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.

Hezbollah

German lawmakers set to debate full ban on Hezbollah

According to a draft resolution sponsored by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, the Bundestag will debate a non-binding resolution to “examine whether the conditions exist for a ban on Hezbollah as one organization, and, if necessary, to issue such a prohibition and implement it immediately.”

The resolution says the at the Iranian proxy...

Holocaust

YouTube to remove videos denying Holocaust, glorifying Nazism

YouTube announced on Wednesday that it is to remove material that denies the Holocaust or glorifies Nazism.

The move, announced on YouTube’s official blog, marks a new stage in the battle against hate speech, the company said.

In 2017, Google’s video-sharing platform took a tougher stance against supremacist content, limiting actions such as...

Medical Advancement

Israeli discovery could delay Parkinson’s progression

(June 5, 2019 / JNS) Researchers at Tel Aviv University have discovered a new way to detect a protein associated with Parkinson’s disease which could “significantly delay” the progression of the disease, for which there is currently no cure.

According to the researchers, they have developed a new method for tracking the early stages of the...

Antisemitism

Organization of American States to adopt universal definition of anti-Semitism

(June 4, 2019 / JNS) The secretary general of the Organization of American States, the continental body of Latin American and Northern American states, expressed his commitment on Tuesday for the OAS to adopt the widely accepted definition of anti-Semitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

“Effectively fighting anti-Semitism...

Archeology

Archaeologists discover city gate from time of King David

After nearly 32 years of excavation in the ancient city of Bethsaida in the Golan Heights' Jordan Park northeast of the Sea of Galilee, a city gate from the time of King David was discovered - opening up a world of new possibilities, opinions and theories about the ancient landscape of the Land of Israel.

According to the chief archaeologist...

Israeli Society

Israel to pay respects to late First Lady Nechama Rivlin

Israel on Wednesday will lay to rest First Lady Nechama Rivlin, wife of President Reuven Rivlin, who passed away at the age of 73.
The president and his family announced her passing on Tuesday morning, thanking Israeli citizens and leaders for their continued prayers as her health remained in difficult condition in recent months. She would have...

Hamas

Hamas claims it tried to attack Iron Dome system

Hamas attempted to fire rockets at Iron Dome missile defense batteries during the recent escalation of tension between Israel and the Gaza Strip in May, a commander in the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades known as Abu Maaz told the organization’s Al Qassam website on Tuesday.

The commander told Al Qassam that the rockets Hamas utilized in the May...

Israeli Technology

New Israeli technology can now freeze cancer cells

An Israeli company based in the northern coastal city of Ceasarea has developed a revolutionary minimal technique to freeze cancerous tumors that only requires a local anesthetic.
It is already treating thousands of women with breast cancer worldwide within hospitals and doctors' offices, including in Japan, Ausralia, Germany and Spain. A clinical...

US-Israel Relationship

US Embassy in Israel will hold annual July 4th celebration for the first time in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The U.S. Embassy in Israel will hold its annual Fourth of July celebration for the first time in Jerusalem.

The event traditionally has been held at the home of the U.S. ambassador in Herzliya. In March, Ambassador David Friedman moved into a residence in a building in western Jerusalem that formerly functioned as a consulate....

Antisemitism

California man who made ‘kill lists’ of Jews pleads guilty to plotting anti-Semitic attacks

(JTA) — A California man who wrote “kill lists” of prominent Jews pleaded guilty to threatening three houses of worship in Orange County.

Nicholas Wesley Rose, 28, of Irvine, was sentenced Friday for carrying a loaded firearm not registered to him and three civil rights counts in relation to making the threats. Other felony charges were dropped.
...

Hamas

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar: If not for Iran’s support, we would not have our missile capabilities

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar said in speech that aired last week on Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas-Gaza) that the conflict with Israel will only end with the removal of the occupation from Palestine and with the Palestinians’ return to the “liberated and cleansed” Al-Aqsa mosque. He said that the Palestinians “suckled this spirit” from their mothers, who...

US-Israel Relationship

New York Gov. Cuomo plans summer trip to Israel

(June 3, 2019 / JNS) New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday that he will visit Israel this summer.

“As a sign of solidarity, at this time of crisis for the Jewish people, I’m going to be doing another trip to Israel as a trip in solidarity right after the legislative session, and I invite my Jewish colleagues to join us as a sign of...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

After Golan attack, Israel makes it clear to Iran that it cannot hide in Syria

(June 3, 2019 / JNS) No one took responsibility for the firing of two rockets at Israel’s Mount Hermon on Saturday night from Syria, but it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to view Iran, or one of its proxies, as the prime suspects.

The Iranian radical axis possesses both the ability and the motivation to conduct such an attack.

Israel’s...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Israel seals off last Hezbollah terror tunnel, the largest ever discovered

(June 4, 2019 / JNS) Israel has sealed off the last of several Hezbollah tunnels discovered six months ago burrowing from Lebanon to northern Israel, according to Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus on Monday.

Journalists were shown the entrance to the massive tunnel, which extended some 265 feet—or about 22 stories—below...

Israeli Society

Celebrations staged for Day of Liberation and Rescue from Nazi Germany

Thousands of people around the world took part in ceremonies this year marking the Hebrew date for the end of the Second World War in Europe and the surrender of Nazi Germany.

The Day of Liberation and Rescue as it has been designated in Israel marked 74 years since the end of the war with thousands of people participating in dozens of prayer...

Terrorism

Report: Gaza terrorist groups replenish rocket arsenal

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been able to replenish their rocket supplies to levels reached just before the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The last cease-fire between the Gaza Strip-based terrorist groups and Israel was reached in May.

According to the report, rocket stockpiles in Gaza are now back up to...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

IDF revamps anti-terror strategies in West Bank after attacks

The Israeli military on Sunday unveiled plans to improve the operations of its West Bank division, including increasing the level of intelligence gathering and sharing, and better preparing troops before deployments in the region.

These changes came after a spate of terror attacks in the West Bank in late 2018 and early 2019, in which terrorists...

Israeli Society

Tens of thousands of Israeli youth join Flag March through Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Tens of thousands of Israeli youths gathered in the Old City of Jerusalem for the annual Flag March celebrating Jerusalem Day.

The march takes the students from national religious high schools, yeshivas and seminaries and other institutions through the Muslim and and Jewish Quarters of Jerusalem. The event has frequently caused...

Micro-History

Last living survivor of Nazi death camp Sobibor dies

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The last living survivor of the Nazi death camp Sobibor has died.

Semion Rosenfeld died on Monday at a hospital in central Israel at the age of 96. He moved to Israel from the Ukraine in 1990, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Sobibor was built and operated by the SS during World War II near the railway station of Sobibor in...

Antisemitism

New York police say hate crimes nearly doubled in 2019. Nearly two-thirds are anti-Semitic.

(JTA) – The number of hate crimes reported to the New York Police Department this year is nearly double the number reported in 2018 during the same period – and most incidents are anti-Semitic.

The NYPD has received 176 hate crime complaints from Jan. 1 to May 19, constituting an 83 percent rise over the corresponding period last year, The Wall...