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.

In The News

Israel will allow 25,000 non-Jewish Ukrainian refugees to stay in country — minister

Israel will allow 25,000 Ukrainians who are not eligible for immigration to stay in the country as refugees amid Russia’s invasion of their nation, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked announced Tuesday.

The minister said 20,000 of those had been in Israel before the outbreak of hostilities, and an additional 5,000 would be accepted from the time...

In The News

Head of Cypriot military makes first visit to Israel

The head of Cyprus’s military touched down in Israel on Monday, kicking off his first official visit to the country, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Tuesday.

Lt. Gen. Demokritos Zervakis was received by an IDF honor guard, after which he participated in a “strategic-operational” meeting focusing on “shared security challenges in the...

In The News

IDF adapts its capabilities to deal with ‘pandemic of Iranian UAVs’

The Israel Defense Forces is dealing with a growing “epidemic” of Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles, senior Israeli military officials cautioned on Monday.

The message came a day after the IDF revealed that in March 2021, Israeli Air Force F-35i fighter jets conducted their first interception of other aircraft, shooting down two...

In The News

Israeli president arrives in Turkey for historic visit

Israeli President Isaac Herzog touched down in Turkey on Wednesday, kicking off the first official visit to the country by an Israeli leader since 2008.

“Israel-Turkey relations are important for Israel, important for Turkey and important for the whole region,” Herzog said in a statement released by his office. “Certainly at a time when the...

In The News

Antisemitic hate crimes in New York up 400% in February – NYPD

Antisemitic hate crimes were up 400% last month, according to new data released by the New York Police Department.

According to the NYPD, there were 56 hate crimes against Jews in February 2022, compared with 11 in February 2021.

Many of these incidents targeted Orthodox people dressed in distinctive clothing, like the Jewish man who was...

In The News

‘We Have One Goal: to Stop the War’ in Ukraine, Lapid Tells Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed Israeli diplomatic efforts to bring an end to “Russian aggression” in Ukraine, during a meeting Monday with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in Latvia’s capital Riga.

Israel is “totally committed to do everything possible to stop the war in Ukraine,” Lapid told Blinken, during a discussion on the...

In The News

Iran drone threat against Israel is rapidly evolving – analysis

In the last year, Iran targeted a ship in the Gulf of Oman, got the Houthis to target the UAE, had an Iraqi militia target the Emirates and targeted the US base of Tanf in Syria and US forces in Iraq.
Israel downed two Iranian drones a year ago, the IDF revealed this week. They were reportedly unmanned aerial vehicles that were supposed to bring...

In The News

Top Iran nuclear negotiator flies home; EU indicates deal awaiting Tehran’s okay

Iran’s top diplomat at months-long talks aimed at restoring its tattered nuclear deal with world powers flew home late Monday for a sudden trip, a sign of the growing pressure on Tehran as the negotiations appear to be nearing their end.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency described Ali Bagheri Kani’s trip as being “within the framework of the...

In The News

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard launches 2nd satellite, state media reports

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched a second satellite into space, state media reported Monday, just as world powers awaited Tehran’s decision in negotiations over the country’s tattered nuclear deal.

State television identified the launch as taking place in its northeastern Shahroud Desert, without specifying when. However, it...

In The News

Two police officers injured in stabbing attack near Temple Mount

Two Israel Police officers were moderately injured in a stabbing attack near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City on Monday evening, with Hamas taking responsibility for the attack.

According to police, the attacker exited the Temple Mount, pulled out a knife and assaulted the two police officers. The officers responded by shooting at the...

In The News

100 Ukrainian Jewish orphans arrive in Israel

Around 100 Jewish Ukrainian orphans arrived to Israel on Sunday, where they were greeted at Ben Gurion Airport by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and cabinet ministers.
The children, ranging in age from 2 to 18 years of age, flew from Romania after a two-day bus ride from the Alumim Jewish orphanage, in the northern Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr....

In The News

War-torn Ukrainian refugees’ lives saved by Israeli doctors at new border clinic

The people are arriving cold and exhausted after trudging by foot from war-torn Ukraine across the border into Poland, said Dr. Dorit Nitzan, who left for Poland last week with a delegation of physicians, nurses and social workers through the NATAN Worldwide Disaster Relief organization.

“The needs are immense and we are doing our best in a...

In The News

Jerusalem stabbing attack: 2 officers wounded, suspect shot dead

Two policemen were lightly to moderately wounded on Sunday during a stabbing attack in Jerusalem's Old City, Israel Police said.
The suspected attacker, 19, from East Jerusalem, was shot dead.
The attack took place at the Bab Huta Gate in the Muslim Quarter at around 4:30 am.
The suspect approached police officers stationed at the gate, pulled...

In The News

With nuclear deal looming, Gantz implores world to ‘mobilize’ against Iran

Defense Minister Benny Gantz attempted to divert part of the world’s attention from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to what he said was another threat to world peace, seeking to rally the international community against Iran amid speculation that a new pact over its nuclear program may be in the offing.

Gantz called in a Monday Facebook post for...

In The News

IDF says its F-35 jets intercepted 2 Iranian drones ferrying arms to Gaza last year

The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday announced that it downed several Iranian drones heading for the Gaza Strip last year.

Two aircraft were intercepted by F-35 jets far from Israel’s borders in March 2021, the IDF said in a statement. According to Channel 12 news, a third drone was downed using electronic warfare means.

“The interception of...

In The News

‘I just want my kid to be ok’: After days of travel, Ukraine refugees land in Israel

Most of the harried travelers arrived at the airport in Iasi, Romania on Thursday after days of traveling with only one or two suitcases — an entire lifetime of possessions and memories distilled into a couple of bags.

They had come from numerous cities, towns and villages across Ukraine — fleeing the Russian invasion of their country.

When...

In The News

EU lawmakers advocate for Palestinian funding reduction if anti-Semitic textbooks are not changed

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from 18 countries co-signed a letter calling for the reduction of funding to the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) if the latter continues to refuse to change its educational material that includes anti-Semitic incitement to violence and the demonization of Israel.

The letter sent to European Commission...

In The News

After being given the cold shoulder, Israeli distributor takes Ben & Jerry’s to court

Avi Zinger was so upset after Ben & Jerry’s pulled the rug out from under him that he never picked up the phone to speak with them. Instead, he’s taking them, and their parent company Unilever, to a U.S. district court.

The longtime Israeli manufacturer and distributor of the Vermont-based ice cream company’s products wants his license...

In The News

US CENTCOM commander: Iran poses biggest threat to regional security

Iran is the biggest threat to regional security, and the US will do everything possible to prevent it from securing nuclear weapons, Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie tells Israel Hayom in a special interview during a farewell visit before stepping down as head of CENTCOM, which Israel joined last year after being reassigned from the US European Command...

In The News

1,408 Ukrainians have arrived in Israel since start of Russian invasion

Israel's Border Crossings, Population and Immigration Administration reported Friday that 1,408 foreigners with Ukrainian passports have arrived in the Jewish state since the Russian invasion began last week.
The authority said 79 of them were refused entry.
Ukraine has about 43,300 people who identify as Jewish and about 200,000 who are...