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, 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,...

Terrorism

Israeli Officer Wounded in Terror Attack Near Jerusalem

A Israeli Border Police officer was lightly injured on Tuesday when a Palestinian driver attempted to run her over at a checkpoint linking the town of Abu Dis, a suburb of Jerusalem, and Bethlehem. The attacker was then shot dead by other officers on the scene.

“A short while ago near Jerusalem in the area of Abu Dis a suspect vehicle attempted...

Antisemitism

Nevada Jewish Man Stabbed in Head by Man Shouting Antisemitic Slurs

A Jewish man leaving a Nevada bar was stabbed in the head by a man on the sidewalk outside who had asked him for money and then shouted antisemitic insults.

The alleged stabber raised his arm in a Nazi salute multiple times and said “Heil Hitler, you piece of (redacted)” before stabbing the man and walking away from the Tap Shack in Carson City...

Syria

Israeli Airstrikes Reported Against Iranian Sites in Syria, Killing 7

Suspected Israeli airstrikes late Tuesday in Syria killed at least seven people, including two Syrian soldiers and five pro-Iranian militia members, SANA and Britain-based watchdog said.

Two soldiers were killed and four others wounded in the strikes in the southern province of Sweida, a Syrian military source cited by state media said.

“Several...

Antisemitism

Jews and Other Minorities Subjected to Major Increase in Online Harassment in 2020, ADL Report Reveals

Online harassment of Jews and other minorities has increased sharply this year, a new survey by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) revealed on Tuesday.

“Individuals who are part of a marginalized group…reported being less safe online this year than in the past,” the report stated. “On the whole, online harassment related to a target’s protected...

Antisemitism

Winona Ryder Lost Movie Role for Looking ‘Too Jewish’

Jewish Actress Winona Ryder revealed that she was once overlooked for a movie role because she looked "too Jewish" for the part, in a recent interview with The Sunday Times.

“There are times when people have said, ‘Wait, you’re Jewish? But you’re so pretty!’ There was a movie that I was up for a long time ago, it was a period piece, and the...

In The News

Drone and Missile Attack Reported on Saudi Arabia

Explosions heard around the capital of Saudi Arabia were alleged to be a drone and missile attack in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The US embassy in Saudi Arabia confirmed media reports of “possible missile or drone” attacks that struck a building in Riyadh. Concerned that more were incoming, the US mission urged people to take precautions.
...

Holocaust

Construction Begins on First Public Monument to All Austria’s Holocaust Victims

Construction began on the first public monument naming all Austrian victims of the Holocaust on Monday. The monument will list all 64,259 Austrian Jews who lost their lives to Nazi atrocities, and is scheduled to be completed next spring.

Despite being the country where Adolf Hilter was born, Austria has long had issues confronting its...

Iran

Iran’s Other Nuclear Violations

The media barely noticed, but the world on Friday called out Iran for blocking nuclear inspections unrelated to President Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal. This problem will continue no matter who is the American President in 2021.

Iran has been a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons since 1970. As a signatory, the country...

Iran

Iran’s Currency Reaches Lowest Value Ever Against the Dollar

Iran’s currency on Monday dropped to its lowest value ever against the dollar and officials warned Iranian exporters to bring their foreign earnings home from abroad.
Money exchange shops briefly traded the Iranian rial 200,000 for a dollar and later in the day, the currency was valued at 198,000 rials against the dollar. The lows were a new...

In The News

Neo-Nazi in US Army Indicted For Conspiring to Have Unit Murdered by Jihadists

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) says a US Army private conspired to murder members of his unit in the hopes of starting a “10-year war” in the Middle East, an indictment unsealed in New York said on Monday.
Ethan Phelan Melzer, a 22-year-old who forged ties with neo-Nazis online, plotted online with someone he believed was connected to radical...

Medical Advancement

Israeli Company Helps US National Institutes of Health Fight Coronavirus

Israeli data company MDClone is supporting the US National Institutes of Health in the fight against the coronavirus crisis.

The Beersheba-based company, established four years ago, provides big-data solutions for healthcare systems and works with organizations in several countries, including Israel, the US and Canada.

As explained to The...

Archeology

Special Vessels Show Jewish Continuity in Israel After Roman Destruction

New research offers insights on how Jewish life continued in the Land of Israel after the destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans.

The use of chalkstones vessels, very common among the Jewish population during the Second Temple Period, did not stop with the destruction of city in the second century CE as previously...