ISSUES

At CUFI, we are focused on several key issues with the goal of defending Israel’s strength, security, and sovereignty.

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Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Israeli Soldiers’ New Frontier: Delivering Food to Grandma

As Israel’s defense establishment plays an increasingly important role in the nation’s battle against the coronavirus pandemic, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Tuesday that it will take responsibility for the country’s elderly population, considered to be the highest-risk group for coronavirus infection.
With the encouragement of Israeli...

Medical Advancement

Israeli startup aims to identify coronavirus carriers using their voice

Can coronavirus carriers be identified by analyzing their voice?
That’s what an Israeli startup is trying to find out, in collaboration with the Defense Ministry’s Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure.
The startup, Vocalis Health, is currently conducting research aiming to identify a vocal fingerprint...

Israeli Society

Half a million people take part in mass online prayer against coronavirus

Half a million people participated in a mass online prayer event staged on various different digital platforms and involving rabbis and participants from around the world, to request divine intervention to halt the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The initiative was promoted by the chief rabbis of Israel rabbis Yitzhak Yosef and David Lau along...

Medical Advancement

Israeli universities, institutes lead the fight against coronavirus

Israeli universities and institutes—and their affiliated academics, researchers, doctors, scientists and students—are leading the fight against the coronavirus. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the Technion‒Israel Institute of Technology, Rambam Health Care Campus, Migal Galilee Research Institute and the Sheba Medical Center are each at the...

Iran

American Robert Levinson, held by Iran, believed to be dead

Robert Levinson, an American illegally held by the Iranian regime, is believed to have died, his family wrote in a statement posted Wednesday afternoon. “We received information from US officials that has led both them and us to conclude that our wonderful husband and father died while in Iranian custody.” His death is not believed to be connected...

Turkey

Is Turkey planning a new invasion of eastern Syria? – analysis

Turkey’s leadership thrives on crises. For the last several years the government in Ankara has invented a new crisis every month, sometimes with the US. In October 2019 it invaded part of eastern Syria, causing 200,000 people to flee. In November Turkey created a crises in Libya with an energy deal in the Mediterranean and in January and February...

Hezbollah

‘Lebanon needs an end to Iranian patronage, not Nasrallah’s advice on fighting the coronavirus’

Lebanon, like much of the rest of the world, is currently battling the coronavirus epidemic and taking measures to limit the spread of the disease. Some in Lebanon, and especially those belonging to the anti-Hezbollah March 14 camp, have accused Hezbollah of causing the outbreak in Lebanon by refusing for several weeks to halt flights from Iran...

Iran

Iran refuses to release Christian prisoners amid coronavirus outbreak while EU sends millions in aid

Iran’s theocratic rulers have temporarily released some 85,000 prisoners, including political prisoners, in an effort to prevent the spread of the Middle East’s worst coronavirus outbreak, but have refused to free many Iranian Christians jailed for practicing their faith.
Article18, an organization that promotes religious freedom in Iran, told Fox...

In The News

Holocaust survivor who delivered US House prayer dies of coronavirus at 91

A rabbi who survived World War II and the Holocaust and in January delivered the opening prayer in the U.S. House of Representatives died on Tuesday—14 days after his 91st birthday—after being hospitalized with COVID-19.

Yeshiva World News first reported the death of Rabbi Avraham Hakohen “Romi” Cohn as a result of complications due to the...

Antisemitism

‘You’re Spreading the Virus’: Hasidic Man Alleges Antisemitic Discrimination at New York Car Dealership

A Hasidic Jewish man has accused a New York car dealership of antisemitic discrimination after he was denied a pre-scheduled servicing appointment on the alleged grounds that he was “spreading” the coronavirus.
The shocking incident occurred at Johnstons Toyota in New Hampton, New York. Video shot by the Hasidic man showed him asking an employee...

Israeli Society

Israeli government imposes strict new measures, limits movement to 300 feet

As of Wednesday, five Israelis have died due to complications stemming from the coronavirus
The Israeli government overnight Thursday passed extensive new directives aimed at reducing the infection rate of the novel coronavirus.
The measures, passed at 3:30 a.m. following nearly six hours of deliberations according to The Jerusalem Post, will...

Israeli Society

Sea of Galilee hits highest water level since 2004; dam opening mulled

Amid all the bad news about the coronavirus pandemic, Israelis can find some solace in the Sea of Galilee, which is in better shape than it’s been for the past 16 years.
According to officials who measure the level of the country’s largest source of freshwater every day, the level was at 209.275 meters (686.6 feet) below sea level Tuesday, the...

US-Israel Relationship

IDF, US to hold air exercise with F-35 jets and no physical contact

The Israel and US militaries were set to launch a joint aerial exercise in southern Israel on Tuesday in which F-35 fighter jets will take part, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The drill was permitted to take place, despite a general ban on international exercises during the coronavirus crisis, because it will be held solely in the air, with no...

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)

Ex-SJP Leader at NYU Responds to Israel’s First Coronavirus Death With Nasty Tweet

The former president of the New York University chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine responded to Israel’s first coronavirus fatality with a nasty tweet, expressing indifference and contempt, and she was not alone.
Aryeh Even, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor, passed away on Friday, becoming the first Israeli to die of the disease.
When...

Iran

Iran leader refuses US help, citing conspiracy theory that virus man-made

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader Sunday refused US assistance to fight the new coronavirus, citing an unfounded conspiracy theory that the virus could be man-made by America.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments come as Iran faces crushing US sanctions blocking the country from selling its crude oil and accessing international...

Iran

Iranian Officials Stole More Than $1 Billion in Humanitarian Coronavirus Funds, Pompeo Says

Iranian regime officials stole more than $1 billion in humanitarian funds meant to be used to help the country's people fight the spread of coronavirus, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

European countries intended for more than $1 billion cash for medical supplies to go to the Iranian people, who have been ravaged by the virus....

Israeli Society

Holocaust survivor becomes Israel’s first coronavirus fatality

An 88-year-old Holocaust survivor suffering from coronavirus reportedly became the first person in Israel to die from the illness.

Arie Even, who immigrated to Israel from Hungary in 1949, contracted the virus while staying in an assisted living facility where several of the residents have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Haaretz.

“He...

Medical Advancement

The Israeli Inventions That Lessen The Healthcare System’s Burden

The coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has shed an unflattering light on the faults of the global healthcare systems, from China to Italy, and posed a myriad of new challenges to both healthcare professionals and researchers. Governments, including that of Israel, have called on tech companies to enlist in the battle against the outbreak. In reality,...

Antisemitism

Coronavirus is a Zionist plot, say Turkish politicians, media, public

The coronavirus is a Zionist plot spread by Jews to decrease the world population, some members of Turkey's press and public have said, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.MEMRI, which specializes in translating Middle Eastern media into English, has uncovered a number of incidences of Turks blaming the coronavirus epidemic on...

Antisemitism

White supremacists encouraging their members to spread coronavirus to cops, Jews, FBI says

Racist extremist groups, including neo-Nazis and other white supremacists, are encouraging members who contract novel coronavirusdisease to spread the contagion to cops and Jews, according to intelligence gathered by the FBI.

In an alert obtained by ABC News, the FBI’s New York office reports that "members of extremist groups are encouraging one...