ISSUES

At CUFI, we are focused on several key issues with the goal of defending Israel’s strength, security, and sovereignty.

If you want to keep up with all things Israel, sign up for CUFI’s Daily Briefing – our daily news roundup created exclusively for CUFI members. Every morning, Monday through Friday, receive an email with some of the top headlines in the news so you are always informed and ready to debunk lies with the truth.

US set to delay next round of Iran talks to hear new Israeli position

The US is seeking to extend the time between rounds of indirect nuclear talks with Iran, in order to talk to the new Israeli government more about its position.

Washington feels that the negotiations to return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal are worth delaying in order to better cooperate with Israel, a source with knowledge of the US President...

After Kohavi meeting, US reaffirms commitment to not let Iran get nukes

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi that US President Joe Biden has a “commitment to ensuring that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon,” according to the White House.

Sullivan and Kohavi met in Washington on Wednesday alongside Israeli Ambassador to the US and UN Gilad Erdan and discussed “the challenges...

Honduran president meets Bennett before inauguration of Jerusalem embassy

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández meets with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at his office in Jerusalem before attending the dedication of the Honduran Embassy in the capital.

“You will be recorded in the pages of history as having done a brave and correct deed for the State of Israel,” Bennett tells Hernández.”

In September 2020,...

Attack on Iranian nuclear site damaged centrifuge production facility – reports

The target of an attack in Karaj reported by Iranian media on Wednesday was a factory producing aluminum blades for uranium-enrichment centrifuges, according to Israel’s Channel 13.
Contrary to the Iranian reports, which said that the “sabotage attempt” near Tehran had been thwarted and resulted in no casualties or damage, Israel’s Channel 13...

Pentagon tracked failed Iranian satellite launch and new images reveal Tehran is set to try again

The Pentagon was watching as Iran attempted, and failed, to launch yet another satellite into orbit earlier this month, multiple defense officials tell CNN.

But while that previous effort, which took place in mid-June, was unsuccessful, Iran appears to be preparing for another attempt in the near future, as satellite imagery captured by...

Bipartisan lawmakers introduce bill targeting Hamas financing, citing bitcoin donations

A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday aimed at further cutting off funds for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the U.S.-designated terrorist organization that runs the Gaza Strip.
The bill, introduced by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Brian Mast (R-Fl.), cites a rise in bitcoin donations to the terrorist group...

40 years after Iraq reactor raid, IDF reveals Ilan Ramon’s fears, intel sketches

The IDF Archive on Tuesday published a host of documents related to the bombing of Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor 40 years ago, including sketches of the site and a 2001 clip, in which fighter pilot and doomed astronaut Ilan Ramon spoke about the inspiration he drew from his Holocaust survivor mother before heading out in an F-16A jet.
The rare...

In Holon, a global gaggle of child heart patients get life-saving treatment

Over 30 children and teens from seven countries, the West Bank and Gaza are being treated near Tel Aviv for life-threatening heart conditions, the largest group of patients brought to Israel in over a year by a charitable medical organization that says it has saved thousands of lives over the last quarter century.
The children range in ages from...

Pentagon tracked failed Iranian satellite launch and new images reveal Tehran is set to try again

The Pentagon was watching as Iran attempted, and failed, to launch yet another satellite into orbit earlier this month, multiple defense officials tell CNN.

But while that previous effort, which took place in mid-June, was unsuccessful, Iran appears to be preparing for another attempt in the near future, as satellite imagery captured by...

Shin Bet reports dramatic increase in West Bank attacks on Israelis

A month after Operation Guardian of the Walls, the IDF continues to struggle to maintain calm in the West Bank. With Israel’s attention focused on the Gaza Strip, the flames of violence in the West Bank are at risk of exploding.

According to data released by the Shin Bet,  there were 592 attacks in the West Bank and another 178 in Jerusalem in...

U.S. seizes over 30 websites linked to Iranian disinformation

TEHRAN — The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday seized 36 Iranian-linked news website domains, accusing them of spreading disinformation, amid continued tensions between Tehran and Washington.

The Justice Department said 33 of the seized websites, owned by a U.S.-based company, were used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union...

In The News

Israel successfully tests airborne laser interception of drones

06/21/2021
The defense establishment recently completed the first test of an airborne laser system, which successfully destroyed several drones, in what Defense Minister Benny Gantz hailed a major "technological breakthrough."
As part of the tests, the laser intercepted several unmanned aerial vehicles flying at various altitudes and at varying...

In The News

White House says Joe Biden has no plans to meet with Ebrahim Raisi

06/21/2021
United States intends to continue negotiating with Iran over nuke deal

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that US President Joe Biden had no plans to meet with newly elected Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
"We don't intend to meet," Psaki told reporters during a White House press briefing.
Ebrahim Raisi, a...

In The News

Israeli Air Force welcomes fifth-ever female fighter pilot

06/21/2021

Four women and 35 men received their Israeli Air Force wings last week at a graduation ceremony in Hatzerim Air Force Base in the Negev.

The newly-minted IAF pilots include the first woman in nearly five years and the fifth woman ever to become a fighter pilot in Israel.

Sixty-two women have completed the IAF pilots’ course...

In The News

Israeli researchers measure continuous traumatic stress from rockets

06/21/2021

Israeli scientists have created a new and unique methodology to measure the impact that rocket attacks had on traumatic stress.

Published in the open-access online academic journal PLOS ONE, the study by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev worked to identify three very distinct factors: exhaustion/detachment,...

In The News

US Defense Department approves replenishment of Israel’s Iron Dome system

06/21/2021

The United States has pledged to replenish and reinforce Israel's Iron Dome system following the most recent escalation between Israel and allied terror groups in the Gaza Strip, which culminated with over 4,300 rockets being shot into Israeli territory.

Israel requested $1 billion from the United States to replenish the IDF’s...

In The News

IDF seeking increased military cooperation with Gulf states under CENTCOM

06/19/2021

Strengthening military coordination against Iran will be a main topic of IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi’s visit to Washington, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

According to a report in Walla News and confirmed to the Post, Kohavi will discuss expanding and increasing military coordination with the forces of CENTCOM –...

In The News

Iran’s sole nuclear power plant undergoes unexplained emergency shutdown

06/20/2021

Iran’s sole nuclear power plant underwent an unexplained temporary emergency shutdown, state TV reported on Sunday.

An official from the state electric energy company, Gholamali Rakhshanimehr, said on a talk show that the Bushehr plant shutdown began on Saturday and would last “for three to four days.”

He said that power...

In The News

IDF Chief of Staff Kochavi embarks Sunday on first US military visit to discuss Iranian nuclear threat

06/17/2021

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, will depart for his first official military visit to the US on Sunday to talk with his counterparts about the Iranian nuclear threat and other challenges in the region.

Kochavi will be a guest of the the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United...

In The News

It’s time to fight the United Nations’ anti-Israel bias

06/18/2021

Without Israel as its primary target for condemning resolutions and direct isolation, the United Nations (UN) would have little reason to exist. It does not condemn or act against state-sponsorship of terrorism by Iran. It looks the other way at ethnic cleansing in China. It is impotent in responding to Russia seizing the territory....