We work in politics, so we endeavor to be diplomatic. But there's no
diplomatic way of articulating the current situation: The Biden
Administration's Middle Eastern foreign policy approach is a
slow-burning failure. And as you'll see below, that belief isn't
rooted in one's party or ideology - no one thinks that Team
Biden's approach to Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc... is working. So, the
question is simple: When is the Biden Administration going to get it
together? As far as we're concerned, the longer they wait to right the
ship the more likely the risk of a wider conflagration.

Rockets Fired at Israel

As Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad continue to incite violence
against Israel at the Temple Mount, in recent days Israel has once again
endured (and responded to) rocket fire from terrorists on her doorstep.
Terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired several rockets at Israel on Friday
and Saturday. Early Monday morning (local time) a rocket was fired from
Lebanon landing near an Israeli kibbutz. In all cases, the rockets did
not hit inhabited areas. And in all cases, the Israelis maintained their
zero-tolerance policy for such terrorism by responding to the rocket
fire.

It's worth remembering that while the terrorists launching these
projectiles seek to maximize innocent pain and suffering, Israel
endeavors to minimize civilian casualties in every one of its military
actions - no matter how large or small.

Terrorists Continue Using Human Shields

Speaking of protecting civilians, those who've been engaged with CUFI
for a few years will recall that in 2018, the

**Sanctioning the Use of Civilians as Defenseless Shields Act** was
introduced right as that year's CUFI Summit began, and by the end of
the year, we had successfully turned this bill into law.

While this legislation enables the Administration to impose sanctions on
those entities using human shields - as Hamas, Hezbollah and its ilk
commonly due by firing rockets from civilian population centers - as
of yet, the Biden Administration has yet to act. In fact, at the end of
2021, a bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote to Secretaries Yellen and
Blinken pressing the Biden Administration to "faithfully and fully
implement" the legislation.

"While the U.S. government has taken other strong measures to combat
Hamas and Hizballah in recent years, it has yet to sanction Hamas and
Hizballah leaders for their use of human shields. Imposing such
sanctions would make clear that the U.S. government does not tolerate
the use of human shields and would encourage like-minded countries to
take similar measures against this war crime," the letter notes.

We concur with the lawmakers who signed this letter. Unfortunately, the
Biden Administration has done precisely nothing on this front which is
not only a political and moral failure but an open door for the
proliferation of this tactic in further rounds of conflict.

Iran's Military Windfall

Speaking of failures, we read with dismay reports out this week showing
that Iran expanded its military budget by 11% last year. Despite
Iran's rather dire economic situation, we're not surprised the
Islamic Republic has chosen to build bombs rather than schools or
infrastructure. Nor are we surprised that President Trump's maximum
pressure campaign worked when it was being implemented, as Iran's
military budget fell by 20% from 2018 through 2020.   

There's no complicated algorithm at play here. Strong sanctions, at a
minimum, hamper an evil regime from being able to maximize military
spending and support for its proxy forces. And we know the Biden
Administration understands this, as depriving Moscow of funds is a
significant part of the effort to undermine Russia's illegal, immoral
and inhumane invasion of Ukraine. As such, we've come up with no
logical explanation for the Biden Administration's policy of extending
to Iran (nearly) every benefit and courtesy for at best a very limited
and weak nuclear agreement.

When you've committed your career to working as a pro-Israel advocate,
it's tough sometimes to avoid the cliché that the more things change,
the more they stay the same. This is because Israel's enemies have
turned Jew-hatred into a foundational religious tenet, and there is a
large segment of the U.S. foreign policy establishment that has turned
appeasement into policy guidance. But that doesn't mean one gives up
- quite the opposite. You keep pushing, you keep moving forward no
matter the how steep the climb. And at the CUFI Action Fund that's
exactly what we're doing. No, the news from the region this week
isn't good. But when we roll out our legislative agenda for the 2022
July CUFI Washington Summit, we'll be tackling the very issues
you've just read about.

Sincerely,

The CUFI Action Fund Team

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