“The last few months have been practices, jersey handouts (which was delayed) and a few games (which he bravely sat on the bench). This is appalling as a mother whom supports extracurricular activities and played youth sports,” Alexis Stoudemire wrote. “It saddens me as a fan that [Deuce] might be forced to withdrawal not to mention other non-Israeli citizens whose families come to this beautiful country to live temporarily because of jobs and or religious reasons the case my be.”On Monday afternoon here, the Instagram post had been liked 252 times and received more than a dozen sympathetic comments. Kurz commented on the post Monday, saying, “Hi Alexis… would love to have Deuce play baseball!! We have over 60 kids in Jerusalem and 800 all over Israel playing baseball – Jews and Arabs, Israelis and foreigners, boys and girls!! Many of our kids, especially in Jerusalem, are not citizens. So what? They are kids and just want to play ball…..get in touch if he’s interested….Peter Kurz, Pres of IAB.”Kurz’ also wrote in his open letter: The Israel Association of Baseball is open to all. Among our nearly 1,000 players throughout the country, we have Jews, Christians and Moslems, boys and girls, we have Israelis, Americans, Australians, Canadians, and many more nationalities, several with foreign passports. All of these players play in our leagues around Israel on a daily basis without discrimination. Those who play on a high level are even able to play on our youth national teams and represent Israel in tournaments abroad.A spokesman for the Israel Basketball Association told JTA Sunday that requiring citizenship for youth league membership is common around the world. But he said the association had suggested Hapoel Jerusalem formally request an exception for Deuce, which it would review “positively.”