This will be our final Update of the year. Ordinarily we would focus on what we’ve accomplished as a result of your support, and what we plan to do in 2024. And to an extent, we do that. But what
follows is our blunt assessment of a key front in this war: Washington.
The World Has Changed for Everyone
It’s at this point bordering on cliché to say that on October 7th, the world changed, but it did.
In Israel, despite the long-held desire to avoid reinvading Gaza, there is widespread consensus that the Jewish state’s warriors must completely defeat Hamas if the Israelis are to ever be safe again. None relish the war; most believe it to be necessary.
Here in the U.S., much has also changed. Unfortunately, our adversaries and our elected officials have not yet come to fully understand our October 8th world.
Israel’s detractors continue to peddle in absurdities. Jesus was a Palestinian refugee; Israel does not have a right to defend itself; Hamas is not a terrorist organization; and on and on the list goes. But here’s the thing, in the wake of October 7th, those making the decisions about this war are unmoved by the Israel-haters’ concocted outrage.
Serious people do not (and certainly should not) care about the contrived arguments and sensitivities of those who rely on the lie that denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination in their indigenous land (aka anti-Zionism) is not antisemitism.
In the aftermath of October 7th, those who have spent years peddling anti-Israel myths over facts are facing a perfect storm: an Israeli people who overwhelmingly feel they have no choice but to finish the fight and millions of pro-Israel activists who’ve no problem calling the Israel-haters what they are, antisemitic terrorist sympathizers.
Congress Misses the Memo
The world has also changed for our elected officials in Washington, but they plainly missed the headline. According to a recent report, 2023 was among the least productive years in Congress in decades and, as one Axios writer put it, “The 118th Congress is on track to be one of the most unproductive in modern history.”
This pronouncement is fairly on brand for the current Congress, which left town well before Christmas and won’t be returning until January 9th. That’ll be ten days before key elements of the current stopgap government funding measure begin to expire, and a few weeks before Israel is likely to run out of previously appropriated U.S. aid from which to draw down in order to purchase critical defense items – including ammunition.
The CUFI Action Fund has been instrumental in advancing key legislation like the Taylor Force Act, the STOP Using Human Shields Act, the Never Again Education Act, and Israel’s most recent Iron Dome resupply which is now more critical than ever. We have engaged at the state level to combat antisemitism, advance enhanced Holocaust education standards, and ensure that the overwhelming majority of states have enacted anti-BDS measures. And all of that was before October 7th.
In the wake of the massacre, and as this war goes on and Israel has fewer and fewer friends, we will remain resolutely focused on the task at hand. To be clear: we will not rest until every strong and viable policy proposal to support Israel, defeat the murderous regime in Tehran, counter the antisemitic BDS movement, and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our Jewish friends and neighbors against the flood of antisemitism is advanced and implemented.
We Will Remember in November
That starts with ensuring Israel receives the $14.5 billion emergency war supplemental to acquire more lifesaving anti-missile and rocket systems and replenish critical munitions as it fights Iranian proxies on multiple fronts. Advancing such a measure enjoys widespread bipartisan support, yet the 118th Congress has thus far sent nothing to the President’s desk.
If Congress is to stand with Israel, as our leaders have so often promised, we do not have the luxury of allowing politics, infighting and personal ambitions stand in the way of advancing this measure.
Upon Congress’s return to Washington, passing a supplemental aid package which can be signed by the President is of paramount importance. Like it or not, to advance policies, members of Congress will have to work across the aisle, with all that entails, to get the job done.
Once Congress has fulfilled the oft-repeated campaign promise that Israel’s security is sacrosanct by ensuring Jerusalem has the capability to defend herself from the Iranian-backed terrorists in the Middle East, Congress should then turn to legislation ensuring American taxpayers aren’t subsidizing the terrorists’ allies in the BDS movement here at home. That means advancing, without delay, the Countering Hate Against Israel by Federal Contractors Act.
Congress and President Biden must understand that every day wasted by petty politics and weakness is a day that Israel is further in peril and Iranian backed forces from Gaza to Lebanon to Yemen are able to advance their genocidal ambitions without fear.
Our message to you, Israel’s preeminent allies in this fight, is simple: Thank you for your continued to support, particularly since the world-changing events of October 7th. The CUFI Action Fund was created for such a time as this, and as we redouble our efforts in the New Year, we would only ask that you consider furthering your support for our work together in both words and deeds. For Zion’s sake we will not be silent and we know, neither will you.
Sincerely,
The CUFI Action Fund Team
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