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.

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...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Israel commemorates 23,741 fallen soldiers, 3,150 terror victims

Israelis will pay tribute to the country’s fallen soldiers and terror victims starting at 8 p.m. Tuesday, bowing their heads for a minute of silence as sirens will sound around the country, kicking off Memorial Day.

In all, 95 new names were added over the past year to the roster of 23,741 soldiers who died defending the country. They include 40...

Israeli Society

Somber Memorial Day events begin with siren and ceremony at Western Wall

Israelis paid tribute Tuesday evening to the country’s fallen soldiers and terror victims, bowing their heads at 8 p.m. for a minute of silence as sirens sounded nationwide, marking Memorial Day.

In all, 95 new names were added over the past year to the roster of 23,741 soldiers who died defending the country. They include 40 disabled veterans...

Terrorism

Islamic Jihad admits baby, pregnant woman killed by their own rockets

The Islamic Jihad, one of the terror organizations responsible for the recent wave of attacks against Israel, admitted that the baby that was killed in Gaza during the latest escalation died as a result of a misfired rocket, TPS reported on Monday.

“A leak from the heroes of the Sarayat al-Quds (Jerusalem Brigades) on the circumstances of the...

Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Same old anti-Israel media bias follows IDF reprisals on heels of Gaza rocket barrage

(May 6, 2019 / JNS) While Israel absorbed as many as 700 rockets fired by the terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad from the Gaza Strip over the weekend, the media turned the tables on the aggression and launched its usual assault on the Jewish state.

“It’s Israel against Palestinian terrorists, so we always know which side the American media...

Hamas

Responding to Gaza events, Saudis tweet in support of Israel, against Hamas

(May 7, 2019 / MEMRI) The latest round of fighting between Israel and Gaza sparked many reactions from Saudis on Twitter. Noteworthy among these responses were tweets, some by prominent intellectuals and journalists, siding with Israel and expressing hope for its safety and victory, while attacking Hamas and its policy, in particular its firing of...

Terrorism

3,150 civilians killed in hostile acts since Israel’s founding

Since Israel declared its independence 3,150 civilians have been killed in acts of war, according to a statement from Israel's National Insurance organization (Bituach Leumi).

The number includes the four Israelis killed in rocket attacks over the past weekend, in a flare-up of violence between Israel and the terror groups Hamas and Islamic...

Israeli Society

Israeli population to soar to 15.2 million by 100th anniversary

Israel’s population is expected to soar to 15.2 million by the time the state celebrates its centenary in 2048, according to data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics ahead of the country’s 71st Independence Day.

A mere 806,000 citizens resided in the State of Israel when David Ben-Gurion declared independence on May 14, 1948.

Today,...