In this week’s edition of the Action Update, we tackle two very different and yet integrally related events: the firebombing of a Mississippi synagogue and the anti-regime protests in Iran. Let’s get into it.

Mississippi Burning

On September 18, 1967, the Ku Klux Klan bombed Temple Beth El in Jackson, Mississippi, but the community did not disappear. They rebuilt.

Nearly sixty years later, 19-year-old Stephen Spencer Pittman set fire to the synagogue, admitting to federal investigators that he targeted the house of worship for its “Jewish ties.”

This is an act of terrorism. It is a crime driven by an intense, irrational and sinful hatred of the Jewish people. Nonetheless, the Jewish community of Jackson will rebuild as they have before. But unlike in 1967, they have already seen their brothers and sisters in the Christian faith come stand beside them in droves and offer solidarity.

We must confront the violent Jew-hatred that exists within our society.

As you know, at the Action Fund we focus on policy, and this latest terrorist attack against our Jewish neighbors is yet another heavy reminder that Congress needs to pass a clean version of the Antisemitism Awareness Act without delay. And while they’re at it, they ought to fully fund FEMA’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program which provides funds to secure houses of worship.

So, one may be inclined to ask, how does an antisemitic terrorist attack on a synagogue in the Deep South relate to anti-regime protests in Iran? Simple: the regime and the arsonist (and the KKK before them) are all cut from the exact same cloth (just different sections).

Across Iran, the people are saying no to extremism and hatred. They are forced to protest in the streets because their government is the source of that violence and hatred. Ours, presently, is not (and so long as the Tucker Carlson’s and AOC’s are kept from power, that will remain).

We support the Jewish community of Jackson; we condemn the arsonist and any who share his hatred. We support the protestors; we condemn the regime and all who enable their violence.

Protests in Every Province

There has been an internet blackout in the Islamic Republic for nearly a week, but some people are able to make phone calls. As such, we can say that reports indicate several; thousand protestors have been killed, with thousands more injured and/or arrested.

The regime’s barbarians in uniform have effectively been given license to kill whom they see fit, using live ammunition on unarmed protestors; they’ve promised no leniency on those who stand up to the regime.

This level of brutality indicates that the mullahs are not only afraid of their people, but maybe in their last throws.

Likewise, Tehran’s statements directed at the international audience also betray their panic. First, they offered to engage in nuclear negotiations with the U.S. Now Iran’s Foreign Minister says they’re ready for war.

For his part, President Trump seems to rightly have assessed the regime’s present weakness and the historic opportunity that is before him.  The President has cut off all negotiations with the regime and has told the protestors “help is on its way.”

What that means in practice and what the future holds, we cannot say. But we can say, with confidence, that if the regime falls, you, the CUFI Action Fund supporter, had a hand in it. For years we have successfully lobbied the U.S. government to ratchet up sanctions on the regime, and lest anyone forget: these protests started over economic concerns.

Regime change through domestic revolution via international diplomatic and economic pressure has been CUFI’s policy from the get-go. God willing, we will see the fruits of that effort in the coming days/weeks/months. And, moreover, we are going to apply the same regime-change level efforts to all those who seek Israel’s destruction.

So, on the (very, very) off chance you’re reading this in Doha or Ankara – look at Tehran, that’s the future for Islamist regimes who seek to undermine the West.

Sincerely,

The CUFI Action Fund