Over the past week, we've seen a whirlwind of activity both in
Washington and Israel. These events remind us of the vital importance of
ensuring our voice is heard loud and clear in our nation's capital.

Hezbollah Attack

On Monday morning, the Israeli military announced that it had repelled
an attack by Hezbollah. A group of terrorists attempted to infiltrate
Israel along the Lebanese-Israeli border in the Shebaa Farms area but
were rapidly engaged by the IDF and pushed back into Lebanon. Since the
attempt, Israel has been on high alert, increasing intelligence and
other military assets in area anticipating possible additional attacks
by the terrorist-army.

In a Monday press briefing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
noted, "Hezbollah and Lebanon bear full responsibility for this
incident and for any attack that comes out of Lebanese territory against
Israel."

At the same briefing, Israel's Defense Minister Benjamin Gantz said,
"Anyone who dares to test the power of the IDF will endanger himself
and the country from which he operates."

Congressional Failure on Lebanon

Beirut and Washington should heed Netanyahu's message. It's less
likely this attack would have been possible but for the utter failure of
the US-backed Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to reign in Hezbollah and
exercise control over their territory. Unfortunately, the LAF seems
content to enable Hezbollah, and certain powers in the US government
seem content with the status quo.

Entrenched parties in the Departments of State and Defense, as well as
their allies in Congress, have continuously thwarted efforts to
condition even a portion of US aid to the LAF on the Lebanese military
taking steps to counter Hezbollah. Just this past week we saw multiple
efforts to hold the LAF accountable, including amendments to the
State-Foreign Operations Appropriations bill and one standalone piece of
legislation, killed or gutted by House leadership.

Congressional Victories on Multiple Fronts

Despite this continued battle, we were pleased to see significant
movement on all three pieces of legislation CUFI lobbied in support of
during the 2020 Summit. Both chambers of Congress have passed the

**National Defense Authorization Act**(NDAA), and while the House and
Senate versions are different, each has elements we support.

Of particular note is the inclusion of the

**US-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act** and the

**US-Israel Military Capability Act** in the Senate version of the bill.
The Action Fund has already gotten to work ensuring that all the
pro-Israel provisions in both the House and Senate versions of the NDAA
are included in the final bill after it works its way through the
conference committee process.

Finally, this past week we also saw the movement on the

**Fiscal Year 2021**

**State-Foreign Operations Bill**. This legislation passed the House and
included $3.3 billion of military assistance for Israel. We look forward
to this legislation moving forward through the Senate in September, and
are confident that the bill, including unconditional military aid to
Israel, will land on the President's desk in the fall.

Despite a deeply divided Washington, the Action Fund has seen victories
on multiple fronts, and far more rapidly than what has become standard
in our often-gridlocked capital. While we are of course pleased with the
progress we've made, there is much work to be done. And America's
Christian Zionists can rest assured, we'll rise to tomorrow's
challenges just as we have at every other turn.

Sincerely,CUFI Action Fund Team

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CUFI Action Fund, 300 Independence Ave SE, Washington, DC 20003, United States