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.

Israeli defense firms team up with Lockheed Martin to enter US market

 

 

IAI-Elta is offering its radar to the U.S. Army’s Patriot system; Rafael is marketing its advanced SPICE guidance kits to the U.S. military.

(July 10, 2019 / JNS) Israeli defense firms have teamed up with U.S. giant defense company Lockheed Martin to market advanced military technology to the American military market.

The...

Hamas

As Hamas loses tunnels option, terror faction takes to the air and sea

Gazan terror organizations are looking into armed drones and sea-based commando cells, while concentrating fire at Israel’s Iron Dome to overwhelm it.

(July 11, 2019 / JNS) The discovery of the latest cross-border Hamas tunnel this week stretching from the Gaza Strip into Israel is a reminder of the fact that Hamas will soon lose this attack...

Trump and Netanyahu talk Iran

 

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone about increased tensions with Iran.

“The two leaders discussed cooperation between the United States and Israel in advancing shared national security interests, including efforts to prevent Iran’s malign actions in the region,” the...

Hezbollah says new US sanctions an ‘assault’ on Lebanon

 

The US added two Hezbollah lawmakers to its sanctions blacklist on Tuesday

Lebanon's Hezbollah said Thursday that new US sanctions on three of its officials- including two lawmakers, have widened Washington's assault on Lebanon.

Earlier this week, the US Treasury placed two Hezbollah members of parliament and another official on its...

Pence to rabbi of Poway Chabad: Your faith inspired the nation

 

US vice president makes unannounced visit to synagogue that was scene of deadly April shooting, is blessed by congregation’s spiritual leader Yisroel Goldstein

US Vice President Mike Pence paid a surprise visit on Thursday to a San Diego area synagogue that was the scene of a deadly shooting attack three months ago, telling the...

Top Trump negotiator: US still regards Abbas as a peace plan partner

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump’s top peace negotiator said the as yet unveiled U.S. Middle East peace plan includes the Palestinian Authority and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, as well as Hamas.

“Our plan right now is with President Abbas,” Jason Greenblatt said Monday at the annual Washington, D.C., summit of the Christians United for...

PA increases salaries to terrorists in 2019 despite financial crisis – report

The Palestinian Authority has paid no less than NIS 234,172,000 (more than $65 million), or, on average, NIS 46,834,400 a month in salaries to terrorist prisoners (including released prisoners), according to a PA financial expenditures report for the first five months of 2019.

In research presented this week by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), this...

False rocket alert jolts southern Israel for second time this week

Residents of southern Israel were roused Wednesday morning by a rocket alert siren after a projectile fired from the Gaza Strip landed in open waters.
The alarm was triggered in the city of Sderot and surrounding communities, which lie adjacent to the northern Gaza border.
"Following reports regarding sirens which sounded in the city of Sderot and...

U.S. embassy hosts July 4th celebration for first time in Jerusalem

(JTA) — The U.S. Embassy hosted its annual Fourth of July party in Jerusalem for the first time, days after its ambassador participated in the inauguration of a controversial archaeological tourist site in eastern Jerusalem.

Prior to this year’s celebration, held at the Jerusalem International Convention Center, the party for the fourth was held...

4 security projects awarded this year’s Israel Defense Prize

This year's Israel Defense Prize was awarded to the IDF soldiers who exposed and neutralized tunnels Hezbollah had dug under the northern border; Mossad personnel involved in the "Iranian nuclear archive" operation in Tehran; the developers of the Spice 1000 weapons system; and the developers of a project for the Shin Bet security agency that has...

Top Irianian commander says country has ‘secret weapons’

 

A top Iranian military commander warned on Wednesday that the country possesses “secret weapons,” a day after Israel’s Foreign Minister said that the country is preparing for possible military involvement in any potential military escalation in the Persian Gulf, as tensions continue to rise between Iran and the United States....

Israeli tech to speed up NY public transportation

Commute times from one end of the Jerusalem Light Rail to the other fell from 80 minutes to 42 minutes after Israeli tech company Axilion Smart Mobility implemented its software, and now New York City is piloting the same technology on its 5th Avenue M1 bus route.

Axilion’s technology coordinates streetlights with road vehicles, prioritizing...

Increase of Hezbollah members in German state, says intel report

The intelligence agency for Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia revealed on Thursday that the number of Hezbollah operatives rose in 2018.

According to the intelligence document reviewed by The Jerusalem Post, the number of Hezbollah operatives climbed from 105 in 2017 to 110 in 2018 in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The report...

Israel’s foreign minister warns Iran veering toward war after uranium ramp-up

Israel’s foreign minister said Tuesday that Iran was sliding toward a war in which it would suffer heavy losses, and threatened that Israel could take unilateral action against the Islamic Republic if needed to keep it from getting nuclear weapons.

The comments by Israel Katz came a day after Iran said it had breached an agreed-upon limit on its...

Israeli equestrian squad to compete in Olympics for first time

JERUSALEM — An Israeli team will compete in equestrian show jumping for the first time at the Olympics.

Israel’s four-rider squad, including a woman from New York and a man who twice represented his native Colombia, qualified Sunday for the 2020 Tokyo Games, narrowly defeating Poland during the Olympic qualifier in Moscow.

Along with Poland and...

Holocaust

Auschwitz exhibit examines faith as a mechanism for survival during the Holocaust

(July 1, 2019 / JNS) An exhibition that offers the public a glimpse into the role of faith as a mechanism for survival during the Holocaust opened at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland on Monday.

“Through the Lens of Faith” was arranged and organized by the Amud Aish Memorial Museum in New York, which was founded by the Jewish...

Trump: Israeli-Palestinian peace can only be achieved when I am president

US President Donald Trump, during the conclusion of the G20 summit in Japan, said that if a peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians is not reached during his presidency, then it will never happen.

"With me being president, if you don't get that deal done, it will never happen," Trump said.

This comes exactly one week after the...

Synagogues are now conducting active shooter drills during services

(JTA) — When the ushers locked the door to the sanctuary, and the congregants prepared to flee the synagogue in preparation for a mass shooting, Rabbi Neil Cooper made sure it all happened before they had to take the Torahs out of the ark.

Ten minutes later the worshippers were back in the pews, doors unlocked, and getting ready to hear the...

Trump says Iran ‘playing with fire’ with uranium enrichment

Iran announced on Monday it had amassed more low-enriched uranium than permitted under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, drawing a warning from US President Donald Trump that Tehran was “playing with fire."

Tehran’s announcement marked its first major step beyond the terms of the pact since the United States pulled out of it more than a...

Erdogan says ‘out of question’ to support US Palestinian plan

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was “out of the question” for Turkey to support the US economic plan for Palestinians, in comments published on Monday.

The White House plan revealed last week calls for $50 billion in investment over 10 years in the Palestinian territories and their Arab neighbors.

“It is out of the question for us to...