Must not mention that basketballers are mostly black

The term "kushim" refers to the biblical land of Kush, which is today's Sudan and southern Egypt.  So it is a reasonably accurate reference to blacks.  So whether it is derogatory or not depends on what you think of blacks.  There are quite a lot of East Africans in Israel, either as illegal immigrants or as fake-Jews, and it is fair to say that most Israelis don't think much of them  -- for the usual reasons:  welfare dependency, criminality etc.

Israel's newly elected chief rabbi has provoked fury after he was accused of making racist remarks about professional basketball players.

David Lau, who is one of two men who serve as spiritual authorities for Israelis - made the apparent racist remark while addressing a group of ultra-orthodox yeshiva students.

During a speech, Lau made reference to young people watching basketball on television in public rather than spending time studying the Torah.

As reported by the Huffington Post, he said: 'Why do you care whether these [k]ushim  who are paid in Tel Aviv beat the kushim who are paid in Greece?"

The word kushim is a derogatory Hebrew term for black people.

The comment angered members of the Israeli parliament with some calling for Lau to apologise.

Speaking to the Jerusalem Post, Labor party representative Nachman Shai said the comment stands in contrast to the remarks made earlier this week by Pope Francis in reference to not judging gay people.

Basketball is extremely popular in Israel and is a strong source of national pride.  Amare Stoudemire of the New York Nicks was recently invited by President Shimon Peres to play for Israel's national team.

Source