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

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...

Israeli Society

Netanyahu: Israel is in contact with six ‘important Arab, Islamic countries’

Addressing the state memorial ceremony for former Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is in contact with “half a dozen important Arab and Islamic countries."

The ceremony was held at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, the very same site, Netanyahu pointed out, where Eshkol brought the remains of...

Syria

Iran reviving maritime smuggling route to Syria using civilian firms

An analyst told i24NEWS exclusively on Tuesday that Iranian companies, sanctioned by the United States over ties to the Revolutionary Guards Corps, have recently begun unloading shipments at Syria’s Latakia port raising suspicions that the dormant maritime trade route is being revived and may be exploited for weapons smuggling.

The Mediterranean...

Antisemitism

Middle School Map Shows Israel Labeled As ‘Palestine’

A map that was displayed at a March 7 Georgia middle school multicultural event featured all of Israel labeled as “Palestine.”

The map was part of a table on Palestinian culture at Autrey Mill Middle School’s Multicultural Night in Fulton County; the map was not provided with any sort of context. The Palestinian cultural table also featured a...

Hamas

Senior Hamas member encourages children to join terrorist organizations

A senior Hamas member has encouraged Palestinian children to be martyrs and join terrorist organization in a video published on the Hamas public broadcaster in Gaza.

In the video, published by The Middle East Media Research Institute, shows the Hamas member as saying that they “will teach our kids in the kindergartens, the elementary schools, and...

Hezbollah

IDF says it has exposed new Hezbollah cell operating from Syrian Golan Heights

The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday that it had exposed a Hezbollah terror cell established in a border village in the Syrian Golan Heights and vowed to prevent the Lebanese group from operating against Israel from Syrian soil.

The IDF said the cell was comprised of Syrians, but led by Lebanese and “masterminded” by a man it identified as...