This week's Action Update is being written just hours after CUFI's
founder and Chairman Pastor John Hagee, the CUFI Action Fund's
Chairwoman Sandra Parker, and several other CUFI staff were at the White
House witnessing leaders fromIsrael, the United Arab Emirates and
Bahrain signing peace agreements. History is being made, and we're in
the midst of it.

A Brave New World

Arabs and Israelis are signing peace agreements which are not
precipitated by war, but rather motivated by a desire to see peace and
prosperity sweep across the Middle East. Arab leaders interested in
moving their countries forward have accepted that Israel is not only
here to stay, but relations with the Jewish state present significant
economic opportunities and an important xxxxxx against Iran's
regional threat.

This is not just the future but it is now the present. And despite our
elation at seeing the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael come together in
harmony, there remain those who would rather see the Jewish state
destroyed than see the Arab world prosper. Some of those people are
terrorists or their sponsors. Others subscribe to the BDS movement. And
still others sit in the leadership of the Palestinian Authority or once
allies such as Turkey. They have all underestimated both Arabian
pragmatism and Israeli optimism. And unless they change quickly and
dramatically, they will be relegated to ash heap of history.

Pastor Hagee had this to say following the ceremony, "The historic
agreements signed today show that peace is on the march and the
so-called Arab- Israeli conflict is increasingly an anachronism. Israel
is strong and flourishing, and the Arab world is coming to see the
Jewish state not as a foe, but as an ally against Iran and a partner for
peace and prosperity. It is my sincere hope and prayer that other Arab
nations will follow the UAE and Bahrain's lead and that the
Palestinian leadership in particular will accept that peace with Israel
is the only path forward."

Peace Through Strength

At the CUFI Action Fund we advocate in support of positions that
strengthen the Jewish state, enabling it to survive and thrive. As a
result of the position in which Jerusalem presently finds itself, Arab
leaders are normalizing relations with Israel. Peace and stability will
continue to progress in the Middle East only if our leaders in
Washington - from both parties - recognize that Israel is always
willing to make peace with partners who want the same, and the key to
moving that ball down the field is a strong and prosperous Jewish state.

As Parker noted after the ceremony, "The dramatic and historic shift in
the Middle East has been made possible by strong American leadership and
longstanding bipartisan support for Israel. I hope these momentous
agreements serve as a reminder to our elected officials that Israel's
foremost foreign policy priority is living in peace with its neighbors."

Back to the Future

As the rest of us were looking forward, unfortunately, Vice President
Biden penned an op-ed that showed his policy towards Iran would be a
throwback to the past. Neither the Action Fund nor CUFI advocate for one
candidate or the other in 2020. We are nonpartisan entities that focus
on policy - not politicians. And just as we have been very open about
our concerns with current policy towards Turkey or unconditional support
for the Lebanese Armed Forces, we will make our position known on Iran
as well.

The Vice President's stated approach to Iran would once again bring us
back to a situation where Tehran's nuclear program would be
legitimized, its malign activities financed, and the regional
breakthroughs we see before us challenged. Surely, Iran's continued
nuclear violations or discoveries such as the nuclear archive would give
anyone pause about Iran's true intentions.

In 2018, Secretary of State Pompeo laid out 12 requirements to which
Iran would have to agree (and implement) in order to have a new nuclear
deal. These requirements, such as providing the International Atomic
Energy Agency unrestricted access to all Iranian nuclear sites and end
the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' support for terror, are so
basic that we would ask any administration that sits down with the
Islamic Republic, which of them is a bridge too far? Is it coming clean
about its past illicit nuclear activities? Is it ending support for
Hezbollah? We must deal with the regime in Tehran as they are, not as
some want to imagine them to be.

The Vice President's op-ed is sadly, rife with intellectual
acrobatics. We can't list them all, but to name a couple:

* "At the United Nations, Trump could not rally a single one of
America's closest allies to extend the UN arms embargo on Iran."

It was President Obama's Iran nuclear deal and the accompanying UN
security council resolution that created the sunset of the arms embargo
to begin with. This was a feature, not a bug of the failed 2015
agreement. One can argue that more needs to be done to extend the
embargo, but not if you played a central role in its lifting.

* "[President Trump] ignored our closest allies and walked away --
alone, without a plan -- from a deal that put the world's eyes and ears
inside Iran's nuclear program and was verifiably blocking Iran's
pathways to a nuclear weapon."

If we are going to talk about ignoring allies, the Prime Minister of
Israel went before a joint session of Congress and pleaded with the
Obama administration not to make a bad deal. And several Arab nations,
including the Saudisand UAE, likewise made clear that the Iran nuclear
deal would be a disaster. Furthermore, it has been crystal clear that we
did not get a complete understanding of the military dimensions of
Iran's nuclear program and IAEA inspectors have been repeatedly denied
access to key sites for. So even the best elements of the 2015 deal
never lived up to the promises made.  

Obviously, we could go on. But suffice it to say that the Vice
President's op-ed lays out a vision that will lead to more nuclear
proliferation across the Middle East
,
not less. Similarly, the Trump administration should continue on its
path of maximum pressure, guided by the 12 demands Secretary Pompeo has
laid out.  

In the meantime, we'll keep standing up for a strong US-Israel
relationship and advocating for policies that combat anti-Semitism and
curtail the malign influence of bad actors like Iran. And we'll be
able to do that because people like you have taken the time to learn
about these issues and support our efforts.

Sincerely,

CUFI Action Fund Team

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