The Middle East Forum (MEF) is an American conservative

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-govern ...

founded in 1990 by

Daniel Pipes Daniel Pipes (born September 9, 1949) is an American historian, writer, and commentator. He is the president of the Middle East Forum, and publisher of its ''Middle East Quarterly'' journal. His writing focuses on American foreign policy and the ...

, who serves as its president. MEF became an independent

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

in 1994. It publishes a journal, the ''

Middle East Quarterly The Middle East Forum (MEF) is an American conservative think tank founded in 1990 by Daniel Pipes, who serves as its president. MEF became an independent non-profit organization in 1994. It publishes a journal, the '' Middle East Quarterly''. ...

''. According to the organization's website, they promote "

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

interests and works to protect Western civilization from the threat of Islamism", advocate strong ties with

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and other democracies as they emerge, work for human rights throughout the region; seek a stable supply and a low

price of oil The price of oil, or the oil price, generally refers to the spot price of a barrel () of benchmark crude oil—a reference price for buyers and sellers of crude oil such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), Brent Crude, Dubai Crude, OPEC ...

; and promote the peaceful settlement of regional and international disputes.

"The MEF Mission"
''danielpipes.org'' (personal organization website of Daniel Pipes), n.d., accessed February 17, 2007. The Middle East Forum, a

501(c)3 A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 5 ...

tax-exempt nonprofit organization, has established the Legal Project to protect researchers and analysts who work on the topics of Islam and related topics from lawsuits designed to silence their exercise of free speech and to discuss key issues of public concern. The Legal Project aided Dutch politician

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'' ...

' legal defense when he faced a criminal indictment for his views in 2009.

Publications and projects

''Middle East Quarterly''

''Middle East Quarterly'' (''MEQ'') is a quarterly

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer revie ...

academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and ...

published by the Middle East Forum. It covers subjects relating to the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

and

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

, and analyzes the region "explicitly from the viewpoint of American interests". It was founded in 1994 by

and the current

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

is Efraim Karsh, Research Professor and former Director of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. The journal was not originally peer-reviewed but introduced peer review in 2009 both to improve the quality of articles and "to give junior faculty an opportunity, while building their careers, to express their views freely."

Reception

In 2002 Juan Cole, a professor at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and a

Campus Watch Campus Watch is a web-based project of the Middle East Forum, a think tank with its headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to its website, Campus Watch "reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improv ...

target, accused the journal of making "scurrilous attacks on people". In 2014, Christopher A. Bail of

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist Jam ...

described it as a "pseudo-academic" journal with editorial board members who share an ideological outlook, adding that while it appears to present legitimate academic research, it is regularly criticized "as a channel for anti-Muslim

polemic Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topic ...

s".

Abstracting and indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in: *

EBSCO databases EBSCO Information Services, headquartered in Ipswich, Massachusetts, is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a private company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. EBSCO provides products and services to libraries of very many types around the ...

Index Islamicus Index Islamicus (, ) is a bibliography database of publications about Islam and the Muslim world, first compiled in 1956 by James Douglas Pearson. It is compiled by C.H. Bleaney & S. Sinclair and the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, ...

International Bibliography of the Social Sciences The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) is a bibliography for social science and interdisciplinary research. The database focuses on the social science disciplines of anthropology, economics, politics and sociology, and rela ...

* Modern Language Association Database * ProQuest databases *

Scopus Scopus is Elsevier's abstract and citation database launched in 2004. Scopus covers nearly 36,377 titles (22,794 active titles and 13,583 inactive titles) from approximately 11,678 publishers, of which 34,346 are peer-reviewed journals in top- ...

Campus Watch

In 2002, the Middle East Forum initiated the

program and identified what it finds to be the five major problems in the teaching of Middle Eastern studies at American universities: "analytical failures, the mixing of politics with scholarship, intolerance of alternative views,

apologetics Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics an ...

, and the

abuse of power Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other t ...

over students." Winfield Myers is the director of Campus Watch. Initially, Campus Watch published a list of problematic instructors, which led some professors to accuse Campus Watch of "McCarthyesque" intimidation; in protest, more than 100 other academics asked to be listed too.Tanya Schevitz
"Professors Want Own Names Put on Mideast Blacklist"
''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pa ...

'' September 28, 2002, accessed February 17, 2007. Subsequently, Campus Watch removed the list from its website, but replaced it with a list titled Professors to Avoid.Tanya Schevitz
"'Dossiers' Dropped from Web Blacklist"
''

'' October 3, 2002, accessed February 17, 2007.Hussam Ayloush
"Column a Slur on Muslim Community"
''

Orange County Register ''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digital Fiest/Media News subsidiaries. ...

'' December 1, 2002, accessed February 17, 2007.

Islamist Watch

On April 21, 2006, the Middle East Forum launched Islamist Watch, a project that it states "combat the ideas and institutions of nonviolent, radical Islam in the United States and other Western countries. It exposes the far-reaching goals of Islamists, works to reduce their power, and seeks to strengthen moderate Muslims." According to the organization's website, Islamist Watch seeks to educate the government, media, religious institutions, the academy, and the business world about lawful Islamism. It focuses on the political, educational, cultural, and legal activities of Islamists in the United States and, to a lesser degree, in other historically non-Muslim countries, especially Western Europe, Canada, and Australia."Islamist Watch"
(information page), ''Middle East Forum'', n.d., accessed February 17, 2007. Islamist Watch does not focus on

counter terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...

and only indirectly concerns Islamism in Muslim-majority countries such as

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...

, and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, and its three main "activities" include "research, advocacy, and activism." In 2012, Marc Fink became the director of Islamist Watch.

The Legal Project

The Middle East Forum established the Legal Project in June 2007 to protect researchers, analysts, and activists who work on radical Islam and related topics from predatory lawsuits designed to silence their exercise of free speech. According to the Legal Project's website, it acts in four ways to counteract Islamist threats to free speech, "Fundraising for an Escrow account to supplement the court costs and litigation fees for victims of Islamist lawfare (all funds raised go directly to lawfare victims); Arranging for pro bono and reduced rate counsel for victims of Islamist lawfare; Maintaining an international network of attorneys dedicated to working pro bono in the defense of free speech; and, Raising awareness about the issue. Efforts include briefings by legal experts on how to avoid libelous statements, and consultations with libel lawyers before publishing on certain topics."

''Middle East Intelligence Bulletin''

The Middle East Intelligence Bulletin was jointly published by the United States Committee for a Free Lebanon and the Middle East Forum. It was, from 1999-2004, a free monthly publication that provided analysis of political and strategic developments in Lebanon, Syria, and the Middle East. The staff included: Gary C. Gambill as editor and

and Ziad K. Abdelnour as publishers. The editorial board included Thomas Patrick Carroll,

Michael Rubin Michael Rubin (born 1971) is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). He previously worked as an official at the Pentagon, where he dealt with issues relating to the Middle East, and as political adviser to the Coalition Provis ...

and Youssef Haddad. Mahan Abedin served as London correspondent.

Israel Victory Project

The Israel Victory Project, launched in 2017, is an initiative aimed at securing an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by putting pressure on Palestinians to end anti-Israel terrorism and acknowledge Israel's legitimacy as a Jewish state, rather than through bilateral negotiations. Daniel Pipes has stated that "Peace is not made with enemies; peace is made with former enemies."

Funding

According to a report by the

Center for American Progress The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a public policy research and advocacy organization which presents a liberal viewpoint on economic and social issues. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The president and chief executive offic ...

published in 2011, the two main contributors to the Middle East Forum were

Donors Capital Fund Donors Capital Fund is a nonprofit United States donor-advised charity that distributes grants to conservative and libertarian organizations. Donors Capital Fund is associated with Donors Trust, another donor-advised fund. Background Donors Ca ...

and the William Rosenwald Family Fund.

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789 as Georgetown College, the university has grown to comprise eleven undergraduate and graduate ...

's Bridge Initiative reported in 2018 that the MEF had received millions of dollars from

($6,768,000), the William Rosenwald Family Fund, the Middle Road Foundation, and the Abstraction Fund.

Support for Tommy Robinson

In 2018, the MEF stated that it had been "heavily involved" in the release from prison of British anti-Islam activist and far-right political operative* * * * * * Tommy Robinson, who is best known as a co-founder, former spokesman and former leader of the

English Defence League The English Defence League (EDL) is a far-right, Islamophobic organisation in the United Kingdom. A social movement and pressure group that employs street demonstrations as its main tactic, the EDL presents itself as a single-issue movement ...

(EDL) organisation, and for his service as a

political adviser Political consulting is a form of consulting that consists primarily of advising and assisting political campaigns. Although the most important role of political consultants is arguably the development and production of mass media (largely te ...

to the leader of the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

(UKIP),

Gerard Batten Gerard Joseph Batten (born 27 March 1954) is a British politician who served as the Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2018 to 2019. He was a founding member of the party in 1993, and served as a Member of the European Parliament ( ...

. They revealed that "the full resources of the Middle East Forum were activated to free Mr. Robinson", which included: conferring with Robinson's legal team and providing necessary funds; funding, organizing and staffing the "Free Tommy" London rallies on June 9 and July 14, which was, they claim, reported by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', and ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

''; funding travel of the US congressman, Rep. Paul Gosar, Republican from Arizona, to London to address the rallies; and lobbied

Sam Brownback Samuel Dale Brownback (born September 12, 1956) is an American attorney, politician, diplomat, and member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party who served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Fr ...

, the State Department's ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, to raise the issue with the UK's ambassador, which he did. The MEF has itself been considered a part of the

counter-jihad movement Counter-jihad, also spelled counterjihad and known as the counter-jihad movement, is a self-titled political current loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, street movements and campaign organisations all linked by apocalyptic beli ...

References

External links

*
Middle East QuarterlyDaniel Pipes
the Middle East Forum, founded in 1990 {{Authority control Middle East Forum Foreign policy and strategy think tanks in the United States Political and economic think tanks in the United States Islam and politics Counter-jihad Critics of Islamism Foreign policy political advocacy groups in the United States Islamophobic publications 501(c)(3) organizations 1990 establishments in Pennsylvania Anti-Arabism in North America Arab studies Conservative organizations in the United States Political magazines published in the United States Publications established in 1994 Quarterly journals Middle Eastern studies journals Open access journals