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.

Hamas

Student government at Williams College rejects formation of pro-Israel group

(May 3, 2019 / JNS) The student government at Williams College has rejected a pro-Israel group from being formed on campus, reported the student newspaper on Wednesday.

The tally of the anonymous vote was 13 in favor and eight against with one abstention.

Apparently, it’s the first time in more than a decade that the College Council voted...

US-Israel Relationship

Israel, U.S. issue $40m. call for energy collaborations

The Energy Ministry, Israel Innovation Authority and US Department of Energy have issued a $40 million call for proposals for the newly-established US-Israel Center of Excellence in Energy, Engineering and Water Technology.

The joint energy center, managed by the BIRD Foundation, aims to promote the energy security and economic development of...

US-Israel Relationship

Sens. Cruz, Kaine introduce resolution condemning ‘all forms’ of anti-Semitism

(May 3, 2019 / JNS) Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced a resolution on Thursday condemning “all forms” of anti-Semitism to mark Yom Hashoah, or Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“Anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world and here in America,” said Cruz in a statement. “In just the last few weeks, we have seen it...

Hamas

21-year-old Israeli-American killed in Ashdod rocket attack laid to rest

Hundreds gathered in Jerusalem late Sunday night to bury Pinchas Menachem Prezuazman, who was killed earlier in the day after being struck by rocket shrapnel while running for cover in the coastal city of Ashdod.

Prezuazman, 21, was a dual American and Israeli citizen, according to Israel’s Consul General in New York, Dani Dayan.

“I don’t...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Israel names four victims of weekend rocket attacks

The latest confrontation with Hamas in which almost 700 rockets were fired from the Gaza strip to Israeli territory claimed the lives of four Israeli citizens.

On Saturday night, Moshe Agadi, a father of four, was killed when a rocket struck his home in Ashkelon when he went out to smoke a cigarette. He was struck by shrapnel to his stomach and...

Terrorism

Rocket Impacts in Ashkelon

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

2 more Israelis killed by Gaza fire; IDF assassinates Hamas moneyman

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip on Sunday intensified their attacks on Israel, killing two more people and injuring several others with large rocket barrages aimed at the country’s south, a number of longer-range projectiles fired toward central Israel, and one anti-tank guided missile strike on a car near the Gaza border.

From Saturday, some 600...

Hamas

The Latest: Israel says Gaza civilians slain by Hamas rocket

The Israeli military says an errant Palestinian rocket that misfired — not an Israeli airstrike — caused the death of a pregnant Palestinian mother and her 14-month-old girl in the Gaza Strip.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus on Sunday disputed the Gaza Health Ministry's statement that an Israeli strike killed the Palestinian woman,...

Hamas

‘Eva Stories’ on Instagram gets millions of views

Eva Stories, the Instagram project designed to raise awareness of the Holocaust, is making serious waves online, and bringing attention to the tale of one young girl in Hungary in 1944.

The project – an Instagram-stylized version of the story of the real-life Eva Heyman – went live on Wednesday, the eve of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. The...

US-Israel Relationship

Kushner says Middle East peace plan will be ‘good starting point’

WASHINGTON - White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said on Thursday he hopes Israel will take a hard look at President Donald Trump's upcoming Middle East peace proposal before proceeding with any plan to annex West Bank settlements.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed in the waning days of a re-election campaign he won on...

Hamas

Wounded Poway Rabbi at White House: I Will Teach Others to Be ‘Mighty and Tall’

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein — who was wounded in last Saturday’s deadly shooting attack at synagogue near San Diego — spoke on Thursday at a National Day of Prayer event in Washington, DC.

“Just five days ago, Saturday morning, I faced evil and … darkness … right in our own house of worship, right at Chabad of Poway,” Goldstein said in the White...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Hezbollah chief: IDF forces that enter Lebanon will be ‘destroyed on live TV’

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed Thursday his Iran-backed terror group would “annihilate and destroy” the Israeli military if the latter entered Lebanon in a future war.

“Israel wants a war? Let it go to war. The Israeli units and brigades that dare to enter southern Lebanon will be annihilated and destroyed on live television before the...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

IDF: 56 soldiers died since last Memorial Day, bringing total to 23,741

The number of Israeli casualties of war stand at 23,741 as of May 2019, according to figures published by the Defense Ministry on Friday ahead of Memorial Day next week.

Since last Memorial Day, 96 new names were added to the roster of those who died defending the country since 1860. Fifty-six were IDF soldiers and police, and 40 were disabled...

Archeology

High-tech study of ancient stone suggests new proof of King David’s dynasty

Since the early 1990s, scholars have pointed to a barely readable bit of text on a nearly 3,000-year-old stone as possibly the first extra-biblical historical proof of the Davidic Monarchy. The reading, based upon decades of educated guesses, is notable for what can’t be fully discerned in the Moabite script almost as much as what can.

A pair of...

US-Israel Relationship

U.S. Ambassador Friedman at March of the Living: Antisemitism plagues mankind

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman spoke at the March of the Living on Thursday afternoon in memory of the horrors of the Holocaust, stating that "antisemitism is not going to be eradicated or cured with slogans or easy steps."

"So, of course, we condemn all acts of antisemitism," Friedman stated before the march began. "We condemn all acts...

Holocaust

Israel comes to standstill in somber remembrance of Holocaust victims

Israel came to a standstill at 10 a.m. Thursday as sirens wailed throughout the country in memory of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis during World War II.

The annual remembrance is one of the most solemn days on Israel’s national calendar, with much of the country all but shutting down to honor those who suffered under the Nazi killing...

Holocaust

History is repeating itself, Holocaust survivors warn before March of the Living

AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU, Poland — The surge in anti-Semitic attacks in recent years is reminiscent of the pre-World War II era in Europe, a Holocaust survivor warned Wednesday, with others agreeing that anti-Semitism is back in full force, a day before they participate in the annual March of the Living event.

“For years, I think a lot of survivors...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Israeli Air Force strikes Gaza in response to incendiary balloons, rockets

The Israeli Air Force carried out a series of strikes north of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday night, according to the IDF. The strikes were in response to hundreds of incendiary balloons that Hamas launched at Israel on Wednesday.

In retaliation, two rockets were launched at Israel, according to the IDF. There were no injuries are damages, the Shaar...

Antisemitism

Trump decries rise in anti-Semitism in proclamation for Jewish American Heritage Month

(JTA) — President Donald Trump decried the rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes and referenced the shooting attacks on synagogues in Poway and Pittsburgh in a proclamation for Jewish American Heritage Month.

“As we observe Jewish American Heritage Month, our nation celebrates nearly 4,000 years of Jewish history and honors the numerous contributions...

US-Israel Relationship

New legislation in Congress criticizes U.S. military assistance to Israel

WASHINGTON – New legislation in Congress is seeking to “promote human rights for Palestinian children living under Israeli military occupation,” and require that “United States funds do not support military detention, interrogation, abuse or ill-treatment of Palestinian children and for other purposes.”

Congresswoman Betty McCollum, a...