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.

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

IDF girds for several days of fighting after 150 rockets fired at Israel

The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday afternoon launched a campaign of retaliatory airstrikes against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group in the Gaza Strip following approximately six hours of unanswered rocket attacks on central and southern Israel from the enclave.

The military said its airstrikes targeted Palestinian Islamic Jihad...

Israeli Society

First-ever medical school opens in West Bank, in Ariel, for students everywhere

(November 8, 2019 / JNS) U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman attended the opening last week of the first medical school in Samaria.

“A new medical school opens in Samaria,” he said at the opening ceremony on Oct. 31. “It’s worth saying again—a new medical school was opened in Samaria. How many people have ever thought these words would ever...

Iran

Iran can enrich uranium to 60 percent, says atomic energy organization spokesman

(November 10, 2019 / JNS) A spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said on Sunday that while the Islamic Republic’s current need was only for uranium enriched to 5 percent, it had the capacity to enrich up to 60 percent.

Iran “has the possibility to produce 5 percent, 20 percent and 60 percent, and has this capacity,” AEOI...

Antisemitism

Anti-Semitic hate crimes on New York City subways on the rise, NYPD reveals

(November 8, 2019 / JNS) New police statistics show an increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes targeting Jewish riders on New York City subways, The City reported on Wednesday.

Since Oct. 20, the New York Police Department has logged 42 hate-crime complaints involving anti-Semitic acts in the subway—a 162 percent increase over similar incidents...

Antisemitism

Pompeo: We will stamp out anti-Semitism wherever we find it

The Jewish World was rocked to its core last month when a gunman killed two people at a synagogue in Halle, Germany on Yom Kippur. On Thursday, Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas participated in a memorial service at the synagogue to pay tribute to the victims.

Herzog took...

Antisemitism

Greece endorses universal definition of anti-Semitism

(November 9, 2019 / JNS) Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis endorsed the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism on Friday.

The IHRA definition says: “Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are...

Antisemitism

Antisemitism: What to do about it?

Antisemitism – more than the Torah, Shabbat observance and keeping the dietary laws – has been a unifying factor among Jews.

When under attack, Jews put their differences aside and stand together.

But in recent years, as antisemitism has continued to escalate and people in high places learn the lesson of history, several countries have appointed...

Iran

Top Iranian official: Our missiles can reach every part of Israel

Iranian missiles can strike any part of Israel, Chief of Staff to Supreme Iranian Leader Ali Khamenei, Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, said Thursday.

Speaking at a press conference, Golpayegani said, "There is no place in Israel our missiles cannot reach. As Supreme Leader Khamenei has said in the past, the Zionist entity will not last longer...

US-Israel Relationship

US-led coalition launches operation to protect Gulf waters

A US-led naval coalition officially launched operations in Bahrain on Thursday to protect shipping in the troubled waters of the Gulf, after a string of attacks that Washington and its allies blamed on Iran.

The coalition, aimed at warding off the perceived threat to the world’s oil supply, has been in the making since June.

Iran, which has...

Antisemitism

‘Kipah’ thrown in trash in apparent anti-Semitic attack at German gym

(November 7, 2019 / JNS) Police are investigating an apparent anti-Semitic attack at a gym in the German city of Freiburg.

In a Facebook post, Samuel Kantorovych, 19, said he was attacked on Tuesday night while wearing a kipah he started wearing regularly six months ago.

In the locker room at the Mcfit Freiburg gym, a man allegedly tore off...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Shin Bet thwarted over 450 terror attacks in 2019, chief says

The head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security and counterintelligence service, said Thursday that his organization had thwarted over 450 significant terror attacks in the previous year.

“In the past year, we have thwarted over 450 significant terror attacks, and we have allowed Israeli citizens to have full and comfortable lives in the...

Hamas

Hamas leader threatens to rain rockets on Tel Aviv ‘for six months’

(November 5, 2019 / JNS) Yahya Sinwar, Hamas leader in Gaza, warned Israel on Monday that the terrorist organization could turn its cities into “ghost towns” and has enough rockets to fire on Tel Aviv “for six months in a row,” reported Ynet.

“We have heard the threats Israeli leaders made towards us, but we will still make them curse the day...

Hamas

CN Traveler readers vote Israel one of 20 top countries

Readers’ Choice Awards ranks Israel 15th on a list of countries to visit, and rates four Jerusalem hotels among the best in the Middle East.

Israel ranks 15th in “Top 20 Countries in the World: Readers’ Choice Awards 2019,” released October 7 by Condé Nast Traveler.

Some 600,000 readers submitted comments for the 2019 awards.

Four Jerusalem...

Iran

Iran fuels centrifuges, resumes uranium enrichment at Fordow

Iran resumed uranium enrichment at its underground Fordow nuclear facility, the country’s Atomic Energy Organization said on Thursday, further stepping away from its 2015 nuclear deal with major world powers.

The agreement bans enrichment and nuclear material from Fordow. But with feedstock gas entering its centrifuges, the facility, built inside...

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)

Israel’s government allocates NIS 2 million to organizations combating BDS movement

(November 6, 2019 / JNS) Israel’s Ministry for Strategic Affairs announced on Wednesday that it will allocate NIS 2 million (about $575,000) to fund advocacy organizations active in the fight against BDS.

The funds will be used to produce and promote viral videos on social media to help increase familiarity with the Jewish state, expose BDS...

Israeli Society

NATO recognizes Israel as key medical-assistance partner as it seeks to expand cooperation

(November 6, 2019 / JNS) NATO has recognized the Israeli Navy as a key medical-assistance partner in the Mediterranean following a drill held last month practicing emergency evacuations of personnel.

During the drill, dubbed “Crystal Sea 2020” and held on Oct. 31, NATO vessels from the United Kingdom, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria simulated...

Hamas

Iran ‘deserves credit’ for ‘building our strength’ says Hamas chief

(November 6, 2019 / JNS) Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar admitted on Monday that the Islamic Republic of Iran was responsible for “building the strength” of the Palestinian terrorist organization by supplying it with both weapons and funding.

Speaking to a youth gathering in Gaza, Sinwar said Iran deserved “the greatest credit for...

Antisemitism

Jewish Agency: huge spike in requests to secure Jewish centers

The Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) has begun upgrading security provisions for 50 Jewish institutions in 24 countries, following a spike in requests for assistance in the wake of increased antisemitic attacks around the world.

Not all upgrades have begun yet, since the Jewish Agency is yet to fully fund the estimated $1.1 million cost of the...

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)

Israel battles BDS with viral videos

The Ministry of Strategic Affairs announced on Wednesday that it will allocate NIS 2 million (roughly USD $273,000) to produce and promote viral videos across social media in an effort to fight against Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement; a Palestinian-led campaign promoting various forms of boycott against Israel.

The funds will be...

Hamas

Rare protest against ‘Hamas murderers’ erupts in Gaza

A rare public anti-Hamas protest took place in Gaza following the death of a 28-year-old man who’d been thrown from the window of his own home by the terror group’s security services.

Three Hamas police officers arrived at the home of Anan Abu Jameh in the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza last Friday. According to the family, the security...