Dear Reader: As a subscriber to the Middle East Forum’s work, you know about our writing and our electronic media appearances. But the Forum has expanded beyond this intellectual work and we thought you might be interested in learning about our operational and philanthropic efforts. Accordingly, I am pleased to send you this first issue of MEF Monthly, a newsletter that tells about our other activities in Congress, in the courtroom, on the campus, and beyond. For example, over the summer, Campus Watch uncovered a student exchange program in the United States with a university in the Middle East known as a hotbed for terrorist recruitment and radicalization; The Washington Project met with over 50 members of Congress to draft a bill forcing the State Department to justify its funding of UNRWA; and The Legal Project helped defeat the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in federal court. For over 20 years, the Forum has tackled the difficult issues most others avoid while providing thoughtful analysis to advance American interests in the Middle East. The new MEF Monthly is another small step forward in that pursuit. I hope you find it interesting. Sincerely, Daniel Pipes | | | President Middle East Forum | | PHOTOGRAPHS: (FROM TOP LEFT TO BOTTON RIGHT)- Washington Project Director Clifford Smith speaks with Samir Qumsieh, head of the only Christian Palestinian TV station, during a recent trip to Israel.
- MEF Writing Fellow Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi prepares to deliver a briefing on the dynamics of jihadist groups throughout Iraq and Syria.
- A city of tents and mattresses belonging to migrants line the streets of Paris, observed by MEF president Daniel Pipes on a recent trip to Europe touring ‘No-Go’ zones.
- MEF director Gregg Roman debates Palestinian journalist Ali Abunimah on Al Jazeera News, over controversy surrounding the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
- Members of the Young Adult Division gather at a pub in Philadelphia for MEF at the Bar, with a Middle East briefing focusing on new challenges to the US-Israel relationship.
- Old and new friends of MEF attend lunch at Baltaire Restaurant in Los Angeles, with a briefing from MEF director Gregg Roman.
| | - MEF’s Campus Watch initiative uncovered a student exchange program between San Francisco State University and An-Najah University in the West Bank town of Nablus. An-Najah is known for terrorist recruitment, indoctrination, and radicalization of students. MEF started a petition on change.org which has received almost 2,000 signatures.
- In pursuit of our signature foreign policy issue, MEF’s Washington Project held 53 meetings with members of Congress or their staff. This led to language in the House State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill forcing the State Department to justify UNRWA’s practice of Palestinian refugee proliferation. The Jerusalem Post reported on this success.
| | - In the first nine months of 2016, 315 articles by 55 experts have appeared in 62 publications, our websites have attracted 7 million page views, and our social media posts reached 9 million people. 491,830 new users visited the site in the first half of 2016; of those, 41 percent are between 18-34 years old.
- A recent Forum Facebook campaign exposed over 2.5 million people, many in Turkey, to our anti-Erdoğan writings since January, as we infiltrate international news sites.
| | - MEF funded a lawsuit against the Council on American-Islamic Relations in federal court, which an appeals court recently returned to district court for a full trial. Soon a court of law will weigh evidence showing that CAIR defrauded clients seeking legal counsel.
- MEF funded a lawsuit against Iran in the U.S. Court of Appeals making $9.4 million in unfrozen Iranian assets available to American victims of a 1997 suicide bombing in Jerusalem.
| | MEF Writing Fellow - Phyllis Chesler | | Phyllis Chesler, professor emerita of psychology and women’s studies at City University of New York (CUNY), is a longtime associate of the Middle East Forum. A prominent second wave feminist leader in the 1970s who once took the podium at the American Psychological Association to demand reparations for “women abused by the mental health profession,” Chesler has vigorously challenged the broader feminist movement in recent years for abandoning women’s rights in the Islamic world in the name of multicultural relativism. Click HERE to learn more about Phyllis | | Sociologist Robert Brannon recently called her “the most fiercely independent, productive, multi-issue, feminist thinker and writer since Elizabeth Cady Stanton.” Chesler has published four studies of honor killings in the Forum’s flagship publication, Middle East Quarterly, in 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2015. Her research has shown that honor killings are qualitatively different than other forms of domestic violence, and that the overwhelming majority (91%) reported worldwide in English-language media are committed by Muslims. | | | Thursday, November 3rd
Lunch with Daniel Pipes in Chicago Mr. Pipes will offer a tour d’horizon, touching on the Syrian civil war, the prospect of US support for a Palestinian state, an assessment of presidential candidates’ MidEast policies, and he will report on his just-completed trip to 10 heavily populated migrant areas in Europe. (This event is complimentary for MEF supporters contributing $250 or more.)
Click HERE to RSVP | | | Thursday, November 3rd
Conference Call with Anna Borschchevskaya Moscow has emerged as the Middle East’s foremost power broker. Will the new U.S. administration stand up and reassert America’s regional standing? What will be the implications of such a policy shift? Join us for a conference call to discuss these questions and more, with Anna Borshchevskaya, the Ira Weiner Fellow at The Washington Institute and fellow at the European Foundation for Democracy. (Monthly conference calls are open to MEF supporters contributing $500 or more.)
Contact: Prosser@MEForum.org | | | Sunday, November 6th
Parlor Meeting with Gregg Roman in New York A special briefing focusing on the MEF Israel Victory project, Campus Watch initiative, the BDS movement, Iranian nuclear Deal, and more, with MEF director Gregg Roman. (This is a complimentary event for current MEF supporters.)
Contact: Bennett@MEForum.org | | | Thursday, November 10th
Lunch with Daniel Pipes in Palm Beach Mr. Pipes will offer a tour d’horizon, touching on the Syrian civil war, the prospect of US support for a Palestinian state, an assessment of presidential candidates’ MidEast policies, and he will report on his just-completed trip to 10 heavily populated migrant areas in Europe. (This event is complimentary for MEF supporters contributing $250 or more.)
Click HERE to RSVP | | | Tuesday, November 15th
Lunch with Daniel Pipes in Toronto Join MEF president Daniel Pipes for lunch and a Middle East briefing on the Syrian civil war and the prospect of US support for a Palestinian state. Mr. Pipes will report on his just-completed trip to 10 heavily populated migrant areas in Europe. (This event is complimentary for MEF supporters contributing $250 or more.)
Click HERE to RSVP | | | Friday, November 18th
Lunch with Daniel Pipes in Boca Raton Mr. Pipes will offer a tour d’horizon, touching on the Syrian civil war, the prospect of US support for a Palestinian state, an assessment of presidential candidates’ MidEast policies, and he will report on his just-completed trip to 10 heavily populated migrant areas in Europe. (This event is complimentary for MEF supporters contributing $250 or more.)
Click HERE to RSVP | | | Tuesday, December 6th Parlor Meeting with Daniel Pipes in Boston
A special briefing on the Syrian civil war, the prospect of US support for a Palestinian state, a post-election assessment of MidEast policy, and a report on developments on Middle East studies at North American universities. (This is a complimentary event for MEF supporters contributing $250 or more.) Contact: Bennett@MEForum.org | | | Friday, December 9th Lunch with Daniel Pipes in Manhattan Join MEF president Daniel Pipes for lunch and a Middle East briefing on the Syrian civil war and the prospect of US support for a Palestinian state. Mr. Pipes will report on his just-completed trip to 10 heavily populated migrant areas in Europe. (This event is complimentary for MEF supporters contributing $250 or more.) Click HEREto RSVP | | | |
