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We've no doubt that even casual observers of the Middle East are aware
that Israel is currently battling, yet again, against the Palestinian
terrorist forces Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. As the terrorists
hide behind innocent Palestinians, they have unleashed a hailstorm of
rockets at Israeli civilians. Hamas and its ilk are war criminals, they
are evil and they are cowards. In today's Action Update, we'll
discuss how we got here, why we got here, and what we can expect in the
coming days.

How We Got Here: Weakness

As a forthcoming op-ed in Newsweek from CUFI founder and Chairman Pastor
John Hagee notes, Hamas started launching rockets at Israel about five
weeks after the US announced that it would be restoring aid to the
Palestinians and their allies at UNRWA and would be re-opening
negotiations with Iran.

Rather than interpreting Biden's actions as an intentional effort to
extend a hand to American and Israeli adversaries, Hamas (and for that
matter its Iranian backers) interpreted Biden's actions as a display
of weakness. We got here because Hamas felt it could get away with
attacking Israel because very rapidly America's enemies no longer
feared American diplomatic might.

Why We Got Here: Lust for Power

Hamas and its enablers in the west will tell you that this all started
with a housing dispute in east Jerusalem. It didn't. In fact, an east
Jerusalem based Palestinian human rights activist penned an op-ed
clearly stating that such wasn't the case and explaining why Hamas
really started this conflict. Eid's piece does not equivocate. The
title of the op-ed is "This has nothing to with Sheikh Jarah,"
(Sheik Jarah is the name of the neighborhood in which the housing
dispute is taking place).

Eid goes onto to say, "As a Palestinian living in Jerusalem, I am
frustrated and angry - and I can only blame Hamas."

And he concludes quite directly, "This dispute is not actually about
four houses in East Jerusalem. This is about Hamas seeing a chance to
seize the narrative and increase its own influence and control over
Palestinians in Jerusalem."

In short, Hamas started a war with Israel because they thought it would
make them more popular amongst east Jerusalem Palestinians. They're
likely wrong about that, but for them it was worth the risk, after all,
the only cost has been a thousand few rockets and the lives of innocent
Palestinians and Israelis - none of which matters to Hamas.

Where Are We Headed?

Israel will not allow Hamas to rain rockets down on Israeli cities and
towns. They have and will continue to respond to this terrorist menace
until a significant blow has been delivered to Hamas and its allies. The
Europeans as well as anti-Israel activists and elected officials in the
US will try to force a cease fire before Hamas's military
infrastructure is effectively felled. But thus far, the Biden
administration has resisted efforts by the international community to
cover Hamas's diplomatic flank. While we feel we wouldn't be here
without certain missteps by the administration, we credit President
Biden for holding the diplomatic line at this moment (though we
recognize this could change without warning). We also welcome the
administration's decision to resist far-left attempts to deny Israel
the munitions it requires to fight the terrorists.

No one can definitively say how this current conflict ends. But with
absolute certainty we can say that the Jewish people have endured worse
and not just survived but thrived. The wannabe revolutionaries who
attack Israel on social media, participate in a poorly attended rally,
and then go to Starbucks to celebrate the two hours they just spent
shouting anti-Israel invective will not destroy Israel. The terrorists
who hide in civilian populations so they can go out and fire rockets at
Israel to terrorize innocent people won't destroy the Jewish state
either. The children of Israel have survived Pharaoh, Haman and Hitler.
They'll survive Hamas as well.

Sincerely,

CUFI Action Fund Team

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