Middle East Forum

The Middle East Forum, or MEF, is a conservative think tank founded by Daniel Pipes in 1990. According to the organization’s website, its mission is to “promote American interests in the Middle East and protect Western values from Middle Eastern threats.”

The forum had more than $4.6 million in revenue in 2012. It relies upon its publication, the Middle East Quarterly, and a network of monitoring programs - including Campus Watch, Islamist Watch, and the Legal Project - to inculcate fears of “militant Islam” and to monitor the people and organizations whose views contradict Pipes. This organization echoes the alarmist rhetoric of Daniel Pipes by branding Muslims, Sharia, and even the instruction of Arabic as affronts to American freedom.

The Middle East Forum is at the center of the Islamophobia network. MEF has received more than $12 million in funding from donors in the network since 2001, and in turn, it has donated funds to organizations featured in the Islamophobia network, including Zuhdi Jasser's American Islamic Forum for Democracy; Frank Gaffney's Center for Security Policy; Robert Spencer's Jihad Watch; and Steven Emerson's Investigative Project on Terrorism. From 2009 to 2012, the highest recipients of MEF funding have been Investigative Project on Terrorism ($1,409,585) and Center for Security Policy ($260,000).

 

Source: Center for American Progress research is based on 990s filed with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.