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.

Antisemitism

On Spotify, hate streams unchecked as playlists praise Hitler, call to gas Jews

Music-streaming giant Spotify is host to dozens of user-generated playlists with titles praising Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, mocking Holocaust victims, and featuring photos of swastikas and white nationalist hate symbols, The Times of Israel has found.

Among the anti-Semitic playlist titles are a variety of explicit calls to “gas” or kill Jews...

Iran

Trump vows immediate new sanctions on already heavily sanctioned Iran

WASHINGTON (AP) — US President Donald Trump said Wednesday his administration will immediately impose new economic sanctions on Iran in response to Iranian missile strikes on US bases in Iraq.

“As we continue to evaluate options in response to Iranian aggression, the United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on...

Iran

Trump, full text: The days of tolerating Iran’s destructive behavior are over

The full text of US President Donald Trump’s remarks on Iran, delivered in the White House Grand Foyer, January 8, 2019:

As long as I am President of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.

Good morning. I’m pleased to inform you: The American people should be extremely grateful and happy no Americans were harmed...

Iran

Iran: Total ‘Annihilation of Israel’ Will Be Price for Soleimani Killing

Iranian leaders are issuing renewed calls for the destruction of Israel, saying the "annihilation" of the Jewish state is the only fair price for America's recent killing of top Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani.

Seyed Hashem al-Heidari, cultural chief of Hashd al-Shaabi, an Iraqi paramilitary force directed by Iran, said Tehran is eyeing...

Israeli Technology

Israel unveils breakthrough laser to intercept missiles, aerial threats

The Defense Ministry has made a technological breakthrough in the development of lasers that can intercept aerial threats, including rockets and anti-tank guided missiles, it announced Wednesday.

New laser technology “makes the security apparatus more lethal, more powerful and more advanced,” Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said Wednesday...

Syria

Putin meets with Syria’s Assad with the Middle East on edge

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks Tuesday in Syria with the country’s leader, Bashar al-Assad, the Kremlin spokesman said, with the region nervously awaiting the next possible step in the U.S.-Iran showdown.

Putin’s trip — which was not announced in advance — marked his first visit since 2017 to Syria, Moscow’s main Middle East...

Iran

Ukrainian airliner goes down in Tehran, killing 176

(January 8, 2020 / JNS) A Ukranian Boeing 737 passenger jet crashed shortly after takeoff in Tehran, Iran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people aboard. Though a spokesman for Iran’s Road and Transportation Ministry claimed that the crash was caused by “technical difficulties,” at least two Kazakh airlines announced that they were considering...

Holocaust

Record 2.3 million people visited Auschwitz in 2019

A record 2.3 million visitors toured former Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau last year, the museum said on Tuesday, as the site gears up to mark 75 years since its last prisoners were liberated.

The figure was an increase of 170,000 on the visitor numbers from 2018, the previous record year.

Almost 400,000 Poles toured the complex in 2019,...

Iran

US confirms over a dozen Iranian missiles fired at Iraq bases housing its troops

Iran struck back at the United States early Wednesday for the killing of a top Iranian general last week, firing a series of surface-to-surface missiles at an Iraqi air base housing US troops and warning the United States and its allies in the region not to retaliate.

The Pentagon confirmed the strike at Ain Assad as well as another at a separate...

Antisemitism

Across the US, police and locals rally in wake of rise in anti-Semitic attacks

JTA — New York City held a huge rally this past weekend, but it wasn’t the only place to protest against a recent rise in anti-Semitic attacks. Police and locals in cities around the United States have pledged to support and protect their Jewish communities over the past week.

In South Carolina, religious leaders gathered in the state capital on...

United Nations (UN)

Ukraine leaves UN committee on Palestinians

Ukraine has quit the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

The decision was authorized by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Founded in 1975, the 25-country committee seeks "to enable Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights, including the right to self-determination...

Antisemitism

Anti-Semitic vandalism strikes Jewish sites in France, Greece and Ukraine

Anti-Jewish vandalism has struck France, Greece and Ukraine within the past week.

About a dozen graves were vandalized in the Jewish cemetery of Bayonne, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques area, in southwest France.

The damage was sighted by Déborah Loupien-Suares, president of the Jewish community in Biarritz and Bayonne, while visiting her...

Event Recaps

December 21 – El Paso, TX – Spanish Pastors Meeting

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December 20 – Houston, TX – Spanish Why Israel

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December 11 – Fort Myers, FL – Why Israel

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December 8 – Reno, NV – Why Israel

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December 8 – Bridgeport, CT – Why Israel

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December 8 – Memphis, TN – Friends of Israel

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December 7 – Lubbock, TX – Spanish Pastors Meeting

Event Recaps

December 6 – Newark, NJ – Spanish Why Israel