In this week’s Action Update, we discuss a mass murderer being elected to public office, renewed bipartisan efforts to combat the movement to Boycott, Divest from and Sanction (BDS) Israel, and highlight op-eds recently published by CUFI leadership and Action Fund staff.
Meet the New Tyrant
Iran’s elections could never be described as free, fair or democratic. Nonetheless, while ultimate power in the Islamic Republic lies with its Supreme Leader, the President does have some power. As such, Iran’s election do have consequences. And perhaps most importantly, they signal the direction the regime is headed.
Enter Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s new President-elect. He’s held various positions within Iran’s government, including most recently as Chief Justice of Iran’s judicial system. But he really came into his own back in 1988 when he was one of just four members of Iran’s appropriately nicknamed “death committee,” which oversaw the murder of thousands of Iranian political prisoners in a purge of sorts. It should come as no surprise then that Raisi is accused of crimes against humanity and is currently sanctioned by the US government.
In sum, Iran’s highest elected official is
a mass murderer.
Forgive us our simplistic worldview, but we think this may be a good moment to reconsider the let’s make a deal with Iran at any cost approach to engaging with the Islamic Republic that currently seems to be the prevailing school of thought inside the Biden administration.
Few seem to have the courage to say it out loud, but we have this nasty habit of speaking the truth: The only road that a responsible leader of the free world can take with Iran is one the ultimately ends with a fundamental change in the regime. And as challenging as that may seem, we did win the Cold War without engaging in a World War. So its possible. Smart strong diplomacy can succeed. And that’s the only option when the guy sitting across the table got his start in politics by slaughtering a few thousand of his fellow citizens.
Bipartisanship Rides Again (Maybe)
This past week, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W Va.) reintroduced the Combatting BDS Act. This legislation “would increase protections for state and local governments in America that divest from, prohibit investment in, or otherwise restrict contracting with firms that knowingly engage in commerce-related or investment-related BDS activity attacking Israel…”
The CUFI Action Fund wholeheartedly welcomes this legislation as we have continued to advance anti-BDS legislation across the country. As regular readers will recall, CUFI-backed anti-BDS bills advanced this year in West Virginia, Idaho and Utah. This brings the total number of such bills to 33.
It doesn’t take a professional political operative to recognize that the Combatting BDS Act has the votes in both the House and Senate to pass. The only real question is will Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Schumer have the courage to ignore the anti-Israel voices in the Democratic Caucus and allow the bill an up-or-down vote.
Thought Leadership
Over the past few days, CUFI and the Action Fund have seen a number of op-ed’ s published in various newspapers.
Perhaps the most widely read of the pieces was an op-ed jointly authored by CUFI founder and Chairman Pastor John Hagee and former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley. The two discuss their
recent trip to Israel noting, “Our trip is a small sign of the steadfast support that Israel can count on – support that is grounded in faith, common sense and common ground. Israelis and Americans share the same values and the same vision of peace and prosperity in the Middle East and beyond. On that foundation, we will continue to build.”
Over at Haaretz, the CUFI Action Fund’s Boris Zilberman authored a piece highlighting not just the importance of the Abraham Accords in the abstract, but showing how the recent conflict between Hamas and Israel exemplifies the tangible importance of this agreement.
Finally, CUFI Board Member Pastor Scott Thomas authored a strong piece for the Times of Israel highlighting the UN’s anti-Israel bias in the context of the aforementioned Hamas-Israel conflict and calling upon world powers to take action against this internationally institutionalized antisemitism.
From Iran doubling down on its
evil foreign policy and Hamas continuing to launch firebombs into the Jewish state to the Biden administration’s hit and miss strategy for contending with the Middle East, there’s a lot we’re focused on both at home and abroad. But needless to say, come what may, because of your support, we’ll be there on the frontlines of the policy and public relations battle to ensure the voices of the millions of Christian Zionists across this country are heard.
Sincerely,
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