The ''Washington Report on Middle East Affairs'' (also known as ''The Washington Report'' and WRMEA) 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,Linda Greenhouse

''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', January 15, 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 Criticism of Israel is a subject of journalistic and scholarly commentary and research within the scope of international relations theory, expressed in terms of political science. Israel has faced international criticism since its establishment ...

History

The ''Washington Report'' is published by the

American Educational Trust The ''Washington Report on Middle East Affairs'' (also known as ''The Washington Report'' and WRMEA) is an American foreign policy magazine that focuses on the Middle East and U.S. policy in the region.Edward Firth Henderson, former British Ambassador to Qatar,

Andrew Killgore Andrew Ivy Killgore (November 7, 1919 – December 20, 2016) was an American diplomat and a U.S. Foreign Service Officer. He was ambassador of the United States to Qatar from 1977 until his retirement from the U.S. Foreign Service in 1980. Ea ...

, who was U.S. Ambassador to

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

when he retired from the

United States Foreign Service The United States Foreign Service is the primary personnel system used by the diplomatic service of the United States federal government, under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of over 13,000 professionals carr ...

in 1980, and Richard Curtiss, a former head of the Arabic Service of the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

. Killgore is the publisher and Curtiss 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 the

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent agency of the United States government that enforces U.S. campaign finance laws and oversees U.S. federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Campaign ...

had improperly refused to label

American Israel Public Affairs Committee The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC ) is a pro-Israel lobbying group that advocates its policies to the legislative and executive branches of the United States. It is one of several pro-Israel lobbying organizations in the ...

(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 of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

. The Supreme Court ruled in a majority decision that the plaintiffs had the right to raise issues regarding AIPAC, but referred 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 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 West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. 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 British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and U.S. diplomats objecting to US policy towards Israel and the Palestinians, especially then Prime Minister

Ariel Sharon Ariel Sharon ( ; also known by his diminutive Arik, ; 26 February 192811 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the prime minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. Born in Kfar Malal in Mandatory Palestin ...

's plan to leave Gaza without bothering to negotiate with Palestinian representatives. AET sponsored a day-long seminar at the

National Press Club A press club is an organization for journalists and others who are professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a 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 ''Baltimore Jewish Times'' is a weekly newspaper aimed at the Jewish community of Baltimore. History The newspaper was founded in 1919 by David Alter, and at one time it was the largest Jewish publication in the country.Dechter, GadFoxy Mee ...

'', the seminar discussed "the so-called

Jewish lobby The Jewish lobby are individuals and groups predominantly in the Jewish diaspora that advocate for the interests of Jews and Jewish values. The lobby references the involvement and influence of Jews in politics and the political process, and ...

’s power to influence politicians on Capitol Hill and the Obama administration," noting that "factual inaccuracies throughout the day were plenty".

Editorial positions

The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

said in 2004 that WRMEA's reporting 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 Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. ''WRMEA'' publishes listings of pro-Israel

political action committee In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...

contributions to congressional candidates for each Congress, as well as elected representatives' voting records during each Congress. This resource has been quoted by a number of publications over the years.

Criticism

Pro-Israel and Jewish activists have criticized the ''Washington Report'' as conspiratorial and polemical in its criticism of Israel. In the ''

Middle East Quarterly The Middle East Forum (MEF) is an American conservative 501(c)(3) think tank founded in 1990 by Daniel Pipes, who now serves as its chairman. Gregg Roman serves as director of the forum. MEF became an independent non-profit organization in 19 ...

'' in 1997, Michael Lewis of

AIPAC The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC ) is a pro-Israel lobbying group that advocates its policies to the legislative and executive branches of the United States. It is one of several pro-Israel lobbying organizations in the ...

claimed the ''Washington Report'' was the "most conspiratorially-minded of the anti-Israel forces" for promoting conspiracy theories about Israel, including regarding the

USS Liberty incident The USS ''Liberty'' incident was an attack on a United States Navy technical research ship (a spy ship), , by Israeli Air Force jet fighter aircraft and Israeli Navy motor torpedo boats, on 8 June 1967, during the Six-Day War. The combine ...

, and for accusing Israel and

Zionists Zionism is an ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the Jewish people, pursued through the colonization of Palestine, a region roughly cor ...

of being collectively responsible for many issues in the United States and the Middle East. Pro-Israel critics quoted in ''

Jewish Journal ''The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles'', known simply as the ''Jewish Journal'', is an independent, nonprofit community weekly newspaper serving the Jewish community of greater Los Angeles, published by the nonprofit TRIBE Media Corp. It ...

'' 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 ''Jewish World Review'' is a politically conservative, online magazine updated Monday through Friday (except for legal holidays and holy days), which seeks to appeal to "people of faith and those interested in learning more about contemporary ...

'' that 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 Rafael Medoff (born 1959) is an American professor of Jewish history and the founding director of The David Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, which is based in Washington, D.C. and focuses on issues related to America's response t ...

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 the magnitude of

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, listing the names of Jewish publishers of leading U.S. newspapers to demonstrate 'Zionist' control of the media, and accusing Israel of '

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

-style'

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

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 Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American activist. Lewinsky became internationally known in the late 1990s after U.S. President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an affair with her during her days as a White House intern ...

scandal to the assassination of

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

." During the

George W. Bush administration George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following his narrow electoral college vict ...

, the Anti-Defamation League criticized the publication for hosting an essay by

Paul Craig Roberts Paul Craig Roberts (born April 3, 1939) is an American economist and author. He formerly held a sub-cabinet office in the United States federal government as well as teaching positions at several U.S. universities. He is a promoter of supply-side ...

in which he writes the "fanatical

neoconservatives Neoconservatism (colloquially neocon) is a political movement which began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist Democratic Party along with the growing New Left and ...

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 The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), formerly the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, is an American non-profit pro-Israel media-monitoring, research and membership organization. ...

("CAMERA") in 2006 described ''Washington Report'' as being "virulently anti-Israel". In February 2010,

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

reported that the ''Washington Report'' had deleted from a 2007 article a comment by

Rashad Hussain Rashad Hussain is an American attorney, diplomat, and professor, who served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Associate White House Counsel, and as U.S. Special Envoy of President Barack Obama to the Or ...

, the newly appointed U.S. envoy to the

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC; ; ), formerly the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, is an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1969. It consists of Member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, 57 member s ...

(OIC), calling the prosecution of

Sami Al-Arian Sami Amin Al-Arian (; born January 14, 1958) is a Kuwaiti-born political activist of Palestinian origin who was a computer engineering professor at University of South Florida. During the Clinton administration and Bush administration, he was ...

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 the event. But article's author, Shereen Kandil, told Fox News that she had not confused the two people. The

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

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 the remarks.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Washington Report On Middle East Affairs Middle Eastern studies in the United States Mass media about the Arab–Israeli conflict Political magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1982 Magazines published in Washington, D.C. Eight times annually magazines published in the United States 1982 establishments in Washington, D.C.

History

Editorial positions

Criticism

See also

References

External links