In this week’s edition of the CUFI Action Update, we examine some problems and highlight a key part of one solution.  

Send in the Navy

By now, our readers know well that the regime’s last card to play is the continued conflict over the Strait of Hormuz. Washington has launched Project Freedom, sending warships through the narrow waterway who’ve engaged directly with Iranian small attack boats and the like targeting commercial vessels.

Just as the U.S. began escorting ships through the Strait, Iran not only attacked the vessels, but the regime also launched missiles and drones at the UAE. Most were intercepted by the UAE or allies – including Israel’s Iron Dome team in the Emirates - but one projectile hit the UAE’s Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, a key site enabling the country to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. Three workers were wounded.

The Iranians are actively attacking ships in the Straight, and the US is actively engaged against the regime in the area. We’ll not predict what comes next, but it’s safe to say, the status quo will not do.

An Update on the Amalekites

While the world is understandably watching events in and around the Persian Gulf, the post October 7th wave of Jew hatred has yet to crest. Chicago, Detroit, London, Lost Angeles, New York, Ontario, Paris, Rotterdam, Sydney, Toronto… The list of western cities in which violent antisemitic incidents, including wholesale murder, have taken place is long, diverse, and disgusting.

It’s of course no better on campus where the story is so well known it’s become cliché. Rather than competing over who will get the best grades, win the next football game, or even throw the best party, there is a crop of student leaders who are falling all over themselves to be Jew hater of the year.

We’re not giving out such an award/albatross today, because, after all, who could choose?  Is it the Mississippi State student who threw coins and shouted slurs at a Jewish visitor on campus? Or perhaps the smart folks at Harvard who were found to be in violation of Title VI for their failure to protect Jewish students from violence? And how could we leave out the University of Florida GOP student leaders who photographed themselves doing Nazi salutes and the like?

With the school year ending, we’ll see comes next, but the status quo will not do.

Let’s See Some Receipts

A significant reason we see so much antisemitism on campus is that for decades, Israel’s adversaries, like Qatar, have poured money into ensuring both students and professors on campus are effectively on the Amalekite payroll.

Enter the DETERRENT Act (Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions). This bill contains several key components that would enable transparency in higher education fundraising.

For example, this legislation requires a publicly searchable database of foreign donations to or contracts with individual researchers, and requires certain very logical, and often very simple, financial disclosures from universities, including receipts from investments in countries or areas of concern. Basically, show us where you’re getting the money….   

The bill passed the House previously but did not advance in the Senate. That need not happen again, especially that the House once again advanced the measure in March. The bill enjoys some bipartisan support, but more importantly, its common sense.

Recently, a coalition of 26 organizations, including your CUFI Action Fund, signed a letter urging House and Senate leaders to ensure the DETERRENT Act’s “passage into law during this, the 119th Congress.”

As the letter notes, this legislation “ensures accurate and transparent disclosure to the federal government and the public,” in academia. As such, opposition is unwarranted and a failure to act is unacceptable.

We look forward to the DETERRENT Act’s swift advancement, and we will seek to ensure the same when we gather in our nation’s capital for the annual CUFI Washington Summit in early July. We hope to see you there. 

Sincerely,

The CUFI Action Fund Team