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26-810: MEPC was originally named the American-Arab Affairs Council and was co-founded by journalist Richard Curtiss, who later founded the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs , and George Naifeh, who remained president of the MEPC until 1991. Naifeh was an American diplomat who represented the United States in diplomatic missions in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia over nearly three decades. Subsequent presidents include George McGovern (1991-1997) and Charles W. Freeman Jr. (1997-2009). Frank Anderson

52-651: A Saudi lobby that could widen the range of debate, i.e. counter the Israel lobby." Mr. Goldfarb's phrase "Saudi lobby" referred to an article by Washington Times writer Eli Lake where he wrote that "Since 1997, Mr. Freeman has been president of the Middle East Policy Council (MEPC), a Washington think tank. In 2007, he accepted a $ 1 million donation from Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud that, according to

78-652: A day-long seminar at the National Press Club in April 2015 entitled "The Israel Lobby: Is It Good for the U.S.? Is It Good for Israel?". According to the Baltimore Jewish Times , the seminar discussed "the so-called Jewish lobby ’s power to influence politicians on Capitol Hill and the Obama administration," noting that "factual inaccuracies throughout the day were plenty". The BBC said in 2004 that WRMEA's reporting

104-530: A number of publications over the years. Pro-Israel and Jewish activists have criticized the Washington Report as conspiratorial and polemical in its criticism of Israel. In the Middle East Quarterly in 1997, Michael Lewis of AIPAC claimed the Washington Report was the "most conspiratorially-minded of the anti-Israel forces" for promoting conspiracy theories about Israel, including regarding

130-566: A press release at the time, was meant for "future projects" for the council." Mr. Lake went on to write that "In an interview in 2006 with the Saudi-U.S. Relations Information Service, Mr. Freeman said, 'These are obviously very difficult times for any organization attempting to promote better understanding and stronger ties between the United States and the Arab world. Attitudes are extremely negative. Financial support has been very negatively affected both by

156-561: A recurring feature series, Middle East In Focus , that provides a synopsis of news and commentary from Middle Eastern and other international media. This survey complements a digest of timely articles from the region also available on the web site. In 2011, Senior fellow Mark N. Katz contributed a weekly series, The War on Terror in Perspective , where he addressed "the regional impact of American withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. policy choices after withdrawing from these conflicts, and

182-420: Is an American foreign policy magazine that focuses on the Middle East and U.S. policy in the region. It was characterized as "critical of United States policies in the Middle East" in 1998, and "a non-partisan publication that has been critical of Bush's policies" in 2005. Pro-Israel organizations accuse the magazine of being anti-Israel and conspiratorial in its criticism of Israel . The Washington Report

208-547: Is meant to counter what it considers the "too pro-Israeli stance of the U.S. media". The Baltimore Jewish Times described WRMEA in 2021 as an "anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian semimonthly publication." As early as 1990, WRMEA argued that criticism of Israel should not be equated with antisemitism . WRMEA publishes listings of pro-Israel political action committee contributions to congressional candidates for each Congress, as well as elected representatives' voting records during each Congress. This resource has been quoted by

234-711: Is published by the American Educational Trust (AET), a non-profit founded in 1982 in Washington, D.C. by Edward Firth Henderson , former British Ambassador to Qatar , Andrew Killgore , who was U.S. Ambassador to Qatar when he retired from the United States Foreign Service in 1980, and Richard Curtiss , a former head of the Arabic Service of the Voice of America . Killgore is the publisher and Curtiss

260-562: The Federal Election Commission had improperly refused to label American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobbying group, a "political action committee" (PAC) and require AIPAC to disclose the sources and uses of money. The case went to the United States Supreme Court . The Supreme Court ruled in a majority decision that the plaintiffs had the right to raise issues regarding AIPAC, but referred

286-724: The George W. Bush administration , the Anti-Defamation League criticized the publication for hosting an essay by Paul Craig Roberts in which he writes the "fanatical neoconservatives and Israelis are using Bush to commit the United States to a catastrophic course." The pro-Israel media watchdog Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America ("CAMERA") in 2006 described Washington Report as being "virulently anti-Israel". In February 2010, Fox News reported that

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312-598: The USS Liberty incident , and for accusing Israel and Zionists of being collectively responsible for many issues in the United States and the Middle East. Pro-Israel critics quoted in Jewish Journal in 2006 criticized the Washington Report as guilty of frequent factual distortion, accusing the magazine as "an unrelenting polemic against Israel". In 2000, Jonathan S. Tobin wrote in Jewish World Review that

338-559: The Washington Report had deleted from a 2007 article a comment by Rashad Hussain , the newly appointed U.S. envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), calling the prosecution of Sami Al-Arian a "politically motivated persecution". Editor Delinda Hanley told Fox News she believed the change was made in February 2009, because the comments attributed to Hussain were actually made by Sami al-Arian's daughter, Laila, who also attended

364-614: The Washington Report , was hospitalized after Israeli soldiers cracked his ribs and inflicted other injuries at a crossing from Jordan into the occupied West Bank . The Israeli government disputed Omer's claims. In 2004, AET's Andrew Killgore spearheaded a letter to President Bush signed by a number of former British and U.S. diplomats objecting to US policy towards Israel and the Palestinians, especially then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 's plan to leave Gaza without bothering to negotiate with Palestinian representatives. AET sponsored

390-564: The PAC matter back to the FEC because the FEC was drafting its membership threshold rules to directly address the unclear issue. The FEC decided that AIPAC did not spend an amount of time or money on political issues to make it a PAC, and in 2010 the last of WRMEA ' s appeals to have the FEC ruling reversed was dismissed. In 2008, a number of publications reported that Mohammed Omer , the Gaza correspondent for

416-528: The beginning. The policy practitioners, analysts, economists and academics appearing in our venues have provided a wide diversity of views on the region stretching from Morocco to Afghanistan and from Central Asia to Oman. They question conventional wisdom and explain complex issues without oversimplifying them." Established in 1993, the Capitol Hill Conference Series is aimed at members of Congress and their staffs, opinion leaders and members of

442-506: The broader geopolitical context in which 'war' takes place." Political risk analyst Ian Siperco has also contributed articles regarding political developments in the region. In expressing alarm over former MEPC president Chas Freeman's nomination to the National Intelligence Council (NIC) in early 2009, Weekly Standard contributing editor Michael Goldfarb claimed that MEPC funds from Saudi Arabia were for "the funding of

468-741: The deterioration in the atmosphere [and] the sense on the part of many of our Arab donors that nothing can be done to fix the negative image of the Arabs in the United States at present.' The interview was publicized in 2009 on the blog of a former foreign policy director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee , Steve J. Rosen ." According to non-profit disclosure forms, The Middle East Policy Council's 2007 total receipts were $ 731,000. Washington Report on Middle East Affairs The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (also known as The Washington Report and WRMEA)

494-415: The event. But article's author, Shereen Kandil, told Fox News that she had not confused the two people. The White House also attributed the comments to Al-Arian's daughter. Hussain himself said he had made the remarks in response to a question from Laila Al-Arian, but had complained to the Washington Report shortly after they were published that they "lacked context", and the publication eventually removed

520-550: The magnitude of the Holocaust , listing the names of Jewish publishers of leading U.S. newspapers to demonstrate 'Zionist' control of the media, and accusing Israel of ' Nazi -style' genocide against the Arabs. Each issue is filled with wild conspiracy theories about Israel and pro-Israel lobbying groups, accusing them of orchestrating everything from the Monica Lewinsky scandal to the assassination of John F. Kennedy ." During

546-551: The media. According to the Council web site "the starting point for each forum is the same: What are the interests of the United States in the Middle East, and how should they be realized?" Recent Capitol Hill Conferences include: Video archives from these events are available on the MEPC website and the events are streamed live. Since 1985, the workshops of TeachMideast have been conducted in nearly all fifty U.S. states, reaching over 20,000 teachers. The Contributor Dialogue Series

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572-565: The publication was "the guidebook to the Arabist lobby in the United States," that it "specializes in defaming Israel", and that it is "a must-read for friends of Israel who want a reliable indicator of the thinking of the anti-Israel crowd." Rafael Medoff of the David Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies wrote in 2002 that "in addition to the standard denunciations of Israeli policies, the Washington Report published articles belittling

598-466: Was elected president of the council in 2017. The Council advances its mission through three programs: the quarterly journal Middle East Policy , the Capitol Hill Conference Series for policy makers and their staff, and professional development workshops for educators through the TeachMideast arm. According to the Council web site: "Fresh thinking and new insights have been our stock in trade from

624-486: Was introduced in spring of 2021 to explore Middle East Policy Journal articles through interviewing different authors of compelling pieces. Recent Contributor Dialogues include: In addition to featuring its journal articles, videos, and transcripts from the Capitol Hill Conferences, the MEPC web site houses various book reviews and essays written by scholars and members of the MEPC board. The council also shares

650-481: Was the Executive Editor until his death in 2013. Delinda C. Hanley, Curtiss's daughter, is the current editor. To counteract what the magazine's publishers viewed as a "pro-Zionist bias" in libraries, AET donated 3,200 free subscriptions and dozens of books "from its approved list" to libraries. In 1989, Washington Report founders Andrew Killgore and Richard Curtiss joined other plaintiffs in complaining that

676-525: Was the president of the MEPC from 2009 to April 2012. Anderson served in the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency for 26 years. He served three tours of duty in the Middle East as an agency station chief, headed the Afghan Task Force (1987–89), and was chief of the Near East and South Asia Division. In late 2013 the MEPC board appointed Ford M. Fraker president. Following Fraker's death, Richard J. Schmierer

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