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.

Israeli Technology

530 multinationals from 35 countries innovating in Israel

Israel is emerging as a leading innovation destination for a growing number of multinational corporations looking to the country’s 6,000 plus startups for new ideas, quick prototyping ability, and infectious entrepreneurial culture, a new report shows.
The PwC report, commissioned by tech NGO Start-Up Nation Central, maps for the first time the...

Israeli Society

Israel battles new wave of wildfires on hottest day of the year

Wildfires raged across Israel on Friday for the second day in a row, as officials warned the public to stay away from parks and forests and an initial investigation indicated an electrical short sparked some of the blazes on Thursday.

Gripped by unseasonably scorching weather, a spate of fires across the country on Thursday devastated towns and...

US-Israel Relationship

Israel prepares to break ground on new ‘Trump city’

U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights sparked considerable excitement in Israel, leading to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for the founding of a new community in the northern region to be named after the U.S. president.

The community – which is still in its early stages – will house 97...

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)

NYU speaker praises campus groups that support BDS

(JTA) — A speaker at a New York University doctorate convocation ceremony praised campus organizations that support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel and called Israel an apartheid state.

Stephen William Thrasher received his doctorate in American studies from the university’s Department of Social and Cultural...

Israeli Society

SAVE A CHILD’S HEART PERFORMS ITS 5,000TH LIFE-SAVING SURGERY

Twenty years ago, a baby girl, Balkis, was taken to Israel to undergo critical surgery. Balkis had been born with a severe congenital heart defect, and in her native Zanzibar she could not receive the proper treatment.

However, only a couple of years before, in 1995, an Israeli non-profit organization, Save a Child’s Heart, had been established...

Antisemitism

How deep is Al Jazeera’s anti-Semitism?

Amid the fallout over a video that denied the Holocaust, the anti-Semitism watchdog group Canary Mission has revealed that several members of Al Jazeera’s staff have held longstanding “disdain for Jews and Israel” that predate the video release.

The seven-minute video, which was published last week on the network’s online channel, AJ+, stated...

Hamas

Hamas initiates online fundraising campaign to encourage youth to resist

Lebanon’s Mayadeen TV aired a report in March about an online campaign in Gaza to encourage support for the “resistance,” namely Hamas. The reporter, Lana Shahin, said that the campaign, which was launched by Hamas’s military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, strives to use modern and secure methods, and briefly discussed the Brigades’ cryptocurrency...

US-Israel Relationship

Kushner to visit Israel ahead of US peace plan rollout — report

US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is planning to visit Israel ahead of US peace conference in Bahrain next month, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

US and Israeli officials are in advanced stages of the planning of the visit, that could come as early as next week.

Kan says Kushner will meet with Prime...

Terrorism

FLAMING GAZA BALLOONS THREATEN TO IGNITE VIOLENCE

laming Gaza balloons ignited fires throughout the South on Thursday, threatening to break the fragile informal truce between Israel and Hamas in advance of anticipated border riots on Friday.
Under the terms of the truce believed to be in play between the IDF and Hamas, the weekly Gaza border riots must remain peaceful.

The organizers of the...

US-Israel Relationship

US embassy move has produced lasting gains

The first anniversary of the U.S. embassy’s move to Jerusalem sparked multiple articles in the Israeli press declaring it a failure for both U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. From the left-wing Haaretz to the centrist Times of Israel, headlines trumpeted the fact that only one minor country, Guatemala, has followed...

Hamas

UCLA guest lecturer compares Zionists to white supremacists

(May 22, 2019 / JNS) A guest lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles, last week labeled Zionists as white supremacists, reported Jewish Journal on Tuesday.

A Jewish student in the class, Shayna Lavi, recalled to the Journal that San Francisco State University Arab and Muslim ethnicities’ professor Rabab Abdulhadi, told the some 100...

United Nations (UN)

UN opens exhibit to celebrate 40 years of peace deal between Israel-Egypt

The UN held a special celebration to celebrate 40 years since the signing of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.

The event, held this week, was a joint initiative by Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon and the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem. In attendance was US Special Envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt and the...

Antisemitism

Man sentenced to three years in prison for vandalism at Indiana synagogue

(May 22, 2019 / JNS) A 21-year-old man was sentenced on Monday to three years in prison for vandalizing a synagogue last year in Carmel, Ind.

Nolan Brewer pleaded guilty to the federal hate crime for spray-painting a large Nazi flag and Nazi iron crosses outside Congregation Shaarey Tefilla in July 2018. The vandalism, which Brewer’s wife helped...

Israeli Society

The top 12 ways Israel is feeding the world

As the global population expands and natural resources dwindle, food security is a critical concern. Smart solutions for more efficient farming, hardier crops, alternative sources of nutrition and safer food packaging and storage are essential.

No other single country—certainly not one as young and as tiny as Israel—has contributed more...

Hamas

Feds: New Jersey man aided Hamas, threatened to kill Israel supporters

A 20-year-old New Jersey man sought to aid the Hamas terror group and threatened to “shoot everybody” at an unspecified pro-Israel demonstration, federal authorities said Wednesday.

Jonathan Xie was charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, making false statements and transmitting a threat in...

US-Israel Relationship

US and Israel call for end of UNRWA, the UN agency that oversees Palestinians

(May 22, 2019 / JNS) The United States and Israel on Wednesday called for UNRWA, the U.N. agency that oversees the Palestinian refugees, to cease operations.

“We need an additional $1.2 billion for our activities in 2019. We don’t believe the future of Palestine refugees should be framed in decades of UNRWA,” said Pierre Krähenbühl, the UNRWA...

Israeli Society

Israelis rush to aid Venezuelan refugees in Colombia

Israeli humanitarian aid agency IsraAID reports that it has dispatched an emergency response team to the city of Cúcuta, on Colombia’s border with Venezuela, which is a flashpoint in the ongoing Venezuelan displacement crisis.

Thousands cross the Simon Bolivar Bridge from Venezuela into Cúcuta every day seeking relief from the continued economic...

Israeli Society

Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer wins truth award

(May 22, 2019 / JNS) Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer will be recognized for his public statements in defense of Israel by the American non-profit organization Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) at a gala dinner next month.

The Emet Award celebration will take place in New York City on June 2....

Holocaust

More than 13 million documents from Nazi concentration camps posted online

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The International Tracing Service in Germany has published online more than 13 million documents from Nazi concentration camps with information on more than 2.2 million people.

The effort to put the archive online was undertaken in partnership with the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.

The tracing service, based in...

US-Israel Relationship

San Diego State center apologizes for using photo of Palestinian terrorist

(JTA) — The Women’s Resource Center at San Diego State University has apologized for including on its weekly newsletter an image of a female Palestinian terrorist holding a gun.

The image was part of the May 8 newsletter sent to the center’s email list, according to the university’s student newspaper, The Daily Aztec. The apology was sent May 14...