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

UAE, Bahrain Delegations Take Part In Western Wall Hanukkah Lighting Ceremony

12/14/2020

A delegation from both the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain took part Monday evening in the central menorah lighting at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, in a ceremony described by the site’s chief rabbi as a “Hanukkah miracle.”

The group was made up of social activists and opinion leaders from the Gulf countries, visiting Israel as...

In The News

Israeli Airlines Plan Daily Flights To Morocco

12/13/2020

Israeli airline El Al is planning to operate at least one daily flight to Morocco, Israeli business daily Globes reported on Friday.

The report came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announcedthat the North African country had agreed to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel.

Until now, Israelis have had to...

In The News

Jerusalem’s Archeological Tunneling Efforts Win Top Award

12/14/2020

Jerusalem’s Old City can now add another global feather to its cap: The archeological tunneling to explore and excavate its history has just won worldwide recognition by the International Tunneling and Underground Space Association (ITA).

Coming in at first place in the “Oddities of the Underground” category in the ITA’s sixth...

Turkey

US Sanctions Turkey Over Acquiring Russian Missile-Defense System

12/14/2020

The Trump administration announced on Monday that it has imposed sanctions on Turkey for acquiring a Russian missile-defense system.

The United States sanctioned Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) in accordance with the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) of 2017 for receiving the S-400...

In The News

Congress Votes To Maintain Security Assistance To Israel

12/14/2020

The U.S. Congress passed a $741 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the 2021 fiscal year last week that includes the continuation of American assistance to Israel for missile-defense programs and other initiatives.

The Pentagon blueprint, which will need an appropriations bill to fund it, passed the U.S. House of...

Iran

Netanyahu Meets With US NSA O’Brien, Warns Of Iran’s ‘Threat To World Peace’

12/13/2020
The visit comes just weeks ahead of US VP Mike Pence's trip to the Jewish state on January 13

"We shouldn't go back to business as usual with Iran," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted in a press briefing with US National Security Adviser Robert C. O'Brien that was held in Jerusalem on Sunday.
As US President-elect...

Iran

Iran’s Khamenei Awards Military Medal To Slain Nuclear Scientist

12/13/2020
Fakhrizadeh was killed on a major road outside Tehran in late November in a bomb and gun attack

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday posthumously awarded a prestigious military decoration to top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated last month, state television reported.
Fakhrizadeh was...

Iran

Iran Executes Dissident Journalist Accused Of Inciting Unrest

12/13/2020

Iran has executed a dissident journalist, a year after he was seized by the country’s elite Revolutionary Guards in Iraq and forcibly repatriated to face trial.

Ruhollah Zam, 47, was hanged early on Saturday morning, Iranian state media reported. His family visited him the previous day, but prison and judicial authorities had not...

In The News

Israel Inks Deal Establishing Diplomatic Relations With Bhutan

12/12/2020

Israel has established full diplomatic ties with Bhutan, a small, majority-Buddhist landlocked kingdom in the Himalayas neighboring India and China.

The agreement was signed on Saturday at a ceremony held at the residence of Israel’s Ambassador to India Ron Malka, with the ambassador of Bhutan to India Major General Vetsop...

In The News

Oman, Indonesia Likely Next Countries To Forge Ties With Israel

12/13/2020

Oman and Indonesia could be next in line to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in the coming weeks, a diplomatic source said Sunday.

The Trump administration is continuing in its efforts to bring more Arab and Muslim countries into the Abraham Accords. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco have agreed to...

US-Israel Relationship

Congress Passes 2021 Defense Funding Bill, Including $3.3 Billion In Aid To Israel

12/11/2020

The Senate on Friday passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2021, a massive bill which provides $740 billion in funding for a range of defense-related issues for the next fiscal year, including at least $3.3 billion that will go to Israel security assistance.

The Senate voted 84 to 13 in favor of the NDAA. The...

Press Release

CUFI Welcomes Congressional Passage of NDAA

12/11/2020
President Trump Urged To Sign Bill Without Delay
WASHINGTON – On Friday, Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the nation’s largest pro-Israel organization, released a statement applauding passage of the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and welcoming key provisions in the bill that were among CUFI’s top...

In The News

Morocco And Israel Decide To Normalize Relations

12/10/2020

Israel and Morocco have agreed to establish diplomatic relations, US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday.

Morocco became the fourth Arab country to normalize ties with Israel in four months, following the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.

“Another historic breakthrough today!” Trump...

Turkey

Exclusive: U.S. Set To Sanction Turkey Over Russian Defense System – Sources

12/10/2020

The United States is poised to impose sanctions on Turkey over its acquisition last year of Russian S-400 air defense systems, five sources including three U.S. officials told Reuters on Thursday, a move likely to worsen already problematic ties between the two NATO allies.
The long-anticipated step, which is likely to infuriate...

In The News

Jewish, Pro-Israel Groups React To Morocco Agreeing To Normalize Ties With Israel

12/10/2020

Jewish and pro-Israel groups reacted positively to Morocco’s announcement on Thursday of its intention to normalize ties with Israel.

It’s the fourth normalization deal in the past four months between Israel and Arab countries, after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan. These nations follow in the wake of Egypt and Jordan,...

Hezbollah

UN Court Gives Hezbollah Killer Of Lebanon’s Hariri Life In Prison, In Absentia

12/11/2020

An international court on Friday sentenced a fugitive Hezbollah member to life imprisonment for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri and 21 other people.

Salim Ayyash, 57, was found guilty in absentia of murder and terrorism on August 18 by the Netherlands-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon over...

In The News

Israel Joins UAE, Morocco And Bahrain In International Security Alliance

12/10/2020

In an unprecedented move, Israel officially joined the International Security Alliance (ISA) on Wednesday night, becoming its tenth member and joining countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Bahrain.

Other countries in the alliance include France, Italy, Senegal, Singapore, Spain, And Slovakia.

The move is "an...

Antisemitism

Anne Frank Memorial In Boise Vandalized With Swastikas

12/09/2020

Swastikas were pasted throughout the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial in Boise, Idaho, on Tuesday, the latest high-profile incident of anti-Semitism in the United States.

The Wassmuth Center for Human Rights shared on Facebook that flyers reading “we are everywhere” were plastered throughout the memorial along with swastika...

Iran

If Iran’s Nuclear Program Is Peaceful, Why Hide It?

12/10/2020

Iran’s nuclear facility at Natanz appears to be paving the way for sensitive facilities to increasingly go underground according to satellite photos analyzed by The New York Times.

Publication of the suspected findings is timed to coincide with Iran-Israel tensions and comes before US president-elect Joe Biden is sworn in. This is...

In The News

Netanyahu Directs More Budgets For Israeli Aid To Honduras, Guatemala

12/10/2020

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed that additional budgets be allocated for the Israeli aid for Honduras and Guatemala in the wake of the damage done to the countries by recent hurricanes, his office announced Thursday.

A joint Home Front Command and Foreign Ministry delegation travelled to the Republic of Honduras last...