This week, as we commemorate the horrors of 9/11, it is incumbent upon every American to not just mourn that tragedy but also to learn from it. We have all committed to never forgetting the lives lost that day, the bravery of the first responders who answered the call when the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked, and the astounding heroism displayed by those ordinary Americans on United Flight 93 who sacrificed their lives to prevent the terrorists hitting their third target: the U.S. Capitol.

In today’s Action Update, we will examine two issues: Iran’s malign activities and the effort to boycott Israel into oblivion. At first glance, these two challenges seemingly have little to do with the terrorists who committed the atrocities on 9/11. But, at the Action Fund, we scratch below the surface, and one does not have to dig far to see that at the heart of all these abominations is radicalism, supremacy, hatred for the West, and, of course, antisemitism.

Iran Hearings

Iran is not responsible for the Twin Towers destruction but their past and present cooperation with Al-Qaeda is notable, including harboring the current de-facto leader of the terrorist group – Saif al-Adel. They are very much, however, responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans in Iraq, as well as every American, Israeli, Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian, and Argentinian, among numerous others, maimed or murdered by Hezbollah and its other proxy groups.

Iran may be a Shia-Muslim state, whereas Al-Qaeda is Sunni-Muslim, but their level of fanaticism is the same - as is their bloodlust when it comes to the United States and Israel. And because Iran is a country in pursuit of nuclear weapons, we must take the Iranian threat even more seriously than the one posed by Al-Qaeda. But… we aren’t.

This week, there will be two Congressional hearings examining the Iranian threat. First, on Wednesday, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability’s subcommittee focused on national security and foreign affairs will examine the Biden administration’s current Iran policy. The very next day, the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee which focuses on the Middle East and North Africa will hear from several experts discussing Iran’s escalating threats.

Terrorism will no doubt be high on the agenda during these hearings, as it is for Israel. In fact, so significant is the current terrorist threat posed by Iran, that, in a rare public statement, the chief of Israel’s famed foreign intelligence service, The Mossad, delivered a not-so-veiled threat to Iran’s leadership: hurt Israelis and we’ll hurt you (we’re paraphrasing here, but that’s the gist). Moreover, earlier this week, Israel’s Minister of Defense announced that Iran was building a military airport just 12 miles from the Israeli border.

As the Biden administration knows, such public announcements from Israel’s defense establishment are rare. Layer these developments upon the previous horrors so many Americans have experienced at the hands of Iran-backed terrorists, one might be forgiven for assuming the U.S. would mimic the Israeli intelligence chief’s robust approach to Tehran, but sadly, that is not the case. 

In stark contrast to Jerusalem’s posture towards the Islamic Republic, the Biden administration announced on Monday (yes, 9/11) that it had struck a deal with Iran, the leading state sponsor of terrorism, wherein the regime will release five American hostages and in return, the U.S. will unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian funds held due to sanctions and release five Iranians jailed by the U.S for a range of illegal activities aimed at bolstering the regime, including through the procurement of materials for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Many Americans are no doubt frustrated by the Biden administration’s Iran policy, but, worse yet, amongst our neighbors are those who’ve lost loved ones due to Iranian terrorism. In fact, there is a group of more than two dozen American families who successfully sued Iran for the Islamic Republic’s murdering their loved ones, and, having never been compensated as the court ordered, these families are now filing suit to prevent the Biden administration from freeing up more Iranian cash. We will be keeping an eye on both the hearings and the lawsuit and will report back any relevant developments.

Defeating BDS

This week, CUFI launched an Action Alert asking our members to contact their elected Representative and ask him/her to support the Countering Hate Against Israel (CHAI) by Federal Contractors Act.

For many of our readers, this bill is of course well known to you. But for anyone new, if passed into law, the CHAI Act would largely mimic state-level measures that prevent the government from contracting with any company that is seeking to use economic terrorism to destroy the state of Israel. Basically, the CHAI Act acknowledges that Americans have a right to boycott whomever they see fit, but they don’t have a right to receive taxpayer contracts while engaging in such bigotry.  

Over the August recess, the CHAI Act gained traction in Congress and the wider pro-Israel community, including cosponsors for the legislation from both sides of the aisle. Following the Action Alert, we hope to see a marked increase in public Congressional support for the legislation, but that only happens if you and thousands of Christian Zionists across the country respond to the Action Alert and tell our elected officials that our taxpayer dollars should never subsidize Jew-hatred.

Next week, we’ll bring you additional updates on these and other topics. Until then, thank you for taking the time to stay informed about the issues of the day, and as always, we are deeply grateful for your steadfast support of Israel and the CUFI Action Fund.

Sincerely,

The CUFI Action Fund Team