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.

US-Israel Relationship

Congress members call for Israeli visitors to have easier entry into U.S.

Two Congress members called on the Department of Homeland Security to admit Israel into a program that allows some of its visitors expedited entry into the United States.

Reps. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., and Brian Mast, R-Fla., sent a letter Wednesday to the acting Homeland Security secretary, Kevin McAleenan, urging him to admit the Jewish state into...

Hamas

Crypto terror financing: Hamas shifts tactics in bitcoin fundraising

LONDON/JERUSALEM - The armed wing of Hamas is using increasingly complex methods of raising funds via bitcoin, researchers say, highlighting the difficulties regulators face in tracking cryptocurrency financing of outfits designated by some as terrorist groups.

The Gaza-based Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, which is proscribed by the United...

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)

Federal judge blocks enforcement of anti-BDS law in Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge has blocked enforcement of a Texas law that requires contractors to certify that they don’t support a boycott of Israel.

In a 56-page opinion filed Thursday, US District Judge Robert Pitman of Austin said boycotts are protected free speech, declaring the law fails to serve a compelling state interest.

The American...

Iran

Turkey Says It’s Pushing Back Against Trump’s Iran Sanctions

Turkey is working on a mechanism to avert U.S. sanctions designed to halt trade with Iran, risking another showdown with Washington as it joins a group of nations determined to keep buying oil from the Islamic Republic.

The Turkish trade ministry and its counterpart in Iran are attempting to maintain the flow of goods between the two countries as...

Hamas

Report: UNIFIL instructed to boost, expand patrols in south Lebanon

United Nations forces in southern Lebanon have been instructed to boost and expand their patrols recently to new areas in a bid to better monitor Hezbollah weaponry, Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar reported Friday.

The report by the newspaper, which has ties to the Iran-backed terror group, had no outside confirmation.

Al-Akhbar claimed the recent...

United Nations (UN)

UN confirms 3rd Hezbollah tunnel crossed border into Israel, violating ceasefire

A UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon Thursday confirmed that a tunnel discovered earlier this year by Israel had crossed the Lebanese-Israeli border, in the third such breach of a ceasefire resolution.

Israel in January accused the Iran-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah of having dug what it described as the deepest, “longest and most...

US-Israel Relationship

US slaps new sanctions on Hezbollah-linked businessmen, firms

The US Treasury Department increased its sanctions on the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah on Wednesday by targeting two individuals and three entities, for allegedly having helped it evade existing sanctions.

In a release on its website, the department said it targeted Belgium-based Wael Bazzi “for acting for or on behalf of his father and...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Lebanon’s minister threatens to strike Ben-Gurion Airport in future war

Lebanon’s Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab has warned that the Lebanese military would strike Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport if Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport were struck in a future conflict.

“If ‘Israel’ bombards our airport, we will bombard its airport; if it strikes our oil facilities, we will strike its oil facilities,” he was...

Palestinian Authority

Convicted Palestinian terrorist obtained US citizenship

A Palestinian terrorist convicted of attempting to bomb an Israeli bus managed to obtain US citizenship, according to a report from CNN.

This would apparently be the second time a convicted terrorist became a US citizen after the 9/11 attacks. In 2017, Rasmeah Odeh was convicted of illegaly obtaining US citizenship, after lying about her...

Syria

4 children of parents murdered in West Bank sue Syria, Iran in US federal court

The four children of a couple who were killed by a Palestinian Hamas terror cell while driving in the West Bank have filed a $360 million civil damages wrongful death lawsuit against Iran and Syria in federal court in Washington.

Eitam and Naama Henkin were killed on October 1, 2015, when the Palestinian attackers, who originally had intended to...

United Nations (UN)

Lebanon ready to demarcate maritime border with Israel under UN supervision

Lebanon is prepared to demarcate its maritime border with Israel under the supervision of the United Nations and with the same mechanism used for the Blue Line.

We are ready to draw Lebanon’s maritime borders and those of the Exclusive Economic Zone using the same procedure that was used to draw the Blue Line under the supervision of the United...

Hamas

Hamas arrests Gaza comedian who protested economic hardship

Hamas security forces have arrested Palestinian comedian Hussam Khalaf, who is known for his criticism of Hamas and Qatar, sources in the Gaza Strip confirmed on Wednesday.

The sources said that Khalaf, a resident of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, was arrested on Tuesday as he was walking on the streets of Rafah with a friend.

The comedian’s...

Hamas

Hamas has infiltrated PA security forces, recruited officers as spies — report

Hamas has managed to recruit members of the Palestinian Authority’s security forces into the terrorist group over the past year, including some in sensitive units that work alongside Israel to thwart Hamas terror activity in the West Bank, according to a newspaper report on Tuesday.

The Palestinian Authority’s intelligence agents caught wind of...

US-Israel Relationship

Netanyahu says he’ll name Golan Heights town after Trump

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that his next government will name a town in the Golan Heights after Donald Trump in honor of the US president’s decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the northern territory.

“I am here with my family and the masses of citizens of Israel at the foot of the Golan Heights, enjoying the...

Hamas

Russia to start S-400 missile defense shipments to Turkey in July — report

A Russian official said Wednesday that Moscow will start delivering its S-400 missile defense systems to Turkey in July.

“Everything has been already discussed and agreed,” Alexander Mikheev, the head of Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, told the Interfax news agency.

The United States has threatened to hit Ankara with sanctions if...

US-Israel Relationship

Israel praises Trump on ending Iran oil sanction waivers

Israel on Monday praised President Trump for not renewing waivers that allowed several foreign countries to buy oil from Iran without getting sanctioned.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the decision "is of great importance for increasing pressure on the Iranian terrorist regime," according to The Associated Press.

"We...

Hezbollah

U.S. offering $10 million for info on Hezbollah’s financial mechanisms

WASHINGTON - A new program will offer up to $10 million in rewards for information leading to the disruption of the global financial mechanisms of Hezbollah, the US Department of State announced Monday.

It is the first time that the department is offering a reward for information regarding Hezbollah's financial networks.

According to a December...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Nasrallah: Israeli home-front not prepared for war

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has denied reports that the Lebanese Shi’ite terrorist organization is planning for war with Israel this summer, saying that the IDF would not start a military conflict with the group because the Israeli home-front is not prepared.

"What was published in the newspapers about a war with Israel was mistaken and...

Iran

Iran threatens to close Strait of Hormuz after US ends sanction waivers

A top Iranian naval commander  threatened on Monday to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, in response to the US decision to end sanction waivers on Iranian oil imports, as Tehran fumed over the “illegal” move.

“If we are banned from using it, we will close it,” Gen. Ali Reza Tangsiri, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s navy, was...

Iran

Iranian parliament designates all US military forces as terrorists

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian media said Tuesday the parliament has approved a bill that labels all US military forces as terrorist.

The legislation is a step further after Iranian lawmakers last week approved a bill labeling US troops in the Mideast as terrorist, a day after the US terrorism designation for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard came into effect.
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