Violin Family Research Fellow Announced: Dexter Van Zile

Winfield Myers

PHILADELPHIA, PA – January 3, 2024 – The Middle East Forum (MEF) is pleased to announce that Dexter Van Zile, managing editor of Focus on Western Islamism (FWI), will be designated as MEF’s Violin Family Research Fellow.

The Violin family has established a reputation for its support of think tanks and other nonprofits promoting American national security and an effective Middle East policy.

“The Violin family’s decision to sponsor Dexter’s work is a vote of confidence in FWI‘s work and of our mission as a whole,” said MEF President and founder Daniel Pipes. “We are most grateful.”

“The Violin family has provided me with moral and institutional support since I began working on issues related to the Middle East in 2005,” Van Zile said. “I’m now thankful for its generous funding for our work at FWI.”

Since its establishment, FWI has become a major source of information and commentary on Islamism on Western democracies. The publication has highlighted such topics as:

  • The role of Islamist groups in American politics;
  • Taxpayer funds going to Islamist organizations;
  • The impact of Iranian, Turkish, and Qatari influence operations;
  • Anti-Islamist voices in the Muslim community.

Prior to working at the Middle East Forum, Mr. Van Zile served as the Shillman Research Fellow for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), where he focused on the propaganda war against Israel. Since his arrival at MEF, his work has appeared in the American Spectator, the Boston Herald, and the Epoch Times.

To sponsor a MEF fellow, please contact MEF Director Gregg Roman (roman@meforum.org) for more information.


The Middle East Forum, a non-profit organization, promotes American interests in the Middle East and protects Western civilization from Islamism. It does so through a combination of original ideas, focused activism, and funding allies. For more information, visit www.meforum.org.

For immediate release
For more information, contact:
Gregg Roman
roman@meforum.org
+1 (215) 546 5406

See more on this Topic
PHILADELPHIA – August 20, 2024 – A member of Maryland’s “Commission on Hate Crimes Response and Prevention” is out of a job. Ayman Nassar, the second Islamist commissioner to get tossed from the hate crimes board within three months, resigned on August 19 amid public outrage over his role in terror-linked organizations and his history of anti-American, antisemitic, and homophobic hate speech.

Nassar has accused Israel of harvesting the organs of living Palestinians and shared posts referring to Gaza as a “Holocaust.” He is chairman of the Aafia Foundation, a “terrorist support group” that seeks to free “Lady Al Qaeda” Aafia Siddiqui and other convicted terrorists from prison.
PHILADELPHIA – July 31, 2024 – Hours after Israel assassinated two leading figures of designated terrorist organizations, Middle East Forum (MEF) experts took to major media outlets to explain what the killings mean for Israel and the region.

Israeli forces killed Hezbollah leader Fouad Shukur in Beirut on Tuesday, while Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh died Wednesday from an Israeli strike in Tehran. Both men caused the deaths of innocent civilians as well as Israeli and American soldiers.

Writing today for the Wall Street Journal, MEF president Daniel Pipes argued that since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks, Israel has unfortunately followed “two opposite policies” simultaneously: “destroy the organization and make a deal with it.”