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Nearly 150 days into the war in Gaza, Congress has yet to advance
emergency military assistance for Israel. We are rapidly approaching the
moment where Congressional inaction coupled with the Biden
administration's election season pressure campaign will make our
elected officials handmaidens to atrocities. In this week's edition of
the Action Update, we'll discuss the latest on the aid and Israel's
rapidly heating up northern border. But first, the Palestinian Authority
is playing musical chairs again, so we'll start there.

**The PA: Two Decades of Terror**

In a couple of months, the Palestinian Authority will turn 20. In that
time, the PA had numerous reshufflings, and this week we got to witness
yet another. On Monday, the Prime Minister and the entire Palestinian
Government resigned - save, of course, its current President, Mahmoud
Abbas.

In fact, the person in charge of the PA, has only changed once: with the
death of terrorist and PA founder Yasser Arafat in 2005. Since then,
Abbas has ruled the PA from his $13 million mansion, and he will
continue to do so, no matter which of the many pro-terror Palestinian
politicians holds office in the PA's Government.

In his resignation letter, soon-to-be former Palestinian Prime Minister
Mohammad Shtayyeh called for a Palestinian unity government, which would
of course include Hamas.

The PA actively supports terror, and while they hide their religious
zeal better than Hamas, they do share the same tactics (terror) and
goals (destruction of Israel). It's no surprise then, that Abbas (and
he's the one calling the shots) is rearranging his politburo. It's
also completely irrelevant to what will happen in Gaza after the war.
There will be no Hamas, and there will be no pro-terror PA running the
Gaza Strip.

The Biden Administration's effort to "revitalize" what is
essentially a morbid bound terrorist bureaucracy is destined to fail
when a new round of musical chairs plays the same old "death to
Israel" soundtrack. 

**Hezbollah's Dangerous Game**

As the war continues in Gaza, Hezbollah has been playing an ever more
perilous and increasingly high-stakes game of trying to distract and
weaken Israel, while avoiding a full-scale war.

Here's how it works: Hezbollah threatens Israel from the north and
engages in limited rocket and missile attacks. Israel responds
vigorously. Hezbollah then launches a slightly more deadly attack, and
Israel responds. Rinse, repeat.

The problem is this isn't a game. People are dying and tens of
thousands of Israelis have been forced to flee their homes in the north
with no end in sight - an unsustainable situation. Nonetheless,
Hezbollah doesn't want the war. If they did, they'd start it. But
they can't be left out of the terrorists' collective war with
Israel, and they want to help Hamas kill Jews.

Hezbollah's actions help Hamas both militarily and at the negotiating
table. Militarily, Israel has been forced to devote significant
resources to its northern border to respond and defend against Hezbollah
rocket fire as well as be prepared to counter any potential Hezbollah
invasion.

Anytime a small nation's military capabilities are spread out, this
weakens its negotiating position. Ultimately, one's ability to bargain
successfully with the enemy rests on one's military might. Part of
that equation is support from allies in time of military conflict, and
that, our dear readers, is on all of us and our elected leaders to get
the job done.

Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis are employing a shrewd (and most
assuredly Iranian) strategy, aimed at preserving Hamas's existence as
a functioning terrorist organization.

**Fiddling Handmaidens**

The regional crisis we are witnessing has been enabled and compounded by
years of inconsistent and, at times, absurd foreign policies from
successive American administrations.

We've had presidents who stood up to Iran, and those who've
attempted the Chamberlain path.  We've even seen significant policy
shifts within administrations. But through it all, we at least had a
functioning Congress. No, things were far from perfect. Politics and
trampling on the Constitution is what enabled President Obama, for
example, to avoid submitting the Iran nuclear deal for Senate
ratification as the Founders envisioned - but we digress.

The current Congressional dysfunction, partisanship, and acrimony are
unprecedented in modern American history. The consequence is that Israel
does not have the support she needs at her darkest moment in a
half-century. Congressional inaction on the emergency supplemental is
having a direct, negative, and tangible impact on the soldiers in the
field.

Today's reality, therefore, is stark: Tehran is plotting, Israelis are
dying, and all the while, Congress is fiddling.

Sincerely,

The CUFI Action Fund Team

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CUFI Action Fund, 2000 Duke Street, Suite 300, Alexandria, VA 22314, United States