Israel won thesilver medal.[48] Third basemanAssaf Lowengart led the Championship with 13 RBIs and tied for the lead in home runs with four, second basemanMitch Glasser was 5th with an on base percentage of .615, and shortstopTy Kelly was 5th with seven walks.[49]Joey Wagman led the Championship with 18 strikeouts and tied for the lead with 16 innings pitched, andBen Wanger tied for the lead with two wins.[49]
| Summer Olympics record | Qualification | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | W | L | RS | RA | Event | Position | W | L | RS | RA | |
| 1992 | did not qualify | did not qualify | |||||||||||
| 1996 | |||||||||||||
 2000 | |||||||||||||
| 2004 | |||||||||||||
 2008 | |||||||||||||
 2020 | Preliminary | 5th | 1 | 4 | 25 | 37 | Africa/Europe qualifying |  | 4 | 1 | 34 | 11 | |
| Total | 1/6 | 1 | 4 | 25 | 37 | ||||||||
Because Team Israel finished in the top five in the 2019 European Baseball Championship, it earned the right to participate in the2020 Olympics qualifiers. Thatround robin tournament took place in Italy between September 18 and 22, 2019.[50][51] As the winner of that tournament it qualified to be one of the six national teams that competed at the2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
The Israeli team started strong at the September 2019Africa/Europe Qualifying Event, by defeating all three 2019 European Baseball Championship medalists - world # 8 Netherlands, world # 16 Italy, and Spain, before losing to the Czech Republic. In its final game, Israel beat South Africa 11–1 in a game that was stopped in the 7th inning due to themercy rule. Team Israel won the tournament with a 4–1 record. It thereby qualified to be one of six national baseball teams that competed in the2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. First baseman/DHDanny Valencia batted .375 and led the tournament in runs (7), home runs (3), RBIs (9), walks (5), and slugging percentage (1.000), and starting pitcherJoey Wagman tied for the tournament lead with two wins, and led in complete games (1) and strikeouts (14) as he had an 0.56 ERA in 16 innings.[52]
Every member of the 24-member Team Israel that competed to qualify in the Olympics was Israeli, with four of the players native-born.[53] The others madealiyah to Israel, under Israel'sLaw of Return, which gives anyone with a Jewish parent, grandparent, or spouse the right to return to Israel and be granted Israeli citizenship.[53] Native-born Israeli team memberShlomo Lipetz observed:
"There is no other country like Israel that carries an identity as it does with Jews around the world. We’re not the only team here with citizens that don't live in the country. There were other teams like Spain that had 22 Venezuelans and two Spaniards. But they didn't have that connection. This wasn't just a group of people, All-Stars who came together. It was people who all had aBar Mitzvah. We were joking around that everyone will post their Bar Mitzvah photo."[53]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | RF | RA | RD | GB | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Israel | 5 | 4 | 1 | 34 | 11 | +23 | — | Qualification to2020 Summer Olympics |
| 2 | Netherlands | 5 | 4 | 1 | 26 | 15 | +11 | — | Qualification toFinal Qualifying Tournament |
| 3 | Czech Republic | 5 | 3 | 2 | 26 | 17 | +9 | 1 | |
| 4 | Spain | 5 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 19 | −3 | 2 | |
| 5 | Italy | 5 | 2 | 3 | 23 | 25 | −2 | 2 | |
| 6 |  South Africa | 5 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 46 | −38 | 4 |
At the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo in the summer of 2021, Israel beat Mexico and finished fifth after going 1-4 and losing to the Dominican Republic 7-6 in the Round 2 Repechage.[54] The Israel national baseball team that competed at the2020 Summer Olympics was composed mostly ofAmerican Jews who were dual American-Israeli citizens, in addition to fourIsraeli-born players.[9] Danny Valencia tied for the lead in the Olympics with three home runs, tied for second with six runs and seven RBIs, and had the fourth-best slugging percentage (.778), Ryan Lavarnway had the 5th-best slugging percentage (.700), and Mitch Glasser's .474 on base percentage was 5th-best at the Games.[55]
| Baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics –Israel roster | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | |||
| Pitchers | Catchers Infielders Outfielders | Manager Coaches
| ||
| Israel roster –2017 World Baseball Classic | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | |||
| Pitchers | Catchers Infielders Outfielders | Manager Coaches
| ||
| World Baseball Classic record | Qualification record | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | W | L | RS | RA | W | L | RS | RA | ||
| 2006 | did not enter | No qualifiers held | ||||||||||
| 2009 | ||||||||||||
| 2013 | did not qualify | 2 | 1 | 18 | 14 | |||||||
| 2017 | Round 2 | 6th | 4 | 2 | 30 | 31 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 3 | ||
| 2023 | Round 1 | 16th | 1 | 3 | 4 | 26 | Automatically qualified | |||||
| 2026 | To be determined | |||||||||||
| Total | Round 2 | 3/6 | 5 | 5 | 34 | 57 | 5 | 1 | 33 | 17 | ||
| European Baseball Championship record | Qualification record | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Host(s) | Round | Position | W | L | RS | RA | Host | W | L | RS | RA | |
| 2010 | Did not qualify | Croatia | 2 | 2 | 22 | 27 | |||||||
| 2012 | Did not qualify | Israel | 3 | 2 | 39 | 16 | |||||||
| 2014 | Did not enter | Did not enter | |||||||||||
| 2016 | Did not qualify | Slovenia,Austria | 8 | 2 | 97 | 29 | |||||||
| 2019 | Germany | Semifinals | 4th | 5 | 3 | 50 | 48 | Serbia,Bulgaria,Lithuania | 11 | 3 | 129 | 48 | |
| 2021 | Italy | Final | | 5 | 1 | 41 | 21 | ||||||
| 2023 | Czech Republic | Quarter-Finals | 6th | 3 | 3 | 34 | 32 | ||||||
| 2025 | Netherlands | Quarter-Finals | 7th | 3 | 4 | 33 | 38 | ||||||
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