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.

Holocaust In The News

Yad Vashem to Mark Remembrance Day With Global Name Reading From Home

Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial based in Jerusalem, is creating a global name-reading initiative to mark Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Since gathering for the annual national Yom Hashoah ceremony, and smaller community ceremonies are impossible this year, Yad Vashem is working to ensure that the names of Holocaust members are...

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) In The News

BDS Founder: If Israel Develops Coronavirus Vaccine You Can Take It

If Israel finds a vaccine for coronavirus, boycotters can still take it, Omar Barghouti, founder of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement said on Sunday.

Barghouti made the remarks in a live video on the BDS Arabic Facebook page as part of a webinar on “BDS and Anti-normalization: The most important strategies to fight...

In The News Medical Advancement

Experimental Israeli Drug Used to Treat Hospitalized Coronavirus Patient’s Symptoms

An Israeli biopharmaceutical firm has treated a coronavirus patient with an experimental drug aimed to lessen symptoms, after receiving a green light to use the drug in Italy.

According to Redhill Biopharma, a coronavirus patient currently suffering from respiratory complaints in hospital in Israel was dosed with the drug following approval from...

Hezbollah In The News

Hezbollah Commander ‘Charged With Tracking Down Israeli Collaborators’ Assassinated in Southern Lebanon

A top Hezbollah commander was found assassinated in southern Lebanon on Saturday night, according to Iranian state news agency reports.
The body of Ali Mohammed Younis was found by the roadside near the town of Qaaqaait Al Jisr, the reports said. He had been shot and stabbed to death.
Younis was seen as close to the late Iranian Revolutionary...

In The News Medical Advancement

Israeli Researchers Believe Coronavirus Vaccine Testing Could Commence by June

Israeli researchers said they are days away from finishing production of the active component of a coronavirus vaccine that could be tested on humans starting June 1.

“We are in the final stages and within a few days we will hold the proteins—the active component of the vaccine,” Dr. Chen Katz, group leader of the biotechnology group at the MIGAL...

Hamas In The News

Iran’s Military Did “Well” by Downing Ukrainian Plane, MP Says

Iranian MP Hassan Norouzi told media in the country that the Iranian military did "well" by downing a civilian Ukrainian airliner in January during an Iranian missile attack on the Ain Al-Asad base in Iraq, according to Al Arabiya.

The MP added that no arrests have been made in relation to the incident, contrary to official claims.

The...

Antisemitism In The News

Vandal, Caught on Tape, Scrawls Swastikas and Graffiti on Maryland Synagogue

Police in Montgomery County, Md., are looking for a man who was caught on surveillance footage last Saturday spray-painting the side of a synagogue with swastikas and hateful epithets.

The man pulled into the parking lot of Tikvat Israel Congregation in Rockville, Md., around 1:30 am on March 28, got out of his car, and spray-painted swastikas...

Hamas In The News

Palestinian Incitement Continues Unabated, Despite Israeli Assistance and Cooperation Regarding COVID-19

In just the last month alone, Israel transferred millions of shekels to the Palestinian Authority and has facilitated the entry of thousands of Palestinian workers into Israel so they can work. It has expedited the transfer of equipment to the Gaza Strip to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic there. Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and his...

In The News Israeli Technology

Despite Covid-19 Crisis, Israeli Tech Registers Record Quarter

The coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis may have shaken the world’s economy to its core, but Israeli tech still managed to close a record-high quarter. Israeli tech companies raised a total of $2.74 billion across 139 deals during the first quarter of 2020, a record amount, according to a joint report released on Sunday by Tel Aviv-based research firm...

Iran

Iran Regime Public Relations Campaign Claims Terror Proxies Are Helping Fight Against Coronavirus

As the Iranian regime staggers under the coronavirus pandemic that has wreaked havoc in the country, its propaganda outlets are touting the efforts of the various terror entities under its control to halt the spread of the disease.

Iran’s semi-official state news agency Tasnim ran photographs over the weekend of members of the Islamic Republic’s...

Israeli Technology

How one nonprofit is working to support Israeli start-ups amid virus pandemic

Professor Eugene Kandel is the CEO of Start-Up Nation Central, a non-profit dedicated toward strengthening Israeli innovative tech solutions and connecting world business leaders to people and technologies in Israel.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to negatively impact businesses of all sizes across the globe, Kandel's non-profit is working...

In The News

Pakistan orders re-arrest for four men acquitted in murder of Jewish-American journalist

Pakistan has ordered a three-month re-arrest for four men earlier acquitted in the murder of an American-Jewish Wall Street Journal bureau chief, Reuters reported Friday.
The authorities justified the move by saying that the four could be expected to act against Pakistan's national interests and security -- a rationale that is commonly used in the...

Antisemitism

White supremacist disrupts webinar for Jewish teens featuring deputy anti-Semitism envoy

A webinar on the video conferencing platform Zoom about anti-Semitism last week, featuring U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism Ellie Cohanim, was disrupted by a white supremacist and hacker—an example of what the Anti-Defamation League has called “Zoombombing.”

The Greater Boston chapter of NCSY, a Jewish youth...

Hamas

Hamas chief threatens Israel over ventilators for coronavirus patients

The head of Hamas in Gaza warned Israel if more ventilators for coronavirus patients were not brought into the Palestinian enclave then his terror group will “take them by force.”

“If ventilators are not brought into , we’ll take them by force from Israel and stop the breathing of 6 million Israelis,” said Yahya Sinwar, according to Hebrew media...

Iran

Rouhani says US sanctions are not impeding fight against coronavirus

BERLIN—The Islamic Republic of Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, issued a series of jaw-dropping comments at an economic cabinet meeting on Thursday, stating that US sanctions have not stopped Tehran from combating the coronavirus crisis.

Rouhani’s remarks contradict the narrative that his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has delivered to...

Medical Advancement

Israeli scientists say vaccine to be tested on humans by June 1

A team of Israeli researchers says that they are days away from completing the production of the active component of a coronavirus vaccine that could be tested on humans as early as June 1.

“We are in the final stages and within a few days we will hold the proteins – the active component of the vaccine,” Dr. Chen Katz, group leader of MIGAL’s...

Medical Advancement

Israeli hi-tech to receive NIS 650 million ‘first aid’ injection

The Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) will inject NIS 650 million (approx. $180m.) into the Israeli hi-tech sector, including funds dedicated to researchers combating the coronavirus, after the Finance Ministry released funds frozen since the start of the year.
A total of NIS 600m. ($165m.) will be transferred to companies that have applied for...

Medical Advancement

HU professor wins over 3m. euro grant for groundbreaking cancer research

Three professors from the Hebrew University have collectively been awarded over 7 million euros in funding to pursue "ground breaking and high risk projects" by the European Research Council (ERC).

“The ERC Advanced Grants fund outstanding researchers throughout Europe. Their pioneering work has the potential to make a difference in people’s...

Antisemitism

Jewish Groups Condemn Surge of Coronavirus-Related Antisemitic Social Media Posts in New York’s Rockland County

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Jewish Federation and Foundation of Rockland County expressed concern about a sharp increase in antisemitic social media posts regarding the coronavirus pandemic and Orthodox Jews.
Evan R. Bernstein – vice president of the ADL’s Northeast Division – stated, “All of us in Rockland County — residents,...

Iran

The case against lifting sanctions on Iran’s clerical regime – analysis

Iran experts brought to the fore this week the role of the coronavirus crisis in Tehran’s strategy and the regime’s outright fabrications designed to hoodwink world powers into providing sanctions relief.Prominent Iranian author and dissident Amir Taheri tweeted that Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif claims that the "Islamic Republic has $100...