On Sunday, Iran’s President, Foreign Minister, and other regime officials came to an abrupt stop on the side of a mountain, which resulted in their deaths.  On Monday, prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) requested warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders. On Tuesday, a poll was released showing that the American people stand with Israel by a wide margin. Let’s dig in.

Fog & Mountains

No, there is no suggestion it was an act of man that led to a (half-century-old) Iranian Air Force Bell 212 helicopter - carrying the country’s President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s Foreign Minister, and others - crashing in Iran’s Eastern Azerbaijan Province.

It’s also worth noting that no, there is no suggestion that this sudden change in “leadership” will result in a change in Iranian policy. As the Supreme Leader of Iran is indeed the supreme leader of the country, Tehran’s policies towards its own people, Israel, and the world at large will remain horrific.

This said, Raisi, also commonly referred to as the Butcher of Tehran, was on the foreign policy experts’ short list of those who might succeed the Ayatollah; his death is not without geo-political consequence. It is now thought that the Supreme Leader’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei is in the pole position to take over when the time comes for succession. Make of that what you will.

While some nations, including, disturbingly, our own, expressed condolences, these individuals had the blood of innocent Iranians, Israelis, and many others on their hands. Both Raisi and the late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were involved in some of the most brutal domestic crackdowns in Iran’s history as well as the regime's terrorist activities around the globe.

What comes next? Iran’s First Vice President, Mohammad Mokhber is taking over Iran’s Presidential duties until elections can be held in two months. Mokhber is a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Medical Officer and a key figure in the Supreme Leader's industrial-scale corruption scheme.  

Among other similar endeavors, Mokhber oversaw the “Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order” which confiscated property of those deemed enemies of the state after the Islamic Revolution.  He is currently sanctioned by the U.S. for corruption and has been involved in deepening Russian-Iranian ties, including weapons transfers, in the context of the Ukraine war.

Chutzpah  (/ˈho͝otspə,ˈKHo͝otspə/ Yiddish/Hebrew, meaning extreme self-confidence or audacity)

ICC prosecutors have asked the international court to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as well as Hamas terrorist masterminds Yahya Sinwar, Mohamed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh.

Really? The ICC thinks that placing Netanyahu and Gallant on the same list as the orchestrators of a mass rape and extermination campaign is a commentary on the Israeli PM? Apologies for the repetition but… really?

Pardon the cliché but we’re not that stupid. This says a great deal about the ICC prosecutor's office and absolutely nothing about Israel or its leaders.

The ICC prosecutor's warrant request is an act of moral cowardice; we’ll see if the judges can fix this shameful and transparent shortcoming. This said, we’ve no plans to hold our breath. And neither do certain Members of Congress.

Having seen something like this coming months ago, Senators Cotton, Cruz and Rubio introduced legislation that would “sanction and revoke the visas of any ICC employee or associate that is involved in investigating, prosecuting, or assisting in the investigation or prosecution of current or former U.S. soldiers or officials or the current or former officials or troops of any ally of the United States which does not recognize the authority of the ICC.” [emphasis added, this would include Israel]

CUFI strongly supports this legislation.

Propaganda & Polling

For months we’ve been hearing that Israel is losing the next generation of Americans. Likewise, for years we’ve been seeing (consistently flawed) polling claiming the next generation of Christians won’t stand with Israel; doom and gloom are always on the horizon for the U.S.–Israel relationship it seems.

But something doesn’t add up. We definitely covered a poll a few weeks back showing that Americans backed Israel over Hamas by a 5:1 margin. So, what do the American people, by and large, think?

According to a recent Harvard-Harris poll (yup Harvard, not a bastion of pro-Israel sentiment), Americans hold favorable views of Israel by a margin of 53 to 26 percent. The pro-Hamas campus protestors are viewed favorably by only 25% of Americans, with 57% of our neighbors viewing the quad colonists unfavorably.

Finally, Hamas has a 14% approval and 65% disapproval rating among Americans. Sure, that’s a nice gap. But it also means that 14% of our neighbors support an evil, genocidal terrorist organization whose barbaric tactics include sexual torture and child murder. 

We have work to do. It starts with CUFI’s education of the grassroots and each year it culminates in the annual CUFI Washington Summit. We’ll be in our nation's capital on July 28-30. It’ll be the most important Summit we’ve ever held. We hope you’ll lend of your time resources so that our leaders might hear your voice.

Sincerely,

The CUFI Action Fund