An Update from CUFI Action Fund
At the CUFI Action Fund, our policy positions do not change regardless of who is in power. If an elected official stands with Israel, we will work with them regardless of party. Likewise, if they if they oppose our policy positions, we will stand up to them. And when the last vote is counted, we will remain committed to ensuring the voice of Christian Zionism is heard in our nation’s capital.
Iran
In 2021, Iran will be central to our policy agenda. We support increasing sanctions against the Islamic Republic, not only because they continue to pursue a nuclear weapon, but because Tehran remains one of the preeminent forces for evil in the world. Their human rights record is an abomination. Their support for terrorism is unparalleled and unacceptable.
Reports are that over the next several weeks the Trump administration will be increasing sanctions on Tehran. We support this effort. And to those that would do the opposite, we ask that they remember that when American officials break bread with their Iranian counterparts, they are sending a dark message to the freedom-starved people of the Islamic Republic and the tens of millions in the Iranian diaspora that look upon the regime’s steady destruction of their country with horror. When we make bad deals with a bad actor, we empower bad people.
In 2021, Washington would do well to recall the lessons of history and resist the urge to appease an evil regime.
Turkey
Turkey’s economy is crumbling.
Strongman-President Erdogan has just fired the head of Turkey’s central bank and saw his son-in-law finance minister resign. These changes will have little effect on Turkey’s short- and long-term economic health. The only thing Ankara can do to stave off further economic deterioration is abandon their hegemonic and imperial ambitions.
We’ve said previously that Erdogan is speaking and acting like a low-rent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (the former Iranian president who liked to rail against the west and Israel while fantasizing about Iranian regional dominance). Efforts to act like the Sunni version of Iran will fail, in part, because
we will ensure that outcome. And the next step in that process is advancing bipartisan sanctions against Turkey (S.2641). This legislation has passed the Senate Foreign Relations committee, and we look forward to the incoming congress taking it up once again. Current law also dictates that Turkey must be sanctioned for its purchase of Russian missiles, as CUFI’s recent action alert called for. The Erdogan regime must be held to account for its actions.
United States
One of the issues we are morally compelled to confront in 2021 is the appalling rise in anti-Semitism in the US. And we believe that this rise in in anti-Semitic incidents is directly tied to the staggering American ignorance about the Holocaust.
One recent study revealed that 31% of Americans and 41% of millennials believe that two million or fewer Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Another survey
showed that nearly two-thirds of young American adults (ages 18-39) are unaware 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, and one in 10 believe Jews caused the Holocaust.
We worked very hard to advance the Never Again Education Act which authorizes funds for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to facilitate Holocaust education across the country. But the federal government cannot do it all on its own. Ultimately, education is a state and local matter, and as such, in 2021, CUFI will work to advance Holocaust education mandates in
several states across the country.
As the above indicates, there’s much work to be done. And no matter who holds the reigns of power next year, with your help and support we’ll be there to push our agenda forward at every level and every turn.
Sincerely,
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