The Middle East, and those concerned with what goes on there, rarely face a week that’s all good. Sadly, sometimes, the news is all bad. And sometimes, like the past week, we get a bit of everything. So, let’s dive right in. Bad News There’s no other way to put this: things are heating up in certain Palestinian-controlled territories in the West Bank, and we may see the conflict there boil over very soon. In recent weeks, Palestinian terrorists have engaged in numerous brazen attacks on Israelis – civilians and soldiers alike. While many of the attacks and clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen have occurred in highly radicalized areas such as Jenin and Nablus, the bloodshed has not been limited to these locations. Palestinian terrorists, for example, even attacked Israelis seeking to enter Joseph’s Tomb. In the whole of 2021, there were 50 Palestinian shooting attacks against Israeli soldiers in Judea and Samaria. Since the beginning of 2022, there have already been 60, including 12 in a two-day period at the end of August. Moreover, the Israeli military and security services have already thwarted 220 Palestinian terrorist attacks this year alone. The possibility of even more widespread and intensive conflict is something Israeli and other officials fear could come to pass. Israel
will be able to handle whatever Palestinian terrorists throw at the Jewish state, but there is no conflict without grief and bloodshed. Unless the Palestinian Authority tamps down the terrorist activities of groups like the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Israeli military will be forced to act. Good News For the past few weeks, we’ve been providing you with detailed information on the state of play of the ill-conceived Iran nuclear accord. And at present, it appears the deal is once again on life-support, if not completely dead. This is good news, but that said, there are facts we should consider to keep this in context: First, Israel’s intelligence chief recently noted that Iran continues to target Israelis around the world and that the Mossad has already thwarted dozens of Iranian plots to harm Israelis abroad. Second, Israel’s Prime Minister, in Berlin to
meet with his German counterpart, shared “sensitive and relevant intelligence information” regarding Iran’s nuclear program with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Finally, the Iranian general in charge of the Islamic Republic’s ground forces announced on Monday that Tehran had developed a drone specifically designed to target Israel’s major cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv. Taken together this clearly shows that Iran is continuing both its pursuit of nuclear weapons and its worldwide campaign of terror against Israel and the West. As such, it is indeed good news that, at least today, it looks like the U.S. and European powers have
come to the realization that enriching Iran through a short and weak JCPOA 2.0 will benefit no one, save Iran’s terrorist regime, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to continue being compelled to address Iran’s malign behavior. Other News Regular readers of the Action Update know that CUFI has been working to ensure that Chicago-based financial services firm Morningstar does not get away with infecting the life savings of American investors with BDS via ESG (environmental, social, and governance) ratings. Since the summer, Morningstar has been engaged in a crisis communications effort trying to make the PR problem associated with their antisemitic approach to investment go away. They haven’t succeeded, but CUFI was a little tired of the
disingenuous manner in which Morningstar was handling the entire situation, so a CUFI staffer published an op-ed in the Times of Israel exposing Morningstar’s duplicitous effort in which he explained to the Chicago firm that their, “entirely predictable crisis communications strategy has not and will not work. We’ve been here before, we’ve seen this play out before, and if you Google the terms BDS, Unilever and/or Airbnb you’ll know that we already know both your next move and how this ends.” From the West Bank to Iran to Chicago, Israel and pro-Israel groups are fighting on multiple fronts against the world’s antisemites. And by being a reader of this update and supporting the efforts of the CUFI Action Fund, you’re as much a part of this fight as any of the Watchmen on Israel’s walls. Thank you for taking the time to stay informed about these issues, and as always, thank you for standing with Israel. Sincerely,
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