An Update from CUFI Action Fund
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This past week, we saw some important pro-Israel policies advance in
Congress, learned through press reports that both the White House and
Downing Street may finally be seeing the Iranian regime for who they
are, and heard more bluster from the Islamic Republic's tyrannical
leaders. A jam-packed week for sure, so let's dive right in.

Congress Gets it Right

Following the House advancing the National Defense Authorization Act
(NDAA) last week and the Senate doing the same this week, the yearly
defense policy bill is on its way to the President's desk. It includes
several key elements of interest to those who support a robust US-Israel
relationship.

Included in the NDAA is

**The US-Israel Cybersecurity Cooperation Enhancement Act**. As some of
you may recall, this is one of three Christians United for Israel
National Summit legislative priorities. The legislation turned provision
of the NDAA authorizes yearly grant funds of at least $6 million dollars
to enhance cooperation between Israel and the US to combat the growing
threat of cyber aggression.

Elsewhere in the NDAA, funds were authorized to support cooperation
between Jerusalem and Washington on Israel's missile defense systems
and the creation of an interparliamentary group of four nations, Cyprus,
Greece, Israel and the United States, all of whom are committed to
limiting Turkey's aggression.

Finally, continuing the good news from Capitol Hill, the

**Stop Iranian Drones Act,**for which we announced our support at the
beginning of the month, has passed out of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee - an important first step in making this legislation law. 

World Leaders Begin to Get it

Last week, Israel's Defense Minister, Benny Gantz, was in Washington
where he informed American leaders that he has ordered the Israeli
military to begin preparing for an attack against Iran. According to one
American source, Gantz even went so far as to provide a timeline to his
US counterparts for when such a strike might need to occur in order to
avoid Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon. We hope it doesn't come to
that, but if it does, we hope the US and the world do not repeat the
mistake made when Israel attacked Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in
1981, by blaming the Jewish state for deigning to save the world from a
nuclear armed rogue regime.

On the heels of this news, reports indicate that the Europeans and the
Biden administration are growing weary of Iran's obviously unserious
nuclear-oriented diplomatic engagement. In fact, on Sunday, the UK's
Foreign Secretary said, "This is the last chance for Iran to come to
the negotiating table with a serious resolution to this issue, which has
to be agreeing the terms of the JCPOA (nuclear accord)."

We think the JCPOA (the Iran deal) is weak an ineffective, but it's
nice to see the UK beginning to take a slightly tougher line with
Tehran. Ultimately, we hope the West doesn't blink. Time will tell,
but indications are that, at long last, reality is setting in from
Washington to London to Paris.
And it should not be lost on Iran (or the world for that matter) that
for the first time in history the Prime Minister of Israel visited the
UAE this week. Prime Minister Bennett met with Crown Prince Sheikh
Mohammed bin Zayed in a lengthy four-hour meeting. Iran was no doubt a
major topic of discussion between the two leaders.

Iran Doesn't Get it at All

One would think that all this talk of last chances and new sanctions
would have an impact on Iran's leaders. And that may very well be the
case, but for now, they aren't acknowledging it. In fact, despite
Iran's skyrocketing unemployment and ever-weakening currency, Iran's
rulers continue to strike a defiant tone.

Under President Trump's maximum pressure campaign, Iran's per capita
GDP was sliced in half. Sanctions work. The Iranian leaders know it. And
the Iranian people know their economic hardships are direct result of
their rulers' obsession with maintaining a warm war with the West and,
of course, the rampant corruption that is a hallmark of "leadership"
in Tehran.

In a way, we've been here before. Prior to President Obama's nuclear
accord with Iran, the Islamic Republic was facing periodic mass protests
and an economic downturn that more than a few experts predicted would
collapse the regime in about six months. We'll never understand why
President Obama tossed Iran's kleptocratic and theocratic tyrants a
lifeline (complete with pallets of cash - literally), but he did. And
the results have been disastrous. Maybe, just maybe, President Biden
won't repeat that mistake.

Sincerely,

CUFI Action Fund Team

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