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.

Hamas

In dramatic sign of warming ties, Netanyahu makes secret visit to Oman

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a secret visit to the Gulf nation of Oman on Friday — the first by an Israeli leader in over two decades, and a sign of warming ties between the Jewish state and the Sunni Arab world.

On Friday afternoon, his office surprisingly announced that Netanyahu and his wife Sara had just returned from an “official...

Hezbollah

Trump Signs Sanctions on Iran-Backed Hezbollah Terrorists

President Donald Trump has signed legislation imposing new sanctions against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terrorist group behind the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings.
Speaking Thursday at a White House event marking the 35th anniversary of the attack that killed 241 Marines, Trump said, “No terrorist group other than al-Qaida has more American blood on...

Hamas

IDF attacks Gaza terror targets in retaliation for rocket fire at Israel

Israeli warplanes attacked eight Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip early on Wednesday in retaliation for a rocket fired at Israel hours earlier.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) aircraft struck targets, including training bases and weapons production facilities near the towns of Khan Younis and Rafah in the south of the enclave. There were no...

Hamas

King Abdullah declines to renew part of Jordan’s peace deal with Israel

In a surprise move, Jordan announced on Sunday that it will not renew its lease allowing Israel to use land at Naharayim (Baqura) near the Kinneret nor part of Zofar (al Ghamar), some 120 km north of Eilat.

Under the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace agreement, these two areas “will fall under Jordanian sovereignty with Israeli private land use rights....

Hezbollah

Report: Iran sent advanced technology to improve Hezbollah rockets

A Fars Air Qeshm Boeing 747 touched down in Beirut at 2:04 p.m. on October 16. The large white aircraft had left Tehran at 9:33 that morning but had concealed its flight details from international tracking authorities. It stayed in Beirut for almost a day before leaving for Doha on October 17. That plane is now at the center of a Fox News report...

Iran

Iran sends Hezbollah GPS parts to turn rockets into precision missiles — report

Iran has delivered advanced GPS components to Hezbollah which will allow the terrorist group to make previously unguided rockets into precision guided-missiles, thus increasing the threat to Israel, Fox News reported Friday.

According to the media outlet, American and western intelligence services believe Iran has been increasing its shipments to...

Hamas

Mom describes ‘miracle’ dash to shelter seconds before rocket ravaged home

Miri Tamano had barely managed to shove her three boys into a bomb shelter and close the heavy blast door when a massive explosion shook her house.

Shaken but unharmed, she and her children huddled in the room, plunged into darkness, trying to keep calm.

“Mom, it hit our house,” one of her kids said, starting to cry.

What hit the Tamano’s...

US-Israel Relationship

In blow to Palestinians, US places Jerusalem consulate under embassy

The State Department announced Thursday that it would bring its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians under the auspices of the US Embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, marking an implicit downgrading of the facility’s status and a fresh blow to its already strained ties with the Palestinians.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the move was...

Hamas

Scott Morrison considers moving Australia’s embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison announced he would consider moving Autralia’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem despite a warning from ASIO that it could provoke unrest and violence.

The bulletin from Australia’s spy agency, marked secret, has been obtained by The Guardian. It is dated October 15 - the day before Mr Morrison’s press...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Cabinet instructs army to ramp up Gaza response if violence continues

The security cabinet on Thursday instructed the army to step up its response to any violence emanating from the Gaza Strip during the border protests expected Friday, amid skyrocketing tensions in the Palestinian enclave.

Ministers said the IDF should ramp up the severity of its responses gradually, but ultimately adopt a zero-tolerance policy...

Hamas

Rocket fired from Gaza hits house in Beersheba; causes heavy damage, no injuries

Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket at the southern city of Beersheba early Wednesday that landed and exploded in the courtyard of a house, causing serious damage, but no injuries.

The Israel Defense Forces said it had identified two launches from Gaza. One targeted Beersheba located some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

IDF demolishes Gaza attack tunnel that penetrated 200 meters into Israel

The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday destroyed a tunnel that penetrated some 200 meters into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, which the army said was dug by the Hamas terror group using techniques meant to make it more difficult to spot by Israel’s detection systems.

The tunnel originated in the area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza and was...

US-Israel Relationship

Pompeo: U.S. blocked $165m in funding due to Palestinian incitement

The State Department on Wednesday denied a $165 million transfer of aid to the Palestinian Authority over its failure to adhere to the Taylor Force Act, a law that bars the government from continuing aid to the PA unless Ramallah ceases its practice of compensating the families of murderers and terrorists convicted in Israel.

“I actually signed a...

Hamas

Danon denounces UNESCO’s latest anti-Israel decisions

Israel slammed the PX Commission of the Executive Board of UNESCO on Wednesday as it adopted resolutions titled “Occupied Palestine,” which declared that the ancient Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, and Rachel’s Tomb, in Hebron are integral parts of “Occupied Palestinian territory.”

The group also denounced the construction of a security...

Hamas

Anti-Israel professor disciplined by University of Michigan for letter controversy

A tenured University of Michigan professor has been disciplined for refusing to write a letter of recommendation for a student who wanted to study in Israel.

John Cheney-Lippold won’t get a merit increase for the next academic year and cannot go on his planned sabbatical in January or another one over the next two years, The Detroit News...

Archeology

Earliest known stone carving of Hebrew word ‘Jerusalem’ found near city entrance

The earliest stone inscription bearing the full spelling of the modern Hebrew word for Jerusalem was unveiled on Tuesday at the Israel Museum, in the capital.

While any inscription dating from the Second Temple period is of note, the 2,000-year-old three-line inscription on a waist-high column — reading “Hananiah son of Dodalos of Jerusalem” — is...

Hamas

2 Israelis killed, 1 injured in West Bank terror shooting

Two Israelis were shot dead and a third was wounded Sunday morning in a terror attack at the Barkan Industrial Park in the northern West Bank, the army said.

The Magen David Adom medical service said that a man in his 30s and a woman had been critically injured and were later pronounced dead.

The woman who was killed in the attack was identified...

Hamas

US envoys, factory owner say ‘coexistence beacon’ Barkan shattered by attack

The owner of a West Bank factory, whose two Israeli employees were slain by a Palestinian worker in Sunday morning’s terror attack, said he hopes the killer was atypical but that his faith in coexistence initiatives had been badly rattled.

Rafi Alon, owner of Alon Group, a producer of waste management systems at the Barkan Industrial Zone near...

Hamas

Terror shooting victims identified as Kim Levengrond Yehezkel and Ziv Hajbi

Authorities on Sunday afternoon identified a man and a woman shot dead in a terror attack in the West Bank earlier in the day as Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 29, a married mother of a baby, and Ziv Hajbi, a 35-year-old father of three.

Yehezkel was from the central Israeli town of Rosh Ha’ayin, while Hajbi hailed from Rishon Lezion. They were shot...

Event Recaps

Aug 12 Dublin, OH Standing with Israel