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.
12/22/2020
Esther Horgen, who was found dead in a northern West Bank forest in an apparent terror attack, was eulogized for her love of life as she was buried on Tuesday morning.
“For 30 years we walked together, and two days ago you went for a walk and didn’t return,” said her husband Benjamin. Horgen’s body was found a day after she went...
12/22/2020
The first flight from Israel to Morocco took off on Tuesday morning for a whirlwind trip by a joint Israeli-American delegation that will include the signing of several bilateral and trilateral agreements.
National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, who is leading the trip on the Israeli side, said these would include agreements...
12/21/2020
Archaeological excavations by the Antiquities Authority ahead of construction unearthed a 2000-year-old ritual bath near the modern church at Gethsemane, together with the remains of a church from the Byzantine period (ca. 1500 years ago). The finds were uncovered with the assistance of scholars from the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum...
12/21/2020
A gunman opened fire at police station at the Lions' Gate in Jerusalem's Old City
Israel Police shot and killed on Monday night a terrorist in retaliation for a failed shooting attempt in Jerusalem, Hebrew media reported.
The gunman opened fire at a police station at the entrance to the Temple Mount near the Lions' Gate, a...
12/21/2020
Israel Police are investigating the cause of death of a woman in her 50s whose body was found early Monday morning in the Reihan Forest in the northern West Bank. The police and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) are reportedly evaluating whether the murder might have been a terrorist attack.
"We wake up to a difficult and painful...
12/21/2020
Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) over the weekend opened the door for Saudi women to work as flight attendants for the first time.
The kingdom’s flag carrier clarified in a statement on Friday that Saudi female applicants must be high school graduates between the ages of 20 and 30, with the “required level of the English language,”...
12/21/2020
Kushner, Berkowitz to board first direct flight between Tel-Aviv and Rabat in joint US-Israel delegation
A high-profile US delegation is visiting Israel on Monday ahead of Tuesday's visit to Morocco.
Among those arriving are Jared Kushner, special White House advisor on the Middle East and Avi Berkowitz, the US envoy on the...
12/21/2020
When Jesus strode through the ancient Jewish temple in Jerusalem, his feet met hewn-stone, earth-tone tiles that were geometric in design and cool, dappled and scuffed to the touch.
Such is the understanding of Israeli archaeologists and masons who, drawing on relics and historical texts, have recreated the sacred flooring, so it...
12/20/2020
A Palestinian man was filmed hurling a Molotov cocktail at an IDF soldier in the West Bank Saturday evening, according to Israeli media reports.
Surveillance footage of the incident shows the man exit his car stopped at a checkpoint, located near the settlement of Kdumim, and slowly approach the soldier.
After speaking together for a...
12/19/2020
French police have arrested two adults and two minors suspected of an antisemitic hate crime in which they allegedly verbally assaulted a Jewish family near Paris in their car.
The incident happened Thursday in the northern Paris suburb of Aubervilliers, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on Twitter Friday. No one was...
12/19/2020
The Islamic Republic of Iran continued its violent repression of the executed champion wrestler Navid Afkari, desecrating his grave on Thursday after his brother and father were arrested during a visit to the cemetery.
Afkari’s sister Elham posted a photograph of Navid’s ravaged grave, writing on Instagram: “You can threaten,...
12/18/2020
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley stopped in Israel on Thursday during a whirlwind tour of the region, to discuss the threats from Iran facing the Jewish state.
During his two-day visit, Milley met first with IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi on Thursday night at military headquarters in Tel Aviv, along with a...
12/18/2020
American-Turkish relations have been in a steady decline for the better part of the last decade in large part because Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government have found new and creative ways to undercut the relationship. Without a major change in Turkish behavior, the relationship will only get rockier.
Ankara...
12/17/2020
Iran’s regime appears to be on an execution spree. It murdered wrestler Navid Afkari in September and hung journalist Ruhollah Zam this month after kidnapping him from Iraq. Iran’s regime is not afraid to kill people: It gunned down some 1,400 protesters last year.
What the regime is showing through the high-profile executions is...
12/18/2020
Start-Up Nation Central (SNC), Nobex, Hybrid and Fusion LA created a new community aimed to form and bolster connections within the innovation-technology-business sector between the UAE and Israel
The new community has already garnered 1,000 sign-ups, listing investors, developers and government organizations within the UAE-Israel...
12/18/2020
A public menorah at Dartmouth College was shot with a pellet gun, in the latest antisemitic incident during the holiday of Hanukkah.
Rabbi Moshe Gray, who runs the campus Chabad center with his wife Chani, said he discovered the vandalism on Wednesday evening, as he prepared to turn on the menorah’s electric lights for the...
12/18/2020
Former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has urged people to talk about Israel with regard to its tech talents and not just “the Palestinian issue.” The remarks were made during an interview with former Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon at the first DiploTech Global Summit, a conference bringing together world leaders, heads...
12/17/2020
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla lit the Hanukkah candles at a virtual ceremony organized by the Israeli embassy in Washington on Wednesday evening, just days after his pharmaceutical corporation received the final go-ahead to distribute its coronavirus vaccine across the US.
Introducing Bourla, Ambassador Ron Dermer pointed out that the...
CUFI Coffee Break
Lesson 45
A four-year period of violence and terrorism broke out on December 8, 1987 after rumors spread in Gaza that Israel had killed four Palestinians in retaliation for an Israeli who had been stabbed to death. Huge riots soon broke out among the Palestinians, and each additional death added fuel to the fire. In the eyes of...
12/16/2020
A bipartisan bill to elevate the status of the U.S. special envoy on anti-Semitism overwhelmingly passed in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday.
Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) reintroduced the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Act in January 2019. Although the bill passed the U.S. House Representatives that same month, the...