Middle East Monitor

{{short description|Not-for-profit press monitoring organisation}}

{{Infobox organization

|name = Middle East Monitor

|logo = File:Middle East Monitor Logo.png

|Non-profit_type =

|founded_date = 1 July 2009

|founder =

|location = London, United Kingdom

|origins =

|key_people =

|product = Translation and original analysis services

|focus =

|method = Media monitoring

|revenue =

|endowment =

|num_volunteers =

|num_employees =

|num_members =

|owner =

|homepage = {{URL|middleeastmonitor.com}}

|dissolved =

|footnotes =

}}

The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) is a not-for-profit press monitoring organisation{{Cite book |last1=Vorhies |first1=Zach |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=faA4EAAAQBAJ |title=Google Leaks: A Whistleblower's Exposé of Big Tech Censorship |last2=Heckenlively |first2=Kent |date=2021-08-03 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |isbn=978-1-5107-6736-2 |pages=90 |language=en}} and lobbying group{{Cite news |last=Zeffman |first=Henry Zeffman |date=August 21, 2018 |title=Jeremy Corbyn referred to watchdog over 2010 Hamas visit |language=en |work=The Times |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/jeremy-corbyn-referred-to-watchdog-over-2010-hamas-visit-hlm3mlvtw |access-date=2022-09-19 |issn=0140-0460 |archive-date=20 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920215215/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/jeremy-corbyn-referred-to-watchdog-over-2010-hamas-visit-hlm3mlvtw |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=August 21, 2018 |title=Corbyn met terror leaders, but not Jews, on trip to Israel in 2010 — report |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/corbyn-met-terror-leaders-but-not-jews-on-trip-to-israel-in-2010/ |access-date=2022-09-19 |website=Times of Israel |language=en-US |archive-date=20 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920185034/https://www.timesofisrael.com/corbyn-met-terror-leaders-but-not-jews-on-trip-to-israel-in-2010/ |url-status=live }} that emerged in mid 2009.{{cite book |author=Ehud Rosen |url=http://www.jcpa.org/text/Mapping_Delegitimization.pdf |title=Mapping the Organizational Sources of the Global Delegitimization Campaign against Israel in the UK |publisher=Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs |date=2010 |pages=33–35 |isbn=978-965-218-094-0 |archive-date=19 September 2014 |access-date=14 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140919215022/http://www.jcpa.org/text/Mapping_Delegitimization.pdf |url-status=live }} MEMO is largely focused on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict but writes about other issues in the Middle East, as well. MEMO is pro-Palestinian in orientation,{{Cite journal |last1=Smyrnaios |first1=Nikos |last2=Ratinaud |first2=Pierre |date=January 2017 |title=The Charlie Hebdo Attacks on Twitter: A Comparative Analysis of a Political Controversy in English and French |journal=Social Media + Society |language=en |publisher=SAGE Publishing |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=7 |doi=10.1177/2056305117693647 |s2cid=151668905 |issn=2056-3051 |doi-access=free |url=https://ut3-toulouseinp.hal.science/hal-03631470/file/The%20Charlie%20Hebdo%20Attacks%20on%20Twitter.pdf |archive-date=1 March 2024 |access-date=1 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301160817/https://ut3-toulouseinp.hal.science/hal-03631470/file/The%20Charlie%20Hebdo%20Attacks%20on%20Twitter.pdf |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Rosenfeld |first=Arno |date=2021-10-07 |title=Nike isn't boycotting Israel — despite reports to the contrary |url=https://forward.com/news/476428/nike-isnt-boycotting-israel-despite-reports-to-the-contrary/ |access-date=2022-09-19 |website=The Forward |language=en |archive-date=20 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920172759/https://forward.com/news/476428/nike-isnt-boycotting-israel-despite-reports-to-the-contrary/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Altikriti |first=Anas |author-link=Anas Altikriti |date=2010-04-27 |title=Muslim voters come of age |url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/27/general-election-muslim-vote |access-date=2022-09-19 |website=The Guardian |language=en}} and has been labelled by some commentators as pro-Islamist,{{Cite web |last=Black |first=Ian |author-link=Ian Black (journalist) |date=2011-06-29 |title=Sheikh Raed Salah: Islamic Movement leader loathed by the Israeli right |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jun/29/sheikh-raed-salah-islamic-movement |access-date=2022-09-19 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Levy |first=Eylon |date=August 20, 2018 |title=EXCLUSIVE: Jeremy Corbyn's secret trip to Israel to meet Hamas |url=https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/middle-east/182208-180820-exclusive-jeremy-corbyn-s-secret-trip-to-israel-to-meet-hamas |access-date=2022-09-19 |website=i24news |archive-date=20 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920181331/https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/middle-east/182208-180820-exclusive-jeremy-corbyn-s-secret-trip-to-israel-to-meet-hamas |url-status=live }} pro-Muslim Brotherhood,{{Cite web |last=Cook |first=Steven A. |author-link=Steven A. Cook |date=October 16, 2013 |title=Egypt: Reductio Ad Absurdum |url=https://www.cfr.org/blog/egypt-reductio-ad-absurdum |access-date=2022-09-19 |website=Council on Foreign Relations |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Knipp |first=Kersten |date=September 30, 2016 |title=The flight out of Egypt |url=https://www.dw.com/en/the-flight-out-of-egypt/a-35933694 |access-date=2022-09-20 |website=Deutsche Welle |language=en-GB}} and pro-Hamas.{{Cite news |last1=Yorke |first1=Harry |last2=Tominey |first2=Camilla |author-link2=Camilla Tominey |date=2018-09-21 |title=Jeremy Corbyn's allies drawing up emergency plans amid fears he may be suspended over 'undeclared trips' |language=en-GB |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/09/21/jeremy-corbyns-allies-drawing-emergency-plans-amid-fears-may/ |access-date=2022-09-19 |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=20 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920173328/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/09/21/jeremy-corbyns-allies-drawing-emergency-plans-amid-fears-may/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=2019-05-26 |title=Qatari media incites boycott of Bahrain's Palestinian workshop, but ignores leaks about own regime attendance |url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/1502356/media |access-date=2022-09-19 |website=Arab News |language=en |archive-date=20 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920173219/https://www.arabnews.com/node/1502356/media |url-status=live }}

MEMO is financed by the State of Qatar.{{Cite book |last=Willi |first=Victor J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=074OEAAAQBAJ&q=qatar+%22middle+east+monitor%22 |title=The Fourth Ordeal: A History of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, 1968-2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-108-83064-5 |pages=373 |access-date=14 November 2024}}{{Cite journal |last=Cherkaoui |first=Tarek |date=December 2018 |title=Qatar's public diplomacy, international broadcasting, and the Gulf Crisis |url=https://risingpowersproject.com/qatars-public-diplomacy-international-broadcasting-and-the-gulf-crisis/ |url-status=dead |journal=Rising Powers Quarterly |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=127–149 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240613031008/https://risingpowersproject.com/qatars-public-diplomacy-international-broadcasting-and-the-gulf-crisis/ |archive-date=13 June 2024 |access-date=18 September 2022}} Its director is Daud Abdullah, former Deputy Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain{{Cite journal |last=Cordoba Foundation |author-link=Cordoba Foundation |date=Winter 2012 |title=Egypt's Revolution and the Palestine Question |url=http://thecordobafoundation.com/arches-quarterly-vol-6-edition-10/ |journal=Arches Quarterly |volume=6 |issue=10 |pages=63}}{{Cite web |last=Palestine Book Awards |title=Dr Daud Abdullah |url=https://www.palestinebookawards.com/about/executive/item/dr-daud-abdullah |access-date=15 November 2024 |website=Palestine Book Awards |publication-date=2024 |archive-date=15 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240715013108/https://www.palestinebookawards.com/about/executive/item/dr-daud-abdullah |url-status=live }} and the current director of the British Muslim Initiative.{{Cite web |date=2015-02-08 |title=How the Muslim Brotherhood fits into a network of extremism |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/11398538/How-the-Muslim-Brotherhood-fits-into-a-network-of-extremism.html |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=The Telegraph |language=en}}

Events

In June 2011, MEMO organized a speaking tour for Raed Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. Salah, who was banned from entering the UK by the home secretary, was held in custody pending deportation until April 2012, when an immigration tribunal ruled that the home secretary had been misled.{{Cite news |last=Quinn |first=Ben |date=2012-04-08 |title=Palestinian activist wins appeal against deportation |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/apr/09/activist-deportation-overturned?intcmp=239 |access-date=2024-12-22 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

In 2011, MEMO co-organized an event with Amnesty International and Palestine Solidarity Campaign entitled "Complicity in oppression: Do the media aid Israel?" featuring Abdel Bari Atwan.{{Cite web |date=2011-05-24 |title=Amnesty approves controversial anti-Israel event |url=https://www.jpost.com:443/International/Amnesty-approves-controversial-anti-Israel-event |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Dysch |first=Marcus |title=Amnesty to host anti-Israel Atwan talk |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/amnesty-to-host-anti-israel-atwan-talk-tzznpfvm |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=www.thejc.com |language=en}}

On 22 August 2015, MEMO organized an event entitled "Palestine & Latin America: Building solidarity for national rights", featuring allegedly antisemitic cartoonist Carlos Latuff and British Palestinian activist Azzam Tamimi. Jeremy Corbyn was scheduled to appear but pulled out.{{Cite web |last=Jackman |first=Josh |title=Jeremy Corbyn pulls out of conference at which antisemitic cartoonist is due to appear |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/jeremy-corbyn-pulls-out-of-conference-at-which-antisemitic-cartoonist-is-due-to-appear-a85d54no |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=www.thejc.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Horovitz |first=David |date=2015-08-13 |title=Corbyn withdraws from controversial pro-Palestine conference |url=https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/corbyns-speech-at-controversial-pro-palestine-conference-now-doubtful/ |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=Jewish News |language=en-US}}

In November 2017, MEMO organized an event entitled "Crisis in Saudi Arabia: War, Succession and the Future", a discussion of future succession in Saudi Arabia's monarchy, regional rivalries with Iran, and war in Yemen.{{Cite web |last=O'Toole |first=Gavin |title=UK: Leaders, academics raise alarm over Saudi 'crisis' |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/11/18/uk-leaders-academics-raise-alarm-over-saudi-crisis/ |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}

Staff

The staff and contributors of MEMO include Daud Abdullah, Ibrahim Hewitt and Ben White.{{cn|date=November 2023}}

Criticism

In 2011, John Ware of BBC News described MEMO as a pro-Hamas publication.{{Cite news|last=Ware|first=John|date=2011-06-29|title=Questions over Sheikh Raed Salah's UK ban|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-13969105|access-date=2020-11-30|archive-date=19 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230419091949/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-13969105|url-status=live}}

In 2015, Labour Party leadership candidate Liz Kendall said: "It seems deeply unwise for Jeremy [Corbyn] to appear on at{{sic}} a conference organised by MEMO, an organisation that the Community Security Trust has said is infamous for repeated negative conspiracy theories about Israel and Jewish people in public life."{{cite web | last=Walters | first=Louisa | title=Corbyn withdraws from controversial pro-Palestine conference | website=Jewish News | date=13 August 2015 | url=https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/corbyns-speech-at-controversial-pro-palestine-conference-now-doubtful/ | access-date=18 April 2024 | archive-date=18 April 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418115333/https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/corbyns-speech-at-controversial-pro-palestine-conference-now-doubtful/ | url-status=live }} The Trust describes MEMO as an anti-Israel organisation that promotes conspiracy theories and myths about Jews, Zionists, money and power.{{cite news |last1=Pfeffer |first1=Anshel |title=Loony-left Front-runner for Britain's Labour Leader Gives anti-Zionism a Bad Name |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.666966 |date=20 July 2015 |access-date=19 August 2015 |archive-date=18 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150818164516/http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.666966 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/uk-jews-wary-over-labour-candidates-support-for-hamas-hezbollah/ |title=UK Jews wary over Labour candidate's support for Hamas, Hezbollah |work=The Times of Israel |date=13 July 2015 |access-date=13 June 2017 |archive-date=31 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170531115406/http://www.timesofisrael.com/uk-jews-wary-over-labour-candidates-support-for-hamas-hezbollah/ |url-status=live }}{{undue inline|reason=CST is a charity and the original material appears to come from a blog)|date=April 2024}} It said that MEMO had "questioned the suitability of Matthew Gould for the post of UK ambassador to Israel simply because he was Jewish".{{undue inline|reason=CST is a charity and the original material appears to come from a blog)|date=April 2024}}

The same year, Andrew Gilligan, a reporter for The Sunday Telegraph, described it as "a news site which promotes a strongly pro-[Muslim] Brotherhood and pro-Hamas view of the region," its director Daud Abdullah as "a leader of the Brotherhood-linked British Muslim Initiative, set up and run by the Brotherhood activist Anas al-Tikriti and two senior figures in Hamas," and its senior editor, Ibrahim Hewitt, as chairman of Interpal, which he said was also linked to Hamas and the Brotherhood. Gilligan noted its location at Crown House, which he described as a "hub" of the Muslim Brotherhood's European activities.{{Cite web |date=2015-02-08 |title=How the Muslim Brotherhood fits into a network of extremism |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/11398538/How-the-Muslim-Brotherhood-fits-into-a-network-of-extremism.html |access-date=2024-03-24 |website=The Telegraph |language=en |archive-date=9 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709154823/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/11398538/How-the-Muslim-Brotherhood-fits-into-a-network-of-extremism.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web | title=Jeremy Corbyn, friend to Hamas, Iran and extremists | website=The Telegraph | date=30 July 2020 | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11749043/Andrew-Gilligan-Jeremy-Corbyn-friend-to-Hamas-Iran-and-extremists.html | access-date=18 April 2024 | archive-date=9 July 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709225648/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11749043/Andrew-Gilligan-Jeremy-Corbyn-friend-to-Hamas-Iran-and-extremists.html | url-status=live }}Perry, D.L., 2020. [https://icsr.info/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ICSR-Report-The-Islamic-Movement-in-Britain.pdf The Islamic Movement in Britain] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418121530/https://icsr.info/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ICSR-Report-The-Islamic-Movement-in-Britain.pdf |date=18 April 2024 }}. International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence. London: King’s College.

Palestine Book Awards

Since 2012, MEMO sponsors and organizes the annual Palestine Book Awards.{{cite web |last1=Gadoua |first1=Renée K. |title='My Poetry Is a Record of What Happened' Says Palestinian MFA Student Mosab Abu Toha G'23 |url=https://news.syr.edu/blog/2023/05/02/my-poetry-is-a-record-of-what-happened-says-mfa-student-mosab-abu-toha-g23/ |publisher=Syracuse University |access-date=7 November 2023 |date=2 May 2023 |archive-date=7 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231107173736/https://news.syr.edu/blog/2023/05/02/my-poetry-is-a-record-of-what-happened-says-mfa-student-mosab-abu-toha-g23/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Contact Us |url=https://www.palestinebookawards.com/contact?highlight=WyJlYXN0IG1vbml0b3IiXQ== |publisher=Palestine Book Awards |access-date=7 November 2023 |language=en-gb |archive-date=7 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231107173735/https://www.palestinebookawards.com/contact?highlight=WyJlYXN0IG1vbml0b3IiXQ== |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=About the Palestine Book Awards |url=https://www.palestinebookawards.com/about |publisher=Palestine Book Awards |access-date=7 November 2023 |language=en-gb |archive-date=7 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231107173736/https://www.palestinebookawards.com/about |url-status=live }} The award is intended for books in English on various Palestinian topics.{{cite web |title=Academic books a place at an awards ceremony for Palestine book |url=https://www.wlv.ac.uk/news-and-events/latest-news/2022/november-2022/academic-books-a-place-at-an-awards-ceremony-for-palestine-book-.php |publisher=University of Wolverhampton |access-date=7 November 2023 |language=en |date=1 November 2022 |archive-date=7 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231107173737/https://www.wlv.ac.uk/news-and-events/latest-news/2022/november-2022/academic-books-a-place-at-an-awards-ceremony-for-palestine-book-.php |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Professor Sonia Nimer wins Translation Award at 2021 Palestine Book Awards |url=https://www.birzeit.edu/en/news/professor-sonia-nimer-wins-translation-award-2021-palestine-book-awards |publisher=Birzeit University |access-date=7 November 2023 |date=30 November 2021 |archive-date=7 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231107173746/https://www.birzeit.edu/en/news/professor-sonia-nimer-wins-translation-award-2021-palestine-book-awards |url-status=live }}