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.

US-Israel Relationship

As it sets diversity record, West Point quietly graduates 1,000th Jewish student

WEST POINT, New York — When West Point graduated its 1,000th Jewish cadet Saturday, it was more than a historical moment.

For the 12 Jewish cadets graduating this year out of a class of 980, and the hundreds of Jewish alumni before them, this milestone shows how much Jewish life has grown here since the military academy’s 1802 founding.

The...

Iran

US national security adviser: Iran seeking nuclear arms

US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said Wednesday there was “no reason” for Iran to back out of its nuclear deal with world powers other than to seek atomic weapons, a year after the US president unilaterally withdrew America from the accord.

Speaking in Abu Dhabi, the Emirati capital, John Bolton said that without more nuclear...

Hamas

Hamas music video celebrates murder of Jews

(May 29, 2019 / PMW) The same day that Hamas official Fathi Hammad promised to “slaughter, exterminate and annihilate” Israel, Hamas TV broadcast a music video on May 15 promising to “blow up” Tel Aviv and showing the staged stabbing of a religious Jew by a masked Palestinian:

“We have not yet drawn weapons, and yet we have brought down the...

Archeology

Israeli scientists find evidence of humans ‘recycling’ 400,000 years ago

A new Tel Aviv University study found that there is evidence that 400,000 years ago, prehistoric humans "recycled" their broken flint, the researchers announced on Wednesday. They transformed their discarded flint tools to make smaller utensils with specific functions.

Recycling was a way of life for these people,” said Prof. Ran Barkai, one of...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Israel again reduces Gaza fishing zone to 10 miles after arson balloons

Israeli authorities are set to scale Gaza's authorized fishing zone back to 10 nautical miles on Wednesday morning, the local Fishermen's Committees said in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday.
COGAT, the defense ministry unit responsible for the relationship with the Palestinians, confirmed the move on Wednesday morning.
"This decision was...

US-Israel Relationship

Florida governor, Cabinet sued over plans to meet in Israel

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP) — An open-government watchdog group and several news outlets sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and members of the Cabinet on Tuesday in an effort to stop them from holding a Cabinet meeting while on a trade mission in Israel.

The lawsuit argues that the meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, violates the state’s constitution and...

Iran

Iran Has Been at War for 40 Years

The U.S. plans to send 1,500 troops and other military assets to the Middle East to counter the Iranian threat. Those who worry about the possibility of war ignore that Iran is already at war and has been for almost 40 years. Its recent sabotage of commercial vessels in the United Arab Emirates and pipelines in Saudi Arabia continues a long...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Lebanese media: Israeli Air Force destroys own spying device north of border

An Israeli aircraft on Monday struck and destroyed a spying device in Lebanese territory, a local media outlet with ties to the Hezbollah terror group reported.

According to the report in al-Mayadeen the Israeli device was bombed between Nmairiyeh and Zefta in the south of the country. It said security forces were working to locate the remains of...

US-Israel Relationship

Florida governor forges new ties, makes history on Israel visit

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding between Florida State University and Ariel University on Monday, becoming the first sitting governor to establish a relationship between a U.S. state and an Israeli university in Judea and Samaria.

The majority of the international community considers Israel’s presence in...

Israeli Society

Over 1,000 fires extinguished throughout Israel

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The more than one thousand fires which led to the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes have been extinguished, Israel’s National Fire and Rescue Services announced.

The fires, aided by dry and hot weather conditions, burned from Thursday until Saturday night.

Among the causes of the fires were faults in electrical...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Israel destroys Syrian missile launcher on border after it fires on Israeli jet

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Israeli military fired on and destroyed a Syrian missile launcher after Syria fired a missile on an Israeli military jet on a routine flight in Israeli airspace on its northern border.

The Syrian anti-aircraft missile fired on Monday missed the Israeli jet and fell back in Syrian territory.

The IDF said in a statement late...

Hamas

Merkel: All German synagogues, Jewish schools need police protection

German leader Angela Merkel said Monday that her country’s Jewish population needs constant police protection.

Merkel addressed the current rise in anti-Semitism in her country, saying in a CNN interview that it has “always had a certain number of anti-Semites among us, unfortunately.”

“There is to this day not a single synagogue, not a single...

Israeli Technology

530 multinationals from 35 countries innovating in Israel

Israel is emerging as a leading innovation destination for a growing number of multinational corporations looking to the country’s 6,000 plus startups for new ideas, quick prototyping ability, and infectious entrepreneurial culture, a new report shows.
The PwC report, commissioned by tech NGO Start-Up Nation Central, maps for the first time the...

Israeli Society

Israel battles new wave of wildfires on hottest day of the year

Wildfires raged across Israel on Friday for the second day in a row, as officials warned the public to stay away from parks and forests and an initial investigation indicated an electrical short sparked some of the blazes on Thursday.

Gripped by unseasonably scorching weather, a spate of fires across the country on Thursday devastated towns and...

US-Israel Relationship

Israel prepares to break ground on new ‘Trump city’

U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights sparked considerable excitement in Israel, leading to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for the founding of a new community in the northern region to be named after the U.S. president.

The community – which is still in its early stages – will house 97...

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)

NYU speaker praises campus groups that support BDS

(JTA) — A speaker at a New York University doctorate convocation ceremony praised campus organizations that support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel and called Israel an apartheid state.

Stephen William Thrasher received his doctorate in American studies from the university’s Department of Social and Cultural...

Israeli Society

SAVE A CHILD’S HEART PERFORMS ITS 5,000TH LIFE-SAVING SURGERY

Twenty years ago, a baby girl, Balkis, was taken to Israel to undergo critical surgery. Balkis had been born with a severe congenital heart defect, and in her native Zanzibar she could not receive the proper treatment.

However, only a couple of years before, in 1995, an Israeli non-profit organization, Save a Child’s Heart, had been established...

Antisemitism

How deep is Al Jazeera’s anti-Semitism?

Amid the fallout over a video that denied the Holocaust, the anti-Semitism watchdog group Canary Mission has revealed that several members of Al Jazeera’s staff have held longstanding “disdain for Jews and Israel” that predate the video release.

The seven-minute video, which was published last week on the network’s online channel, AJ+, stated...

Hamas

Hamas initiates online fundraising campaign to encourage youth to resist

Lebanon’s Mayadeen TV aired a report in March about an online campaign in Gaza to encourage support for the “resistance,” namely Hamas. The reporter, Lana Shahin, said that the campaign, which was launched by Hamas’s military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, strives to use modern and secure methods, and briefly discussed the Brigades’ cryptocurrency...

US-Israel Relationship

Kushner to visit Israel ahead of US peace plan rollout — report

US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is planning to visit Israel ahead of US peace conference in Bahrain next month, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

US and Israeli officials are in advanced stages of the planning of the visit, that could come as early as next week.

Kan says Kushner will meet with Prime...