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Revision as of 21:52, 10 April 2004 by Mustafaa (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Middle East Media Research Institute is a organization headquartered in Washington, DC with an office in Israel. According to its literature, it was established in 1978 to 'inform the debate over U.S. policy in the Middle East'. Memri translates Arabic and Persian media. It describes itself as an 'independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit, 501 (c)3 organization'.
Critics of MEMRI charge that its choice of articles is intended to portray Arabs and Muslims in a bad light, or in general further the interests of Israel. They note that of six major staff members listed on MEMRI's original website (MEMRI's site no longer includes a list of staff members), four - Meyrav Wurmser, Aluma Solnick, Yotam Feldner and its president Colonel Yigal Carmon - are listed as having worked for Israeli intelligence in the past, and a fifth, Stacey Lakind, had been National Coordinator for the Student Department of the World Zionist Organization. Only one, Aaron Mannes, is not described as having done anything that would imply a strong previous commitment to Israel.
However, MEMRI is one of the few sources of English language translations of material published in Arabic and Persian. It provides a view into the intra-Arab and intra-Muslim dialog that is often otherwise unavailable to English speakers that are not literate in Arabic or Persian.
Translations from MEMRI have sometimes been used by the The New York Times.