Middle East Monitor

Not-for-profit press monitoring organisation

Middle East Monitor

Founded| 1 July 2009
Location|

* London, United Kingdom

Product| Translation and original analysis services
Method| Media monitoring
Website| middleeastmonitor.com

The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) is a not-for-profit press monitoring organisation[1] and lobbying group[2][3] that emerged in mid 2009.[4] 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,[5][6][7] and has been labelled by some commentators as pro-Islamist,[8][9] pro-Muslim Brotherhood,[10][11] and pro-Hamas.[12][13]

MEMO is financed by the State of Qatar.[14][15] Its director is Daud Abdullah, former Deputy Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain[16][17] and the current director of the British Muslim Initiative.[18]

## Events

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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.[19][20]

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.[21][22]

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.[23][24]

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.[25]

## Staff

[edit]

The staff and contributors of MEMO include Daud Abdullah, Ibrahim Hewitt and Ben White.[citation needed]

## Criticism

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In 2011, John Ware of BBC News described MEMO as a pro-Hamas publication.[19]

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."[26] The Trust describes MEMO as an anti-Israel organisation that promotes conspiracy theories and myths about Jews, Zionists, money and power.[27][28][26][undue weight? - discuss] It said that MEMO had "questioned the suitability of Matthew Gould for the post of UK ambassador to Israel simply because he was Jewish".[28][undue weight? - discuss]

In 2016, Yiftah Curiel, an employee of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and spokesman for Israel's embassy in London,[29] wrote that some of the staff of MEMO as well as the similar Middle East Eye are also active in Interpal, which has been designated in Israel as a terror-supporting group, as well as being on the United States Treasury's list of specially-designated terrorist organisations.[30][31] The site itself is sympathetic to Hamas, and the Hamas website and social media accounts post and share material from the Middle East Monitor.[32]

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.[33][34][35]

## Palestine Book Awards

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Since 2012, MEMO sponsors and organizes the annual Palestine Book Awards.[36][37][38] The award is intended for books in English on various Palestinian topics.[39][40]

## See also

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* Al-Monitor
* Middle East Eye
* The New Arab
* Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

## References

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1. ^ Vorhies, Zach; Heckenlively, Kent (3 August 2021). Google Leaks: A Whistleblower's Exposé of Big Tech Censorship. Skyhorse Publishing. p. 90\. ISBN 978-1-5107-6736-2.
2. ^ Zeffman, Henry Zeffman (21 August 2018). "Jeremy Corbyn referred to watchdog over 2010 Hamas visit". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
3. ^ "Corbyn met terror leaders, but not Jews, on trip to Israel in 2010 — report". Times of Israel. 21 August 2018. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
4. ^ Ehud Rosen (2010). Mapping the Organizational Sources of the Global Delegitimization Campaign against Israel in the UK (PDF). Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. pp. 33–35\. ISBN 978-965-218-094-0. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 September 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
5. ^ Smyrnaios, Nikos; Ratinaud, Pierre (January 2017). "The Charlie Hebdo Attacks on Twitter: A Comparative Analysis of a Political Controversy in English and French" (PDF). Social Media + Society. 3 (1). SAGE Publishing: 7. doi:10.1177/2056305117693647. ISSN 2056-3051. S2CID 151668905. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 March 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
6. ^ Rosenfeld, Arno (7 October 2021). "Nike isn't boycotting Israel — despite reports to the contrary". The Forward. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
7. ^ Altikriti, Anas (27 April 2010). "Muslim voters come of age". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
8. ^ Black, Ian (29 June 2011). "Sheikh Raed Salah: Islamic Movement leader loathed by the Israeli right". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
9. ^ Levy, Eylon (20 August 2018). "EXCLUSIVE: Jeremy Corbyn's secret trip to Israel to meet Hamas". i24news. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
10. ^ Cook, Steven A. (16 October 2013). "Egypt: Reductio Ad Absurdum". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
11. ^ Knipp, Kersten (30 September 2016). "The flight out of Egypt". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
12. ^ Yorke, Harry; Tominey, Camilla (21 September 2018). "Jeremy Corbyn's allies drawing up emergency plans amid fears he may be suspended over 'undeclared trips'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
13. ^ "Qatari media incites boycott of Bahrain's Palestinian workshop, but ignores leaks about own regime attendance". Arab News. 26 May 2019. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
14. ^ Willi, Victor J. (2021). The Fourth Ordeal: A History of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, 1968-2018. Cambridge University Press. p. 373\. ISBN 978-1-108-83064-5. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
15. ^ Cherkaoui, Tarek (December 2018). "Qatar's public diplomacy, international broadcasting, and the Gulf Crisis". Rising Powers Quarterly. 3 (3): 127–149\. Archived from the original on 13 June 2024. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
16. ^ Cordoba Foundation (Winter 2012). "Egypt's Revolution and the Palestine Question". Arches Quarterly. 6 (10): 63.
17. ^ Palestine Book Awards (2024). "Dr Daud Abdullah". Palestine Book Awards. Archived from the original on 15 July 2024. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
18. ^ "How the Muslim Brotherhood fits into a network of extremism". The Telegraph. 8 February 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
19. ^ a b Ware, John (29 June 2011). "Questions over Sheikh Raed Salah's UK ban". BBC News. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
20. ^ Quinn, Ben (8 April 2012). "Palestinian activist wins appeal against deportation". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
21. ^ "Amnesty approves controversial anti-Israel event". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 24 May 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
22. ^ Dysch, Marcus. "Amnesty to host anti-Israel Atwan talk". www.thejc.com. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
23. ^ Jackman, Josh. "Jeremy Corbyn pulls out of conference at which antisemitic cartoonist is due to appear". www.thejc.com. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
24. ^ Horovitz, David (13 August 2015). "Corbyn withdraws from controversial pro-Palestine conference". Jewish News. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
25. ^ O'Toole, Gavin. "UK: Leaders, academics raise alarm over Saudi 'crisis'". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
26. ^ a b Walters, Louisa (13 August 2015). "Corbyn withdraws from controversial pro-Palestine conference". Jewish News. Archived from the original on 18 April 2024. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
27. ^ Pfeffer, Anshel (20 July 2015). "Loony-left Front-runner for Britain's Labour Leader Gives anti-Zionism a Bad Name". Archived from the original on 18 August 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
28. ^ a b "UK Jews wary over Labour candidate's support for Hamas, Hezbollah". The Times of Israel. 13 July 2015. Archived from the original on 31 May 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
29. ^ "Yiftah Curiel | The Guardian". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
30. ^ Miller, Sara. "Ex-IDF general: We have elevated occupation to art form". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
31. ^ "Turning a Blind Eye to Hamas in London | The Washington Institute". www.washingtoninstitute.org. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
32. ^ Font of hatred: How Hamas relies on two UK websites, Jewish News, 31 August 2016
33. ^ "How the Muslim Brotherhood fits into a network of extremism". The Telegraph. 8 February 2015. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
34. ^ "Jeremy Corbyn, friend to Hamas, Iran and extremists". The Telegraph. 30 July 2020. Archived from the original on 9 July 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
35. ^ Perry, D.L., 2020. The Islamic Movement in Britain Archived 18 April 2024 at the Wayback Machine. International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence. London: King’s College.
36. ^ Gadoua, Renée K. (2 May 2023). "'My Poetry Is a Record of What Happened' Says Palestinian MFA Student Mosab Abu Toha G'23". Syracuse University. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
37. ^ "Contact Us". Palestine Book Awards. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
38. ^ "About the Palestine Book Awards". Palestine Book Awards. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
39. ^ "Academic books a place at an awards ceremony for Palestine book". University of Wolverhampton. 1 November 2022. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
40. ^ "Professor Sonia Nimer wins Translation Award at 2021 Palestine Book Awards". Birzeit University. 30 November 2021. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.

## External links

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* Official website
* Spanish edition
* Palestine Book Awards, sponsored by MEMO

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States