A high-level Iranian terrorist is killed; a complete misunderstanding of the war by the U.S, government; and our least favorite song: Congressional Chaos Reigns. A lot to cover this week, so let’s dive right in.

This week brings difficult news, but also the potential for hope on the horizon. As things often do, it’ll all boil down to the strength of character of a few individuals.

This past weekend, Israel marked the grimmest of milestones; the 250th Israeli soldier was killed in Gaza. The soldier, Staff Sgt. Matan Vinogradov (z’’l), fell during an operation that resulted in scores of terrorists arrested and the head of Hamas’s internal security wing dead. As Israel slogs through the difficult job of vanquishing Hamas, our leaders here at home are not helping the situation.

From the moment Israel launched its counteroffensive against Hamas following the 10/7 Massacre, Israeli leaders of all stripes cautioned that the war would last many months. In this edition of the Action Update, we’ll give a brief overview of where things stand and where we expect them to go. 

In this week’s edition of the Action Update, we’re going to deviate from our regularly scheduled programming and offer three simple concepts the foreign policy intelligentsia needs to understand:

Nearly 150 days into the war in Gaza, Congress has yet to advance emergency military assistance for Israel. We are rapidly approaching the moment where Congressional inaction coupled with the Biden administration’s election season pressure campaign will make our elected officials handmaidens to atrocities. In this week’s edition of the Action Update, we’ll discuss the latest on the aid and Israel’s rapidly heating up northern border. But first, the Palestinian Authority is playing musical chairs again, so we’ll start there.

In this week’s edition, we discuss the most recent Congressional moves concerning emergency aid to Israel and provide a brief update on the war in Gaza and the wider conflict between Iranian extremism and the West.

This week, CUFI held the annual Gathering of Leaders in San Antonio. During this two-day event, CUFI’s Board and top leadership learned about a wide range of issues from a host of speakers. Next week, we’ll be back with our traditional Action Update, but for today, we encourage you to take just a few minutes and watch this CBN interview with our Chairwoman, Sandra Parker, during which she discusses the Biden administration’s reaction to news that a dozen UN employees, whose agency receives American taxpayer dollars, participated in the 10/7 Hamas Massacre.

There is an enormous gulf between Washington’s discussions about what’s going on in the Middle East, and what’s actually going on in the Middle East. The consequences of this disconnect are significant. In this week’s edition of the Action Update, we’ll discuss Washington’s fantasies, Israel’s reality, and the politics breaking American foreign policy.

In this week’s edition of the Action Update, we look at what happens when Washington stops functioning, update our readers on our state-level efforts, and offer a bit of wisdom for those seeking to understand the day after Gaza. So, let’s get into it.