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

Two killed in apparent attack on synagogue in Germany

Shooting takes place just as Jews observe the holiest day of the Jewish calendary, Yom Kippur, in eastern city of Halle. A hand grenade was also thrown into a Jewish cemetery nearby.

Two people were killed in a shooting in the eastern German city of Halle on Wednesday outside a synagogue, as Jews observed the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur.
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Palestinian Authority

Palestinians to resume taking Israeli collected tax money

PA stopped taking money because of dispute with Israel over stipends paid to families of Palestinian terrorists, but souring financial situation and increasing instability force Ramallah to reconsider its policies.

The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority (PA) will once again accept tax revenues collected on its behalf by Israel, after rejecting...

Terrorism

After Paris attack, Macron vows ‘unrelenting fight’ against Islamist terror

French President Emmanuel Macron vowed an “unrelenting fight” against Islamist terror on Tuesday as he paid tribute to the four Paris police staff stabbed to death last week by a radicalized colleague.

“We will wage an unrelenting fight in the face of Islamist terrorism,” Macron told a ceremony at the police headquarters where the attack took...

Hamas

1,200 IDF soldiers race ahead of Yom Kippur Brigade’s 50th anniversary

Fifty years after its founding and on the eve of Yom Kippur, 1,200 soldiers and officers of the IDF’s 188th “Barak” (Lightning) Armored Brigade participated in the second annual 188-km. run from Haifa to the Golan Heights, where the brigade defended the country against the invading Syrian Arab Army in 1973.

“It’s a special date, which is the 50th...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Israel, bracing for Iranian assault, studies recent attack on Saudi oil facility

Israel’s defense establishment is analyzing last month’s strike on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, which is being blamed on Iran, to learn how to protect the country from a possible similar assault, Hebrew media reported Monday.

The September 14 combined drone and cruise missile barrage on two facilities knocked out half of the kingdom’s oil...

Hamas

Israel shuts down for Yom Kippur

Israel shut down on Tuesday evening for Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement and the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

All flights in and out of Ben Gurion airport ceased at 1:35 p.m.. The airport will reopen Wednesday night with arrivals starting at 9:30 p.m., while departures will resume at 11:30 p.m. Border crossings also shut just after...

US-Israel Relationship

ZILBERMAN: The U.S. Is Enabling Turkey’s Adversarial Behavior

A statement attributed to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan goes like this: “Democracy is like a bus, when you arrive at your destination, you step off.” We know that Erdogan long ago stepped away from democratic norms, particularly after the failed coup of July 2016, which accelerated domestic repression and Ankara’s pivot to the East....

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Explosive detonated near West Bank IDF position, 2nd device neutralized

An explosive device was detonated next to an Israel Defense Forces position near the town of Beit Ummar in the West Bank on Friday evening, the military said in a statement.

A second device was discovered at the army post and was neutralized by sappers.

There were no reports of any injuries in the primary explosion but there was damage to the...

Iran

Iran unveils kit to convert artillery rockets into guided missiles

The Iranian military says it has produced a new conversion kit to upgrade artillery rockets to surface-to-surface missiles, technology that Israel has accused Tehran of attempting to deliver to the Hezbollah terror group.

The Iranians unveiled the new guidance system upgrade, called Labeik, at an event Thursday at which a number of new military...

Palestinian Authority

PA wipes Peace Agreement form schoolbooks, encouraging incitement and intolerance

The Palestinian Authority has removed any mention of past agreements with Israel from their school textbooks, with the exception of the Oslo Accords, which are mentioned in far less detail than in previous editions of the schoolbooks, according to a new report by Yedioth Aharonot.

The new curriculum, which has been progressively implemented...

Terrorism

Arabs hurl firebombs, burn tires as Jews pray at Joseph’s Tomb before Yom Kippur

(October 7, 2019 / JNS) Dozens of Palestinians rioted on Sunday night following the pilgrimage of some 1,000 Jews, under Israeli security escort, to the Tomb of Joseph in Shechem/Nablus to pray. The rioters threw firebombs and burning tires at security personnel.

Israeli security forces responded with riot dispersal methods.

There were no...

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)

Australian Parliament MPS pledge to classify BDS as antisemitic

Leading Austrian lawmakers have vowed they will declare the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign targeting Israel as antisemitic during the next legislative session.

“We hope that words will be followed by deeds and that... there will soon be a parliamentary resolution,” wrote the organization Jewish-Austrian Students, which hosted the...

US-Israel Relationship

US Ambassador Friedman at Evangelical rally: ‘Jerusalem literally keeps us safe’

Shared values and a common history, not soldiers and weapons, guarantee a nation’s security, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said Sunday.

Addressing a rally of pro-Israel Evangelicals, Friedman hailed the recently inaugurated Pilgrimage Road, a new archaeological site in Jerusalem’s City of David, which lies underneath the Palestinian...

Israeli Society

Israeli hospital donates equipment and knowhow to Nepal

Five physicians from Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center recently brought medical equipment to Kathmandu and shared their expertise on women’s and children’s health with the medical staffs of two local hospitals.

Sponsored by the Embassy of Israel in Nepal, the Israeli team led a week of workshops and continuing medical education courses in...

Hezbollah

US sanctions squeezing Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon

BEIRUT (AP) — The conflict between Iran and the U.S. that has created tensions throughout much of the Middle East is now also being felt in Lebanon, where Washington has slapped sanctions on the Iran-backed Hezbollah and warned they could soon expand to its allies, further deepening the tiny Arab country’s economic crisis.

The Trump...

Hamas

Saluting one of the last living heroes of Israel’s fight for independence

(October 3, 2019 / JNS) Nothing really prepares you for the Smoky smile and the twinkle in an eye undimmed by nearly a century on earth.

And when Harold “Smoky” Simon grins at you, it’s hard to remember that, at 99, the man is one of a dwindling club: the heroes of Israel’s War of Independence.

“Unhappily, that’s true,” he says in an accent...

Terrorism

Police, army say gun-smuggling attempt from Lebanon foiled

Police and military forces recently prevented a large number of weapons from being smuggled into Israel from Lebanon, authorities announced Thursday.

The incident occurred on September 14, when lookouts spotted two suspects near the Lebanese border, close to the town of Metula.

Units that rushed to the scene found two large bags with 39...

Antisemitism

Anti-Semitic fliers found in Montana on Rosh Hashanah

(October 3, 2019 / JNS) Anti-Semitic fliers circulated around Whitefish, Mont., on Monday, the first day of Rosh Hashanah, as part of a continuing trend that has been happening there for years.

The literature included code words like the number “88,” which stands for “Heil Hitler,” as “h” is the eighth alphabetical letter; and “14 Words,”...

Iran

IRGC Commander Confirms MEK Information on ‘Missile-Cities’ Hidden Under Iran’s Mountains

“We have been digging tunnels since 1984 when we first began making missiles.” These were the words of Revolutionary Guards general Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force. He was interviewed by the Iranian regime’s Documentary TV a few hours after the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)- US representative office,...

Israeli Technology

Israeli firm traces cyberattacks on Egyptian activists to Cairo government

A leading Israeli cybersecurity company found that a series of cyberattacks against Egyptian journalists, academics, opposition politicians and rights activists was likely perpetrated by the Egyptian government.

The perpetrators, who were traced to government offices, installed programs on victims’ phones that allowed them to read their emails,...