An Update from CUFI Action Fund
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All of the events taking place on the world's stage that we plan to
discuss this week impact each other, and in order to appreciate them one
must take a holistic view of national security and foreign policy. As
such, in this week's Action Update we'll go around the world, from
Jerusalem to Washington and from Kabul to Tehran.

PM Bennett Heads to Washington

Israel's new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is headed to Washington
this week to meet with President Biden. According to reports, the main
focus of the conversation will be on Iran. Bennett will go beyond simply
criticizing the current American efforts. A statesman that by all
accounts seeks to ensure a strong US-Israel relationship, Bennett has
said he will discuss with Biden, "an orderly plan that we have
formulated in the past two months to curb the Iranians, both in the
nuclear sphere and vis-à-vis regional aggression."

Bennett's approach is not dissimilar from that of many in the foreign
policy arena who feel that one cannot compartmentalize the nuclear
issue, nor allow the current stall in negotiations to continue allowing
Iran to develop nuclear capabilities. Iran is a human rights abuser,
spreads misery, death and destruction wherever it engages, and remains
the world's leading sponsor of terror.

Tehran and the Taliban

Given the above, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Iran's war
criminal turned President, Ebrahim Raisi, welcomed the US "defeat"
in Afghanistan, and that the Iranians have been engaging with the Talban
since well before that tyrannical terrorist-army overran Kabul.

The consequences of the Afghanistan debacle are many. CUFI Action Fund
Director of Public Policy and Strategy Boris Zilberman captured the
issue succinctly in a recent Fox News interview when he noted, "what
happens in Afghanistan does not stay in Afghanistan."

Afghanistan will now once again become a safe haven for terrorists like
al-Qaeda. In addition, other bad actors in the region will be
emboldened. In fact, we're already seeing the ripple effects of the
Taliban takeover spill onto Israel's doorstep.

Hamas and Hezbollah

On Israel's northern border the terrorist army Hezbollah lies in wait.
Always enhancing their capabilities and always ready to do the bidding
of their patrons in Iran. Their latest move, coming shortly after the
disaster in Afghanistan, is to import Iranian oil into Lebanon. This is
not only an effort to generate support amongst the Lebanese people -
beleaguered by their corrupt and incompetent leaders in Beirut - but
is also an effort to thumb their nose at American efforts to hamper
Iran's ability to translate oil into influence. And it's not a
coincidence that this move comes at this moment in time.

Likewise, Hamas, who has also unsurprisingly welcomed the Taliban's
success in Afghanistan, recently stepped up efforts to test and attack
Israel. There have been significant clashes in recent days along the
Gaza Israel border. In one incident, a 21-year-old Border Police Officer
named Barel Hadaria Shmueli, was shot in the head at point blank range.
He survived and is currently in serious condition, "unconscious and
connected to a ventilator," according to the hospital at which he is
being treated. In addition to the clashes, arson balloons are once again
being deployed by Hamas to scorch the Israeli earth near Gaza.

We hope and pray for the Border Guardsman's full recovery. And we wish
Prime Minister Bennett well in his visit to the United States.

From a policy perspective, the US cannot continue to engage in business
as usual. From Afghanistan to Lebanon to Israel, real people are having
their lives forever changed, and at times even lost, due in part to an
American foreign policy approach that seems to never learn the lessons
of history.

The time has long since passed for the Biden Administration to reject
the bumper sticker politics and tired old opinions of so-called
"experts," all of which got us to the difficult point where we
presently find ourselves.

It's time to wake up to reality. And thus it is our hope that
President Biden listens to the former special forces warrior turned
elected official coming from Jerusalem to Washington this week. Bennett
knows the importance of strength, the cost of war, and the consequences
of weakness. His words and warnings should be heeded.

Sincerely,

CUFI Action Fund Team

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