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.

Antisemitism

White supremacist disrupts webinar for Jewish teens featuring deputy anti-Semitism envoy

A webinar on the video conferencing platform Zoom about anti-Semitism last week, featuring U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism Ellie Cohanim, was disrupted by a white supremacist and hacker—an example of what the Anti-Defamation League has called “Zoombombing.”

The Greater Boston chapter of NCSY, a Jewish youth...

Hamas chief threatens Israel over ventilators for coronavirus patients

The head of Hamas in Gaza warned Israel if more ventilators for coronavirus patients were not brought into the Palestinian enclave then his terror group will “take them by force.”

“If ventilators are not brought into , we’ll take them by force from Israel and stop the breathing of 6 million Israelis,” said Yahya Sinwar, according to Hebrew media...

Iran

Rouhani says US sanctions are not impeding fight against coronavirus

BERLIN—The Islamic Republic of Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, issued a series of jaw-dropping comments at an economic cabinet meeting on Thursday, stating that US sanctions have not stopped Tehran from combating the coronavirus crisis.

Rouhani’s remarks contradict the narrative that his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has delivered to...

Medical Advancement

Israeli scientists say vaccine to be tested on humans by June 1

A team of Israeli researchers says that they are days away from completing the production of the active component of a coronavirus vaccine that could be tested on humans as early as June 1.

“We are in the final stages and within a few days we will hold the proteins – the active component of the vaccine,” Dr. Chen Katz, group leader of MIGAL’s...

Israeli hi-tech to receive NIS 650 million ‘first aid’ injection

The Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) will inject NIS 650 million (approx. $180m.) into the Israeli hi-tech sector, including funds dedicated to researchers combating the coronavirus, after the Finance Ministry released funds frozen since the start of the year.
A total of NIS 600m. ($165m.) will be transferred to companies that have applied for...

HU professor wins over 3m. euro grant for groundbreaking cancer research

Three professors from the Hebrew University have collectively been awarded over 7 million euros in funding to pursue "ground breaking and high risk projects" by the European Research Council (ERC).

“The ERC Advanced Grants fund outstanding researchers throughout Europe. Their pioneering work has the potential to make a difference in people’s...

Antisemitism

Jewish Groups Condemn Surge of Coronavirus-Related Antisemitic Social Media Posts in New York’s Rockland County

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Jewish Federation and Foundation of Rockland County expressed concern about a sharp increase in antisemitic social media posts regarding the coronavirus pandemic and Orthodox Jews.
Evan R. Bernstein – vice president of the ADL’s Northeast Division – stated, “All of us in Rockland County — residents,...

Iran

The case against lifting sanctions on Iran’s clerical regime – analysis

Iran experts brought to the fore this week the role of the coronavirus crisis in Tehran’s strategy and the regime’s outright fabrications designed to hoodwink world powers into providing sanctions relief.Prominent Iranian author and dissident Amir Taheri tweeted that Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif claims that the "Islamic Republic has $100...

Blamed for bringing virus to Lebanon, Hezbollah now trying to stop its spread

In the streets of Beirut’s southern suburbs, Hezbollah paramedics and volunteers on trucks and on foot sprayed disinfectants on shops and buildings. At a hospital where it once treated its wounded fighters, the group’s medical staff set up beds for a center to deal with coronavirus patients.

Hezbollah says it is turning the organizational might...

Iran

Iran, US heat up war of words on Iraq despite virus pandemic

Iran said Thursday it “only acts in self-defense” after US President Donald Trump warned it against attacks on US troops in Iraq, as a new war of words heated up despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Tensions between the rivals flared in Iraq where the United States deployed Patriot air defense missiles, prompting neighboring Iran to warn of...

Israeli Society

Jerusalem Orchestra Members Perform Virtual Concert From Homes in Israel, New York

The Jerusalem Orchestra East & West did a virtual performance last week to help lift spirits amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Tom Cohen, the orchestra’s artistic director and chief conductor, and the 35 musicians he worked with recorded a new original piece called “Darbuka la Corona” from their homes in Israel and New York. The almost 3-minute...

Iran

The Coronavirus Is Absolutely No Excuse to Lift Sanctions on Iran

Iran’s clerical dictatorship cares more about its own survival than it cares about the welfare of the Iranian people. But you wouldn’t know it from the chorus of Americans and Europeans exploiting the coronavirus crisis in Iran to push the Trump administration to lift sanctions against Iran. This is fundamentally dishonest—the sanctions do not...

US-Israel Relationship

US and Israel conduct F-35 exercise without face-to-face bilateral meetings

The United States and Israel conducted a joint F-35 exercise on Sunday in the Jewish state.

The Enduring Lightening training exercise consisted of “a wide variety of operational theaters while strengthening the cooperation between the forces,” said the Israeli Air Force in a statement.

The drill consisted of F-35s from the USAF’s 34th fighter...

IDF converts armored vehicle assembly lines to make medical equipment

The Israeli Defense Ministry’s Rehabilitation and Maintenance Center at Tel Hashomer, outside Tel Aviv, is familiar to every member of the Israel Defense Forces’ Armored Corps. The center, a subordinate of the IDF’s Technical and Logistics Directorate, produces Merkava tanks and other armored vehicles, builds command and control centers, and...

Palestinian Authority

PA Mouthpiece Accuses Israel of Coronavirus ‘Holocaust’ Against Jailed Palestinians

The Palestinian Authority’s official newspaper recently accused Israel of launching a coronavirus “holocaust” against Palestinian prisoners in its custody, even as UN officials praised Israeli and Palestinian leaders for their strong cooperation in combating the pandemic.

An editorial in the PA mouthpiece Al-Hayat al-Jadida falsely claimed that...

Antisemitism

Proposed New York Hate Crimes Law Named in Memory of Rabbi Murdered in Monsey Attack

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has renamed a proposed domestic terrorism law after the late rabbi who was stabbed during an attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Monsey.
Rabbi Josef Neumann, 72, had gone into a coma after suffering a head injury on Dec. 28 at the hands of a man who burst in on a Hanukkah celebration and began slashing attendees with...

Don’t fall for Hezbollah’s coronavirus con

Lebanon announced this month it was defaulting on all of its outstanding debt payments for the year, including $1.2 billion in eurobonds due in March. There are another $3.4 billion worth of eurobonds coming due after that. Those, too, will go unpaid.

It’s a burgeoning crisis that deserves attention — but it does not warrant the blind bailout...

Israeli researchers make ‘significant progress’ in coronavirus vaccine

The Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) has begun testing a COVID-19 vaccine prototype on rodents at its bio-chemical defense laboratory, a source told Reuters on Tuesday.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the IIBR, in rural Ness Ziona, to join the fight against the coronavirus pandemic on Feb. 1, prompting an easing of its...

FDA okays Israeli drug for coronavirus treatment trials

NeuroRx, a US-Israeli pharmaceutical company, and Relief Therapeutics, a Swiss drug development company, announced Sunday they received the go-ahead from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for phase two trials of a drug that could take on a deadly condition associated with COVID-19.
The companies revealed that the FDA issued a "study may...

Iran

US troops in Iraq finally get Patriot air defense

Two and a half months after Iranian ballistic missiles slammed into a US base in central Iraq, lightly injuring more than 100 soldiers, the US finally brought Patriot batteries to Iraq. They will be set up at Ayn al-Assad base and in Erbil, according to reports. The US is withdrawing from a half-dozen bases and posts in Iraq as the coronavirus...