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 To Soon Get Its First Female F-35 Pilot

Twenty years after the first woman took to the skies as Israel’s first combat pilot, Israel’s Air Force will soon have its first female F-35 pilot, sources have told The Jerusalem Post.

She will reportedly fly in the 116th squadron, nicknamed “Lions of the South,” based out of Nevatim in southern Israel.

Israel was the first to use the F-35 in a...

Incitement

Russian Spy Unit Paid Taliban to Attack Americans, U.S. Intelligence Says

A Russian spy unit paid members of Afghanistan’s Taliban movement to conduct lethal attacks on U.S. troops in that country, according to a classified American intelligence assessment, people familiar with the report said.

The assessment of the role played by Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, in fostering attacks on American...

In The News

Meet The Only Person in the World Who Can Touch the Dead Sea Scrolls

Few people are familiar with the name of Tanya Bitler, a 63-year-old conservator at the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), who moved to Israel from Russia at the end of 1990. However, her hands have been featured in media all over the planet for a unique reason: she is currently the only person in the world who can touch and handle the legendary...

Hezbollah

Bipartisan Letter Calls On EU To Designate Hezbollah In Its Entirety As Terror Group

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has called on the European Union to designate both the political and military wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist group.

The June 24 letter was spearheaded by Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) in the U.S. Senate, and Reps. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) and Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) in the U.S. House of...

Israeli Society

Israeli Startup Ecosystem Ranks #6 in the World, According to New Report

The annual Startup Genome Ecosystem report has listed the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as the sixth most attractive ecosystem for startups and innovation. The report, which has been published every year since 2012, comes as 40% of the world’s startups report major disruption due to Covid-19.

Tel Aviv and Jerusalem were ranked together...

Hamas

IDF Hits Hamas Targets After Two Rockets Are Launched at Israel From Gaza

Israel hit multiple Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip early Saturday morning after two rockets were launched at Israel from the coastal enclave on Friday evening, according to the Israeli military.

Israeli fighter jets struck a rocket manufacturing workshop and a weapons manufacturing infrastructure, the military said in a statement.

“Strikes on...

Iran

Danon to UNSC: ‘Extend the Iran Arms Embargo Beyond October Deadline’

Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, warned the United Nations’ Security Council on Sunday that once the arms embargo on Iran would be lifted, the Islamic Republic could continue importing or exporting a variety of weapon systems, including tanks, artillery systems, warships, submarines, aircraft, missiles, and other arms. The embargo is set...

Antisemitism

Concrete Slab Hurled Into Home of 84-Year-Old Jewish Woman Near Paris

A large concrete slab was thrown through a living room window of an Jewish 84-year-old woman in what an anti-racism group called a hate crime.

No one was injured in the incident Monday in the suburb of Gagny, but it left the victim “traumatized,” the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Antisemitism, or BNVCA, wrote in a statement Wednesday.
...

Antisemitism

German Court Rules Travel Portal Can ‘Discriminate’ Against Israelis

A court in the southern Germany city of Munich affirmed on Wednesday the right of a travel portal to deny service to an Israeli passenger because of a stopover in Kuwait--a regime that boycotts the Jewish state.

The Israeli Shmuel M, who lives in Germany, wanted to travel in 2018 from Munich to Sri Lanka, with a layover in Kuwait in. His ticket...

Incitement

Iraq Arrests 13 Pro-Iran Militia Members After String of Anti-US Rocket Attacks

Iraqi police arrested 13 pro-Iran fighters early Friday from the Hezbollah Brigade, a Shi'ite militia in the country not to be confused with Lebanon's Hezbollah.
The elite Counter-Terrorism Service raided headquarters in southern Baghdad used by the brigade, also known as Brigade 45 of the al-Shaabi military force.
"Based on intelligence...

In The News

Israel, Greece Partnering to Build New Corvette Vessel for Hellenic Navy

Greek ONEX Neorion Shipyards and Israel Shipyards have signed a cooperation agreement for the construction of next-generation corvette ships which will meet Athen’s needs for future naval warfare in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The agreement, which was signed during the recent visit by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Israel on June 16,...

Israeli Society

Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Ranked World’s 6th Strongest Start-Up Ecosystem

The start-up ecosystem in Tel Aviv-Jerusalem was ranked sixth worldwide in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report for 2020 (GSER 2020), tying with Los Angeles.

The report was conducted by Startup Genome, and is among the world's most comprehensive and practical research reports on the success and performance of start-up ecosystems.

In their deep...

In The News

Israel, UAE Launch Partnership to Fight Coronavirus

Israeli research companies and private companies from the United Arab Emirates will work together to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced at an Israel Air Force pilots’ course graduation ceremony on Thursday.

The partnership comes less than a week before the earliest date for the government to possibly apply...

Archeology

1967 Jordanian Weapons Found in Archaeological Dig by Western Wall

A Jordanian ammunition stash dating back to the Six Day War was discovered in an archaeological dig near the Western Wall on Wednesday, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation and Israel Antiquities Authority announced.

The archaeologists were excavating a British Mandate period water cistern under the lobby of the Western Wall Tunnels site, when...

Terrorism

IDF Soldier’s Killer Indicted for Intentionally Causing Death

Nizmi Abu Bakar, the suspected killer of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier Amit Ben Yigal, was indicted on Thursday by Israel’s Military Court for intentionally causing death.
Staff Sgt. Amit Ben Yigal, 21, was killed on the morning of May 12 when a brick was thrown at his head during an army operation in the village of Ya'bad, West of Jenin....

Antisemitism

COVID-19 Fueling Worldwide Wave of Anti-Semitism, Researchers Find

A report published Tuesday by a Tel Aviv research group found that the coronavirus pandemic has become a vehicle for an intense and exceptional wave of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionist propaganda that accuses Jews and Israel of either causing the virus or standing to benefit from it.

The pandemic has “unleashed a unique worldwide wave of...

Iran

Report: Iran Spends as Much as $700 Million Annually to Support Terrorism

Iran has spent as much as $700 million annually to support terrorist groups, according to a U.S. State Department report released on Wednesday.

“The Iranian regime and its proxies continued to plot and commit terrorist attacks on a global scale,” states the report’s foreword. “In the past, Tehran has spent as much as $700 million per year to...

Terrorism

New US State Department Report Highlights Iran’s Terror Footprint, From Gaza to Pakistan

Iran’s terror footprint extended across the Middle East from the Gaza Strip to Pakistan during 2019, the US State Department said on Wednesday, as it published its annual list of country-by-country reports on terrorism.

Examining the twin threats posed by Tehran-backed terrorist groups on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon and its southern...

Iran

US Sanctions Five Iranian Ship Captains Over Venezuela Oil Delivery

The US announced sanctions against the captains of five Iranian-flagged vessels which delivered petrol to Venezuela, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Wednesday.
In a tweet, he said that "no one believes Maduro's claims of equal and fair distribution," accusing the Venezuelan regime of "squandering" the country's "wealth and resources."...

Iran

U.N. Security Council to Start Talks on U.S. Bid to Extend Iran Arms Embargo

The United Nations Security Council is due to hold a first round of talks on Wednesday on a U.S. proposal to indefinitely extend an arms embargo on Iran, which is currently set to end in October under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The United States circulated a draft resolution on the measure to the 15-member council on Monday,...