An Update from CUFI Action Fund
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In this week's Action Update we devote some time to a topic we've
not discussed in a while: Lebanon. And we also return to our on
again/off again effort to end on some good news. But no matter the
subject, the topics this week are of significant importance to anyone
who values the US-Israel relationship - regardless of how much (or how
little) you might see these issues covered in the mainstream press.

A Failed State?

Lebanon is continuing its downward spiral. Throughout its troubled
history, the country has been ravaged by sectarian differences,
conflict, government mismanagement, and, of course, having a terrorist
army - Hezbollah - controlling much of the country.

Lebanon's economy and its government are in shambles, and that has
been the case for well over a year. Fuel shortages, hyperinflation, and
an exodus of many of those with the means to get out, have left Lebanon
teetering on the brink of being a failed state. The last thing the
country needs right now is for Hezbollah to pick a fight with Israel.
But that's exactly what the terrorist group tried to do recently when
it fired 19 rockets at the Jewish state. Hezbollah hopes attacks will
get the people of Lebanon to forget their sad state of affairs and rally
around the militants. Hezbollah, and its patrons in Tehran are
miscalculating.

Even Lebanon's Maronite patriarch - no friend to Israel - has
called for "the Lebanese army to prevent the launching of missiles."
He also called for the Lebanese army to extricate Hezbollah from the
country's south and end the terrorist group's stranglehold over the
beleaguered country. Now, don't get too excited; he did note that his
position is based on Lebanon's interests, and not for Israel's sake,
but regardless of why, everyone - save Hezbollah and Iran - seems to
agree that the terrorists need to go.

Well... Sort of....

The US has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the
Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) over the years. And many Members of Congress
and the White House view the current situation in Lebanon as further
evidence that more money should flow to Beirut. Trouble is, isn't that
the very definition of throwing good money after bad? The entire point
of aid to the LAF should be to stop Hezbollah, yet the army has failed
to do so, and in fact the LAF has become increasingly infiltrated by
Hezbollah year-after-year. It shouldn't then surprise anyone that the
LAF released a Hezbollah member who was caught firing rockets in the
latest attacks against Israel.

The Biden administration's approach to the situation in Lebanon,
including the ineffective LAF, is to maintain the exact same policies
and release the same tired old obligatory statements that have gotten us
to the present condition. Case in point, check out the State
Department's statement following the recent rocket attacks against
Israel:

The United States condemns in the strongest terms Hizballah's rocket
attacks into Israel. This violence puts Israelis and Lebanese at risk
and jeopardizes Lebanon's stability and sovereignty.  The United
States remains engaged with Israeli and Lebanese officials, as well as
the Lebanese Armed Forces. We call upon the Lebanese government urgently
to prevent such attacks and bring the area under its control. We also
urge the Lebanese government to facilitate full access for UNIFIL
peacekeepers in accordance with UNSCR 1701. We strongly encourage all
efforts to maintain calm.

Really? "Condemns in the strongest terms... call upon the Lebanese
government... remains engaged... strongly encourage..." A more
vacuous, perfunctory statement could not have been written.

Would anyone like to know how Hezbollah reads this statement? Here's a
hint: They don't. They do not care about paragraph long condemnations
and calls for calm. They're terrorists. Unless and until Washington
- and frankly both sides of the aisle share blame on this one -
decides to tie benchmarks for gains against Hezbollah to American
taxpayer largess, nothing is going to change in Lebanon, and the people
of that country, as well as their Israeli neighbors to the south, will
continue to suffer. Afterall, the status quo has been US policy for
close to two decades and what have we to show for it? The Lebanese
people and American taxpayers certainly don't have much.

Iron Dome to Get Replenished

The Biden administration has now on multiple occasions announced their
support for replenishing the Israel's Iron Dome interceptors following
the recent war with Hamas. Iron Dome saves countless lives. And while
we'd love to live in a world where Israel doesn't need to deploy
such a system because the genocidal ambitions of Hamas and Hezbollah
have been relegated to the history books, that's not the case. The
ball is now in Congress's court to fund this request and we urge
Senate and House leaders to do so expeditiously.

The more effective Iron Dome is, the more innocent people survive
terrorist rocket barrages and the less likely a wider conflict erupts in
the region. For the Middle East, that's good news and we welcome the
Biden administration's continued support for these funds.

As always, we're grateful for your taking the time to stay up to date
about these issues. They don't always make it into the headlines of
the mainstream press, but they are important, and by continuing to stay
informed about these issues, you will be the strongest of pro-Israel
advocates.

Sincerely,

CUFI Action Fund Team

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