Dear Friend:
Now in its 20th year, MEMRI provides cutting-edge research, translations, and analyses to policy makers, legislators, and intelligence and security bodies that make important decisions impacting national security for the U.S. and the rest of the West.
MEMRI research is at the forefront of critical issues, including: Iran's attempts to expand its influence in the Middle East, as well as its missile and nuclear development and threats against the U.S.; the latest on Russia's presence in the region and content from its media; and the continued expansion of ISIS's online presence, including outreach, recruitment, and radicalization efforts, as its footprint on the ground shrinks and its foreign fighters return home, posing a new threat to the West.
Over the past year, MEMRI published nearly 600 translations from print media, over 100 Inquiry and Analysis reports and MEMRI Daily Briefs, and nearly 1,600 Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) and over 250 Cyber & Jihad Lab (CJL) Project reports – in addition to nearly 600 translated media clips. Millions have visited MEMRI websites, viewed MEMRI TV clips, received MEMRI emails, and read and followed MEMRI social media accounts. Additionally, this year we launched new Vimeo and Instagram accounts.
On a daily basis in the U.S., MEMRI serves and assists the U.S. Congress, the White House, and federal agencies: the Departments of State, Homeland Security, and Justice, the National Counterterrorism Center, and more. MEMRI assists law enforcement at the federal, state – in all 50 states – and local levels. MEMRI works with social media companies to identify terrorist content online and support counter-radicalization efforts. We are also continuing to help all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. MEMRI assists 500+ universities, colleges, and other institutes of higher learning, in the U.S. and worldwide, and is used daily by leading media outlets, print and television, in the U.S. and around the world – including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and CNN.
MEMRI research offers an opportunity to better understand and respond to the challenges emanating from the Middle East, from fighting terrorism to promoting reform and human rights. MEMRI is a leader in exposing antisemitism, including calls for the killing of Jews, inciting against Jews and referring to them as apes and pigs; Holocaust denial; promulgation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion; praise for Hitler; and other manifestations of hatred. No other organization is doing the work that MEMRI does. To continue this research and fully fund our research projects for the remainder of this year and into the next, we need donor support. If you enjoy receiving our reports, please consider renewing your support today.
DONATE TO MEMRI TODAY – HELP FIGHT TERRORISM IN THE U.S. AND THE WEST
Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, MEMRI staff worldwide monitor media – including social media and online jihadi forums – sermons, speeches and more, providing this research to U.S. and Western leaders, media, academia, and the public at large.
Highlights of MEMRI’s work this year include: providing research to law enforcement in the U.S. on terrorist threats and to assist criminal trials of terrorists in Canada, Australia, and the UK; presenting research on cyber terrorism threats to U.S. Government officials; and meeting with dozens of legislative staff in Congressional offices to present MEMRI research on terrorist content online and how to encourage technology companies to remove it.
MEMRI also continues to provide research and timely alerts to countries worldwide – including Canada, the U.K., France, Australia, Spain, Romania, Austria, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Belgium, Singapore, and others – about lone-wolf operatives and possible terrorist threats in their countries. And, as concerns increase over threats posed by returning foreign fighters throughout the West, MEMRI continues to track terrorist activity and assist security and intelligence agencies worldwide.
This past year, MEMRI continued its efforts to expose incitement by extremist imams in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, while at the same time seeking out and amplifying the voices of imams preaching tolerance, coexistence, and understanding. MEMRI released translations of hate-filled sermons in cities across the U.S., in California, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Virginia, Tennessee, resulting in public condemnation and public apologies. MEMRI exposed sermons by Imam Aymen Elkasaby at the Islamic Center in Jersey City, NJ, where an "Interfaith Gathering of Unity" had recently taken place, calling on Allah to count these "oppressors" – referring to the Jews – "one by one and kill them down to the very last one" and praying to be martyred at "Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is under the feet of the apes and pigs" – i.e. the Jews. Following this exposure by MEMRI, the president of the Tri-State Imams Council, Imam Mohamed Moussa, who is connected to the authorization of imams in the East Coast area, announced a workshop for training U.S. imams to avoid incitement and hate speech. He warned that calls for killing or harming Jews – which, he added, "many preachers recite by heart" – are illegal in America and that there are "institutions of Islamophobia" and "entire organizations, with budgets in the millions, whose only job is [to monitor] us."
In France, public prosecutors are investigating a prominent imam in Toulouse, after a MEMRI translation exposed his call for killing Jews in a sermon. French authorities also raided and froze the assets of a pro-Iran pro-Hezbollah Islamic center, which had been noted in MEMRI reports, after it was implicated in a thwarted terror attack. In Denmark, a Copenhagen imam was indicted for calling for the murder of Jews, after he was exposed in a MEMRI translation of his sermon calling for killing Jews. In Canada, a MEMRI TV clip of an extremist speech at a Quds Day rally in Toronto led Ontario's incoming premier to vow to pursue measures to ban these events, and MEMRI's exposure of hateful sermons by a Vancouver imam led the British Columbia premier to rescind a civil recognition award recently bestowed upon him. In Australia, a former prime minister withdrew from an event after MEMRI translated another event speaker's call for jihad in a sermon.
SUPPORT MEMRI RESEARCH ON IRANIAN THREATS TO U.S. AND FARSI TRANSLATIONS
MEMRI continues to follow developments in Iran's ballistic missile program, its ongoing expansion and activity in the Middle East, including in Syria and Yemen, and signs of its economic collapse as the U.S. moves to fully reimpose sanctions. It is continuing to document Iran's efforts to keep the JCPOA nuclear deal alive despite its own ongoing violations of it, and to monitor Iranian threats to the U.S, and Israel – including, most recently, a highly choreographed military foot drill by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) illustrating the destruction of the White House with a Star of David on top, viewed by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, during which the soldiers sang "Death to America... is the cry of my life!"
TRANSLATING AND ANALYZING RUSSIAN MEDIA AND ITS POTENTIAL IMPLICATIONS FOR THE WEST
As Russia seeks to further expand its role and influence into the Middle East and parts of Europe, MEMRI monitors, translates, and analyzes articles, statements, and other content from all Russian media outlets, the Kremlin, and other sources, in order to provide Western leaders with up-to-date information and background for decision-making.
OTHER PROJECTS STILL NEEDING FUNDING THIS YEAR:
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The Reform Project identifies and amplifies the voices of those in the region who advocate reform and human rights and speak out against violent extremism and anti-Semitism. The project's new, dedicated website features sections on Education, Women's Studies, Counter-Radicalization, Combatting Anti-Semitism, LGBTQ Issues, Democratization, Religious Minorities, and Secularism and Civil Society, as well as notable reformists.
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The Palestinian Media Studies Project exposes antisemitic, anti-U.S., pro-jihad, and inciting statements by Palestinian leaders, including in Hamas, as well as what they say about the prospects for peace. We continue to publish research on Palestinian Authority funding for the families of prisoners and "martyrs" – information for which MEMRI is the main source. Our extensive research on the Gaza "Return March" and border unrest this summer drew millions of visits to MEMRI websites and views of MEMRI TV clips.
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The Turkish Media Studies Project, over the past year, has focused on antisemitism in the Turkish print and broadcast media and social media, as well as anti-U.S. sentiment.
WE RELY ON YOU TO CONTINUE OUR WORK – PLEASE SUPPORT MEMRI
Significant resources are required to produce our reports and maintain our websites, and publishing MEMRI TV clips demands extensive and advanced technology as well as the human expertise to operate it – from monitoring, recording and reviewing raw programming, to translation and captioning, to uploading clips online and creating transcripts. No other organization is doing the work that MEMRI does.
It is only because of you that MEMRI can continue this important work. Please support MEMRI TODAY. MEMRI is a 501(c)(3) organization, and every dollar you give is tax-deductible.
Those who already support us understand the value and uniqueness of our work. Please consider helping sustain MEMRI for the long term with a recurring, monthly donation. Donating online minimizes our administrative costs. To donate online, please click here. If you prefer, you may mail your gift to: MEMRI, P.O. Box 27837, Washington, DC 20038-7837.
In gratitude for your consideration,
