Things are beginning to slowly return to normal in Washington, and as a
result, elected officials and their staffs have had the breathing room
to focus on items other than the novel coronavirus pandemic. In this
week's Action Update, we take a brief look at the status of three
policy items the Action Fund is supporting.

US-Israel Efforts to Combat COVID-19

Even casual observers of Israel know that the "start-up nation" is a
hub of innovation, in particular in the medical field. From coming up
with a method for developing ventilators that does not require factory
production to developing a COVID-19 test that delivers results in a
minute and is 90 percent accurate, the Israelis have come a long way in
a short time in their efforts to help the world fight the pandemic.

That is why we are supporting the common sense, bipartisan legislation
introduced by Senators Coons and Cruz that would authorize $12 million
to fund joint US-Israel efforts to combat the pandemic. We agree
wholeheartedly with Sen. Cruz's statement that, "Israel is not only
our friend and ally, but also a global leader in medicine with which we
already cooperate on exactly those issues."

US-Israel Security Assistance Act

In last week's update, we discussed the importance of the US security
support for Israel, and noted that the

**US-Israel Security Assistance Act** enjoys widespread bipartisan
support. This week we are pleased to note that the legislation has been
marked up by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and that in its
current form, the legislation now includes the aforementioned
authorization for joint US-Israel efforts to combat COVID-19.

We look forward to the Senate's swift passage of this bill and are
confident that upon it being returned to the House (the bill passed the
House previously but will require final passage with the updated
language), this legislation will move forward.

US-Israel Military Capability Act

Last week, Senators Cotton and Peters introduced legislation that will
"require the Department of Defense to establish a working group with
their counterparts in the Israeli government to collaborate on the
research and development of technology used for national defense."

The CUFI Action Fund supports this legislation and concurs with Sen.
Peters' assessment that, "As an ally, Israel has both a thriving
defense innovation base and extensive real-world experience against
modern security threats."

As the threats in the region continue to rise, this type of cooperation
is vital to US and Israeli national security. And one of the key threats
upon which we need to remain focused is Iran. We are ever mindful that
the international arms embargo against the Islamic Republic expires in
October. As Action Fund Director of Public Policy and Strategy Boris
Zilberman noted in a recent op-ed
,
"Mitigating the risk of arms moving to and from Iran freely and
regularly requires US policymakers to mobilize now with greater urgency
and action."

The CUFI Virtual Summit is just one month away. We're monitoring these
three pieces of legislation, as well as other policy items and
developments, as we hone in on exactly what we'll be lobbying on
during the Summit. On June 30th, CUFI members will receive an Action
Alert enabling them to lobby their elected officials via email and
social media. Please keep an eye out for this alert, and if you
haven't already, please sign up

to participate in the 2020 CUFI Washington Virtual Summit. We may not
all be together in person, but our united voice will be heard.

Sincerely,CUFI Action Fund Team

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