As Congress enters its second week of the annual Easter/Passover recess,
we are heavily focused - and rightfully so - on the uptick in terror
within Israel. In this week’s Action Update, we’ll discuss the
multi-front offensive that Iran and its terrorist proxies are waging
against Israel, the current status of the Iranian protest movement, and
the latest from Turkey.

**Israel Contending with Multi-Front Attack**

** **

Unless you’ve been completely ignoring the news out of the Middle East
for the past two weeks, you’re aware of at least some of what Israel
has faced in recent days. To sum up, rioters barricaded themselves in
the Temple Mount, and Israel’s efforts to end that situation resulted
in the rioters attacking Israeli police. Hamas has fired rockets from
both Gaza and Lebanon into Israel, and the Israelis have responded.
Likewise, a Syrian-based Iranian drone was shot down as it entered
Israeli airspace, and the Israelis responded to that as well. For the
most part, these riots and attacks did not achieve their worst goals,
though they have dramatically increased tension in the region.

Worse yet, in recent days, Palestinian terror attacks have taken the
lives of several people including a mother and her two daughters who
were killed while driving down the road in Judea and Samaria, and an
Italian tourist in Tel Aviv.

Israel is seeking to do what it can to restore deterrence against its
adversaries and calm in the holy city of Jerusalem. While on Sunday,
Jewish worshippers were allowed on the Temple Mount, Israeli police will
prevent them from ascending the plateau during the final ten days of
Ramadan. In addition, Jerusalem’s military responses to the terror
attacks emanating from the north, east and west, indicate that Israel,
while not seeking a fight, is – as it always has been – fully
prepared to defend its citizens, even in the face of what has
effectively become a multi-front Iranian-backed offensive against the
Jewish state.

**Tehran Backing Terrorists at Home as Well**

** **

Despite the mainstream media largely ignoring what’s going on in Iran,
anti-regime protests have been taking place for more than 200 days. The
valiant effort to end Tehran’s tyranny has resulted in more than 750
Iranian citizens killed, and another 30,000 (yes, you read that
correctly) arrested by the regime. Nonetheless, the people there have
not given up; unfortunately, neither has the government.

One item that hasn’t been covered widely in the press concerns
mysterious mass-poisonings of Iranian school girls (yes, you read that
correctly as well). This has been going on for several months and has
touched the lives of thousands of Iranians. Increasingly, these events,
which center around all-girls schools, are believed by some to be
chemical attacks. According to reports, there have been seven more such
attacks in recent days. The regime says it is investigating the matter.

We suggest the Mullahs find the closest mirror and arrest that guy. The
regime are not fans of women (in fact they just barred any women not
wearing a Hijab from getting on the metro). And they are not fond of the
Kurds who live in Iran – and that is the region where the most recent
spate of poisonings took place. So again, if the regime really wants to
put a stop to this horror, they likely should tell whichever
terrorist-government consortium was tasked with this unfathomably evil
plot to stand down. 

**Hope for Turkey?**

** **

On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Iran’s
President Ebrahim Raisi. During the call, Erdogan said, “the Islamic
world should be united against Israel’s attacks in Palestine.” Two
days later, Erdogan called Israel’s President Isaac Herzog to let
Herzog know he was concerned about the tensions in the region. 

As this series of events indicates, Erdogan excels at talking out of
both sides of his mouth. The glimmer of positive news is that the
Turkish people know this, and maybe (just maybe) will end Erdogan’s
two-decade rule in the coming months. Al-Monitor is reporting that Kemal
Kilicdaroglu, Turkey’s leading opposition candidate for the May 14th
Turkish Presidential elections “is in a neck-and-neck race with
Erdogan, according to opinion polls, with some surveys putting him in
the lead.”

Now, we should bear in mind that if Erdogan looks like he’s going to
lose, or outright loses, the election, that doesn’t mean he’ll give
a statesmanlike concession speech and there will be a peaceful
transition of power. But as it stands, on May 14th the Turkish people
will go to the polls for both their presidential and parliamentary
elections and there is some reason to hope things turn around and Ankara
returns to the Western fold.

We try to keep our Action Updates relatively short, but this week that
wasn’t possible. The common theme across the Middle East is that evil
is on the march, and good is seeking to hold the line and reverse the
enemies’ gains. And when Congress returns from their two-week break,
we’ll be there on Capitol Hill trying to aid all those in the Middle
East fighting the good fight.

Sincerely,

The CUFI Action Fund Team <https:[link removed]>

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