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.

Iran

Iran says US doesn’t dare attack for fear of provoking assault on Israel

A senior Iranian official on Sunday dismissed the US military buildup in the region as psychological warfare, saying that the US will not attack for fear of provoking an Iranian assault on Israel.

“The US military forces’ deployment in the Persian Gulf is more of the nature of psychological warfare. They are not ready for a war, specially when...

Antisemitism

Miami man arrested for threatening to ‘get rid’ of Jews in calls to bagel shop

JTA — A Miami man was arrested for making threatening phone calls to a local bagel shop.

The man called the Bagel Time Café several times on May 6, and in his last call threatened to “get rid of” Jews, Miami’s Local10 reported.

The man first told the owners over the telephone that he would “expose you all” after asking if they were Jewish. In...

Hamas

2 East Jerusalem men charged with planning Tel Aviv beach shooting for Hamas

Two East Jerusalem residents were charged on Sunday for allegedly planning to carry out a shooting attack in Tel Aviv on behalf of the Hamas terror group.

According to the indictments filed at the Jerusalem District Court, 23-year-old Adam Muslemani and 27-year-old Mahmoud Abed al-Latif befriended each other in 2017, while serving time at Nafha...

United Nations (UN)

Germany vows to back Israel at UN, in apparent break from past record

Germany on Saturday said it was deeply troubled by anti-Israel bias at the United Nations and vowed to oppose “any unfair treatment” of the Jewish state in international fora.

The statement, issued on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Israel’s accession to the UN, was welcomed by Jerusalem’s envoy to Germany, Jeremy Issacharoff, who said he...

Israeli Technology

Israeli chest strap keeps tabs on pulmonary patients’ breathing

The sunshine and flowers of spring may be a welcome respite from winter’s cold and gloom, but the season brings menace for some, as the pollen that comes with the blooms can lead to an increase in respiratory diseases, including asthma.

Respiratory diseases affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide, and according to a study by the Forum of...

United Nations (UN)

Trump envoy slams ‘baffling’ anti-Israel UN meeting as members line up to condemn settlements, Israeli policy

President Trump’s U.S. envoy for international negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, made a surprise visit to the United Nations on Thursday, as members of the U.N. Security Council held an informal meeting to condemn Israeli settlements — a meeting that Greenblatt called “baffling and disappointing.”
Security Council members Indonesia, South Africa and...

Iran

Top Iranian commander: US ‘wouldn’t dare launch military action against us’

A top commander in Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said Friday the US “wouldn’t dare to launch military action against us,” amid rising tensions and escalating rhetoric in recent days.

Yadollah Javani, the IRGC’s deputy head for political affairs, made the comments after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday threatened a...

Holocaust

White supremacists carrying Nazi flags interrupt Arkansas Holocaust Remembrance Day event

A group of white supremacists carrying Nazi flags and hurling racial slurs briefly interrupted a Holocaust remembrance event in Arkansas earlier this week, local media reported.
The town of Russellville holds the March of Remembrance every year to honor and commemorate the survivors and the millions of people – mostly Jewish – who were killed...

Archeology

9 rare photos from Israel’s War of Independence

Thursday is Israel’s Independence Day, which commemorates the country’s official Declaration of Independence in 1948. The country celebrated with rallies, fireworks displays, flyovers by the Israeli Air Force and family barbecues.

It was a hard-fought independence — the day after the declaration, a coalition of Arab armies attacked and started...

Archeology

Postcard discovered of David Ben-Gurion writing, ‘State of Israel has been born!’

A postcard written and signed by Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, just one day after officially declaring the State of Israel’s independence, was recently discovered. Dated on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Iyar in the Jewish year 5748 (May 15, 1948), it was sent to the founding father of the kibbutz movement, Shlomo Lavi.
...

Israeli Society

Israelis light up their grills, hit the beach to celebrate 71st Independence Day

Israel celebrates its Independence Day according to the Jewish calendar date of its founding on May 14, 1948
Tens of thousands of Israelis were expected to light up their grills and swarm the country’s beaches and national parks in celebration of Israel’s 71st Independence Day on Thursday.
Independence Day festivities began Wednesday evening after...

Hamas

Netanyahu: Israel is ‘a hope among the nations and a hope for the nations

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published an Independence Day message in English on his YouTube channel.

Netanyahu frequently puts up messages on his YouTube channel or Facebook profile for international audiences.

Netanyahu emphasized that "more and more people around the world see the truth about achievement, about our freedom, about our...

Iran

EU rejects any ultimatums after Iran’s move on nuclear deal

European countries said on Thursday they wanted to preserve Iran's nuclear deal and rejected "ultimatums" from Tehran, after Iran scaled back curbs on its nuclear program and threatened moves that might breach the pact.

Iran announced steps on Wednesday to ease curbs on its nuclear program, in response to new U.S. sanctions imposed after...

Jerusalem

With Jerusalem embassy in place, Trump administration ends waiver

The Trump administration ended the practice in effect for more than two decades of waiving a law requiring the move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Wednesday that the waiver no longer was necessary. President Donald Trump moved the embassy to Jerusalem last year on May 14, and in March,...

Israeli Technology

SpaceIL founder says second moon mission will happen in ‘two years’ with Netanyahu’s support

Israel would be only the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to land a spacecraft on the moon
Morris Kahn, founder of SpaceIL, the Israeli space program behind the failed Beresheet spacecraft moon mission last month, said in an Independence Day address at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl on Wednesday that SpaceIL will attempt another moon landing...

Hamas

Williams College president ‘disappointed’ that student council rejected pro-Israel group

The president of Williams College criticized a decision by the student council not to recognize a pro-Israel campus group.

Last month, the council at the small liberal arts college in Williamstown, Mass., voted not to admit the Williams Initiative for Israel as a recognized student group.

In a statement last week, the college’s president, Maud...

Palestinian Authority

Islamic Jihad says war with Israel coming this summer

Leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group believes the recent deadly flare-up between Israel and Gaza militants was a “military exercise” ahead of a large-scale war in the coming summer, according to a report in Beirut-based pan-Arab TV channel Al-Mayadeen Tuesday.

In the latest round of cross-border fighting, which erupted over the...

US-Israel Relationship

US officials: Iran seems to be moving ballistic missiles by boat to Persian Gulf

(May 8, 2019 / JNS) Iran appears to be moving short-range ballistic missiles aboard boats in the Persian Gulf in response to United States moving an aircraft strike group to the Middle East, several U.S. officials told CNN, in response to the threat from Tehran.

U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Bill Urban said on Tuesday that they had seen...

Iran

Netanyahu on Iran: We will not let them get nuclear arms

Israel will not let Iran attain nuclear weapons, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday just hours after Iran announced that it will continue its nuclear program.

Netanyahu's comments came at the government's central Remembrance Day ceremony at the Mount Herzl military cemetery honoring the country's 23,741 fallen soldiers.

“This...

Iran

Iran pulls out of parts of nuclear deal, sets 60-day deadline to renegotiate terms

Iran’s president said Wednesday the country will stop complying with parts of an Obama-era nuclear deal and set a 60-day deadline for new terms of the landmark pact before resuming higher uranium enrichment.
Hassan Rouhani’s national address comes a year after President Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 agreement. He said he wanted to...