Your support allows us to do so much more than publish articles, although there have been 323 articles so far in 2017 by 56 Forum experts in 81 media outlets read by over 15 million people.
Once a classic think-tank, we have evolved into a think & action tank.
Most notably, we have been arguing through 2017 for a decisive Israel victory and, according to The Guardian, Al-Monitor, and NPR, Donald Trump adopted our view when he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and ordered the embassy moved there. This extraordinary step completes a process that began with the creation of Israel 70 years ago and MEF is privileged to have played any part in the decision.
We are fighting on many fronts, taking the initiative, and getting results. A sampling of our 2017 activities follows:
Israel Victory Project – We launched the bipartisan Congressional Israel Victory Caucus (CIVC) and the Knesset Israel Victory Caucus (KIVC) – with 32 and 26 members respectively – as we influenced senior members of the Trump administration. Our success drew the ire of Soros-backed, anti-Israel J-Street; the Syrian regime (which called our effort “more dangerous than hurricanes”), and Code Pink – its activist disrupted our Capital Hill event and facedcriminal charges.
Extreme Vetting of Muslim Immigrants – We produced a detailed plan to identify and weed out Islamist immigrants, differentiating them from moderate Muslims. We also met with eight senior Trump administration officials and the House and Senate committees on Homeland Security to discuss implementation of the plan. A congressional bill is in the works.
UNRWA Reform – We seek to end UNRWA policies that lead to “Palestine refugees” growing without limit – something that hurts both Palestinians and Israel. Our work lead to language in the 2017 Omnibus Appropriations Bill that requires the State Department 1) to publicly analyze whether U.S. support for UNRWA is justified; and 2) to declassify a report on how many individuals currently considered Palestine “refugees” were actually displaced in 1948-49, and how many are currently supported by U.S. aid. These are small but vital steps on the road to true UNRWA reform.
Protecting the Public Discussion of Islam – Thanks in part to our support, a Quebec Superior Court found feminist author Djemila Benhabib not guilty of defamation for criticizing a Montreal Islamist school. “From now on freedom of expression will be better off in our democratic society,” said Ms. Benhabib. “In helping me, the Middle East Forum’s Legal Project has played such an important part in that matter.”
Denying Taxpayer Funds to Islamists – We are working to end the Department of Homeland Security’s Obama-era practice of awarding Countering Violent Extremism grants to, and partnering with, Islamist groups. Toward that end, we sued DHS in federal court after the agency failed to respond to our Freedom of Information Act request for documents about the grant selection process and lists of grantees. Subsequently, DHS stopped funding the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
Defunding Islamist Groups – Our Defunding Islamist Groups (DIG) project seeks to deprive Islamist groups of corporate and community foundation funding, while also denying them the legitimization major American brands offer. For example, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation – the world’s largest community-based charitable foundation – donates to Islamist groups, so we took the offensive against it. The foundation responded by calling MEF “dangerous to our democracy,” yet we’re hopeful SVCF will stop funding CAIR and Islamic Relief. We have already successfully persuaded many foundations, including Pfizer, General Electric and Ecolab, to end such funding.
Marginalizing Islamist Groups among Politicians – We convinced Rep. Ellison (D-MN) twice to withdraw from Islamist group conventions by publicizi
A lot has to do with Un-doing what BHO did!