ISSUES

At CUFI, we are focused on several key issues with the goal of defending Israel’s strength, security, and sovereignty.

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US-Israel Relationship

Pompeo to Rivlin: Israel has no better friend than the United States

President Reuven Rivlin met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo while he visited the country.

At the beginning of the meeting, Rivlin told Pompeo that he is "a great friend of Israel and we value your strong support very much."

"The United States is Israel’s most important strategic ally and we deeply appreciate what you do for the security...

US-Israel Relationship

Trump to host Israel’s Netanyahu March 25-26: White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next Monday and Tuesday, the White House said, reaffirming the two leaders’ close ties.

The announcement came shortly after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed in Tel Aviv on Wednesday and planned to deliver remarks...

Terrorism

Ariel terrorist killed by IDF forces after fire exchange

The IDF has killed the Palestinian terrorist who carried out the shooting spree near the West Bank city of Ariel on Sunday, killing two Israelis and severely injuring one.

Late Tuesday night, the IDF closed in on Omar Abu Lila, 19, in the Palestinian village of Abwain, near Ramallah.

Abu Lila shot at IDF soldiers during his attempted arrest....

Hamas

Hamas quashes Gaza demonstrations, but protest persists

Gaza has seen regular protests along the Israeli border for the past year, but new demonstrations in recent days have been much less to the liking of the Strip’s rulers, Hamas.

Over the course of several days beginning last week, hundreds of Palestinians gathered in multiple locations in protests against rising prices and in opposition to the...

Iran

U.S. says Iran missile program destabilizing Middle East

GENEVA, March 19 - A senior US arms control official said on Tuesday that Iran's missile program is destabilizing the Middle East and raising the risk of a "regional arms race" through the provision of such weapons to armed groups in Lebanon and Yemen.

US President Donald Trump said when he quit a landmark 2015 deal that lifted international...

US-Israel Relationship

David’s Sling missile defense system passes key trial, ministry says

Israel’s midrange missile interceptor, David’s Sling, managed to thwart a series of threats, passing a key test on its way to becoming operational, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry said the aerial defense system passed a drill “simulating future threats that the system may face in a confrontation,” the ministry said in a statement....

Terrorism

Two terrorists killed when IDF vehicle strikes their car

The military says several explosive devices were hurled at soldiers securing Jewish worshippers at the biblical tomb in the city of Nablus. Troops opened fire in retaliation and killed two of the assailants.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified them as 21-year-old Raed Hamadan and 20-year-old Zeid Nouri.

21-year-old Raed Hamadan and...

Terrorism

Father of 12 succumbs to injuries from Sunday terror attack

Rabbi Achiad Ettinger died of his injuries Monday, a day after being shot by a Palestinian terrorist during an attack in the northern West Bank, a family spokesperson said.

Ettinger, 47, was a father of 12 from the settlement of Eli. Doctors had been working to save his life since the attack near Ariel Sunday morning in which a soldier, Gal...

Terrorism

Security forces say stabbing attack foiled in Hebron

Border Police officers arrested a Palestinian man Monday at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron on suspicion of planning a stabbing attack, as Israel remained on edge following a deadly shooting and knifing the previous day.

The suspect, in his 20s and from the Palestinian town of as-Samu, was found to be carrying a knife, and during questioning...

United Nations (UN)

UNHRC to call for Israeli arrests, settlement boycott

The UN Human Rights Council is expected to call for the arrest of IDF soldiers responsible for Gaza deaths at border and for a boycott of West Bank settlements, when it gathers in Geneva on Monday for the last week of its 40th session.

The day-long meeting of the 47-member council will involve the reading of seven reports on alleged Israeli human...

Iran

Rouhani urges Iranians to ‘put all your curses on Zionists, US’

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s president urged Iranians Monday to put a curse on the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia — blaming the US and its allies for his country’s ailing economy.

Monday’s televised remarks by Hassan Rouhani were meant to deflect criticism of his administration’s performance amid a spiraling economy after the Trump...

Hamas

Hamas nixes Friday’s Gaza border protest as violence with Israel tapers

Palestinians canceled the weekly Gaza border protest was cancelled Friday in the aftermath of 12-hours of violence between Hamas and Israel, that included two rockets launched at Tel Aviv.

The United Nations and Egypt have worked behind the scenes to restore the calm that has held since about 8 a.m.

The Palestinian decision to delay Friday's...

Hamas

9 rockets fired at border towns; IDF assesses Tel Aviv rocket attack was mistake

The growing assumption among Israeli army officials is that Thursday’s rockets were fired from Gaza toward Tel Aviv by mistake, a defense official said Friday.

Low-level Hamas forces are believed to have been responsible for the launches.

In response to the two rockets fired at Tel Aviv, which did not hit residential areas and caused no direct...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

IDF hits more than 100 Hamas targets in Gaza after rockets fired at Tel Aviv

Israeli war planes hit over 100 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in a night of strikes after two rockets were fired at Tel Aviv for the first time since the 2014 war, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The strikes came after an urgent late night consultation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chiefs in Tel Aviv. “Decisions were...

Hamas

We thought it was a drill: Rockets shock Tel Aviv, including crowd at a war play

The launch of two rockets toward Tel Aviv Thursday evening that triggered rocket alarms in the city for the first time since 2014 caught residents by surprise, with many saying they had trouble believing it was an actual incident and not a drill or a technical malfunction.

Many residents of Israel’s second-largest city and the surrounding...

Hezbollah

Israel petitions UN Security Council to act on uncovered Hezbollah cell

Israel on Wednesday filed a complaint with the UN Security Council shortly after revealing it had uncovered a terror cell near the border in the Syrian Golan Heights.

“The State of Israel will not ignore the conversion of Syria and Lebanon into a military front against it and will act forcefully and aggressively against Tehran’s aggression,” UN...

Iran

50 Iranian drones conduct massive ‘way to Jerusalem’ exercise – report

Iran’s Defense Ministry announced on Thursday that it had launched a massive drone exercise involving 50 drones that are based on a model of a US Sentinel drone the Iranians captured in 2011. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it was the strongest exercise of its kind to date.

Named “Beit al-Maqdis,” a reference to Jerusalem, the...

Hamas

5 Palestinians arrested after crossing into Israel from Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces early Thursday morning apprehended five Palestinians who crossed the border from Gaza into the country.

The men were arrested at around 2 a.m. after breaching the fence in the south of the Gaza Strip and taken in for questioning, the military said.

In its brief statement, the army did not say that the men were armed.
...

Iran

Intel firm: Satellite images back report of new Iranian missile plant in Syria

New satellite images give credence to reports that a new factory in Syria’s northwest is a facility for the production of surface-to-surface (SSM) missiles, an Israeli intelligence-gathering firm said Wednesday.

ImageSat International (ISI) on Wednesday said satellite photos of the compound supported the report.

“The construction patterns, the...

US-Israel Relationship

US calls Golan ‘Israeli-controlled,’ drops all mention of West Bank ‘occupation’

WASHINGTON — For the first time, the Trump administration referred to the Golan Heights on Wednesday as “Israeli-controlled” and ceased to refer to the West Bank as “occupied” in the State Department’s annual report on human rights around the world.

While last year’s report marked a departure from years of American foreign policy by no longer...