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

Dubai Commodities Center Opens Office In Tel Aviv To Boost Israeli Trade Through UAE

12/01/2020
New office to support Israeli companies of all sizes and sectors set up in Dubai

The Dubai Multi Commodities Center Authority (DMCC) has opened a representative office in Ramat Gan - a suburb of Tel Aviv - inside the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE).
The new office will support Israeli businesses, from all industries and sectors,...

In The News

Second Bahraini Minister In Two Weeks Arrives In Israel To Expand Trade Ties

12/01/2020

The second ministerial delegation from Bahrain in two weeks landed in Israel Tuesday morning with hopes of deepening the two countries’ budding economic ties.

During his three-day stay, Bahraini Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism Zayed R. Alzayani, who arrived with a delegation of about 40 businesspeople, is scheduled to...

Iran

On The Iran Nuclear Deal, Israel Gets A Vote

12/01/2020

When asked when the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan might end, retired General David Petraeus would deploy a useful quip. “The enemy gets a vote,” he would say, meaning that both sides need to agree to stop fighting.

There is a corollary to Petraeus’s adage that is relevant not to war but to peace agreements: The allies get a vote,...

In The News

Jewish Astronaut Jessica Meir Wants To Be The First Woman On The Moon

12/01/2020

Since astronaut Jessica Meir returned to Earth in April from the International Space Station, she — like all of us — has spent a lot of time indoors and cooped up.

While many of us have spent our confinement dreaming of future trips, Meir is working on her own travel plans to a singular destination: She wants to walk on the moon....

In The News

IDF Chief: We Will Continue to Act Against Iranian Presence in Syria

11/30/2020

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi on Sunday visited the Northern Command. The military said that while the visit was a routine inspection of the northern borders, commanders held a security situation assessment in the wake of the Iranian threats following the Friday assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, head...

Iran

Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander Reported Killed In Drone Strike

11/30/2020

A senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was killed in an apparent drone strike along the Syrian-Iraqi border, according to widely circulated reports in Arabic-language media Monday.

Iraqi security sources told Saudi-based al-Arabiya News that a drone killed Muslim Shahdan, a senior commander in the Islamic Revolutionary...

Hezbollah

Slovenia Declares All Of Hezbollah A ‘Criminal And Terrorist Organization’

11/30/2020

Slovenia on Monday designated Hezbollah in its entirety a terrorist organization, joining a growing number of European states who have taken similar steps in recent weeks to end differentiation between the group’s political and armed wings.

In a statement, the small Central European state’s government said that it will henceforth...

In The News

Saudi Arabia Officially Approves Israeli Flights Over Its Airspace

11/30/2020

Saudi Arabia announced on Monday evening that it has officially given approval for Israeli airlines to fly over the country's airspace, dramatically shortening flying times to the east and finally allowing Israeli airlines to offer direct flights to Dubai, Israeli media reported.

Saudi Arabia's announcement means that an Israir...

In The News

Netanyahu Preparing For An Official Visit To Egypt – Report

11/30/2020

The thawing of relations with the Arab world is also occurring in Egypt, political sources have told Maariv, sister publication of The Jerusalem Post. Following the normalization agreements between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which will focus mostly on the economy, Jerusalem is beginning to also work on...

Iran

Iranian Newspaper Urges Striking Israel In Retaliation For Fakhrizadeh Killing

11/29/2020

An opinion piece published by a hardline Iranian newspaper on Sunday suggested Iran should attack the Israeli port city of Haifa if Israel was responsible for the killing of the scientist who allegedly masterminded its military nuclear program.

Though the Kayhan newspaper has long argued for aggressive retaliation for operations...

In The News

An Israeli Soldier Gives His All for Lonely Senior Citizens

11/25/2020

“Between 11th and 12th grade, after a tough fencing session, I saw a television report about all these elderly people and Holocaust survivors and their difficulties and loneliness. It really shocked me and I was really, really sad and depressed for a couple of days,” recounts Yakov Pizenberg. “I told myself that being sad won’t help...

In The News

Bahrain Trade Delegation To Visit Israel Next Week

11/29/2020

Bahraini Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism Zayed R. Alzayani is set to visit Israel next week, the Foreign Ministry confirmed on Sunday.

Alzayani will be accompanied by a 40-person trade delegation, the first-ever from his country to Israel, meant to encourage Israeli investments in Bahrain.

The minister is expected to...

In The News

Report: 19 Iran-Backed Militants Killed In Syria

11/26/2020
Airstrikes allegedly killed at least 19 pro-Iran militia fighters in war-torn eastern Syria, a monitor reported on Thursday, attributing the attack to the Israel Air Force.
The strikes, carried out early on Thursday, targeted the positions of Iran-backed militias outside the town of Albu Kamal in Deir Ezzor province, killing "mostly...

Antisemitism

Austria: Woman Attacks Rabbi In Vienna, Shouts Anti-Semitic Slurs

11/27/2020
'Slaughter all the Jews,' woman heard yelling by witnesses

A woman attacked a rabbi in Vienna, Austria, ripped his yarmulke off his head and waved a knife at him while shouting anti-Semitic slurs, news agency Associated Press reported Friday.
According to witnesses at the scene, the assailant, around 50 years old, approached the...

In The News

Netanyahu Welcomes First Commercial Flight From Dubai to Tel Aviv

11/27/2020

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the first commercial flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Thursday.

Speaking during the ceremony, Netanyahu said the flight “opens the way for dozens of flights a week to Dubai, to the UAE, to Bahrain and to the east.”

In combination with a visa...

Iran

Iran’s Nuclear Program Chief Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Assassinated

11/27/2020

Head of Iran's nuclear program Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, 59, was assassinated in Damavand, east of Tehran, local Iranian news reported on Friday.

Iran later confirmed the reports. "The nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated today by terrorists," the Iranian Defense Ministry wrote in a statement, while not blaming any...

In The News

First Israeli Business Delegation Travels To Bahrain

11/25/2020

Bank Hapoalim CEO Dov Kotler led a business delegation to Bahrain on Tuesday, marking the first Israeli business group to visit the country since peace was announced last month.

The trip was overseen by Aryeh Lightstone, senior adviser to US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman. Other members of the delegation included Harel...

Iran

The Dangerous Iran Deal

11/25/2020

For over 40 years, Iran’s regime has been obsessed with destroying Israel and America, as well as dominating the Middle East. The US State Department recognizes Iran as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. For decades, the world sought to isolate Iran and curb its terrorist activities and nuclear weapons ambitions through...

Hezbollah

Belgian MP Proposes Hezbollah Ban

11/25/2020

Belgium must act to ban Hezbollah in its entirety, lawmaker Michael Freilich said, submitting a bill to that effect this week.

Brussels, like many other countries in Europe, follows the EU’s policy of banning Hezbollah’s military arm and not its political branch, though the Shi’a terrorist group does not divide itself in that way....

Iran

Israel Urges UN To Immediately Act Against Iran’s Establishment In Syria

11/25/2020

Israeli envoy calls on Security Council to probe into planting of explosives on Israel-Syria border

Israel Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan sent an official letter on Wednesday to the Security Council, demanding immediate action against Iranian forces in Syria and to condemn a recent incident in which explosive devices...