Last month Zach Hyman, who plays for Canada’s Edmonton Oilers, joined the elite list of now 99 players in the NHL who have scored more than 50 goals in a single season. Hyman, Armin Rosen notes, is “a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto.”

He is both the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s most gentlemanly player of 2011, and the University of Michigan athlete of the year for 2015. On the ice for Edmonton, he wears number 18—the traditional Jewish good luck symbol for chai, life.

Fifty goals in a season means you’ve now vaulted over the New Jersey Devils’ Jack Hughes as the greatest Jewish hockey player in history, I declared to Hyman after the game, a 6-1 thrashing of Anaheim in which he’d notched a late goal. Hyman let out an embarrassed laugh. “I don’t know about that,” he replied. “Jack’s a pretty good player.” When I suggested to Hyman that his own success, along with that of Hughes and the Rangers defenseman Adam Fox, meant the Jewish people were now in an unprecedented hockey golden age, his first reaction was to add another name to the list. “I also saw [that] Jeremy Swayman said he had a bar mitzvah,” Hyman said, mentioning the Bruins netminder. “So you can throw that in there. He’s a pretty good goalie.”

I observed to Hyman that he had likely been one of the only Jewish members of just about every team he’d ever played on.

On Tuesday, representatives of Hamas met with their counterparts from Fatah—the faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) once led by Yasir Arafat that now governs parts of the West Bank—in Beijing to discuss possible reconciliation. While it is unlikely that these talks will yield any more progress than the many previous rounds, they constitute a significant step in China’s increasing attempts to involve itself in the Middle East on the side of Israel’s enemies.

By contrast, writes Tuvia Gering, Taiwan has been quick and consistent in its condemnations of Hamas and Iran and its expressions of sympathy with Israel:

Support from Taipei goes beyond words. Taiwan’s appointee in Tel Aviv and de-facto ambassador, Abby Lee, has been busy aiding hostage families, adopting the most affected kibbutzim in southern Israel, and volunteering with farmers. Taiwan recently pledged more than half a million dollars to Israel for critical initiatives, including medical and communications supplies for local municipalities. This follows earlier aid from Taiwan to an organization helping Israeli soldiers and families immediately after the October 7 attack.

The reasons why are not hard to fathom:

In many ways, Taiwan sees a reflection of itself in Israel—two vibrant democracies facing threats from hostile neighbors. Both nations wield substantial economic and technological prowess, and both heavily depend on U.S. military exports and diplomacy. Taipei also sees Israel as a “role model” for what Taiwan should aspire to be, citing its unwavering determination and capabilities to defend itself.

On a deeper level, Taiwanese leaders seem to view Israel’s war with Hamas and Iran as an extension of a greater struggle between democracy and autocracy.

Gering urges Israel to reciprocate these expressions of friendship and to take into account that “China has been going above and beyond to demonize the Jewish state in international forums.” Above all, he writes, Jerusalem should “take a firmer stance against China’s support for Hamas and Iran-backed terrorism, exposing the hypocrisy and repression that underpin its vision for a new global order.”