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Institutional
Affiliations
Hudson
Institute: Director, Center for Middle East Policy and Senior
Fellow (2001-current) (1)
Middle
East Media Research Institute: Co-Founder and Former Executive
Director (1998-2001) (1, 2, 5)
Jerusalem
Post: Columnist (1)
Ariel Center
for Policy Research: Contributing Expert (3)
Johns Hopkins
University: Instructor (1)
U.S. Naval
Academy: Instructor (1)
Institute
for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies: Study participant
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Highlights
& Quotes
Meyrav Wurmser,
an opponent of the Oslo peace accords and a central neoconservative
figure, is a senior fellow at the right-wing Hudson Institute and
a columnist for the Conrad Black-owned Jerusalem Post.
In 1996 she
helped write a report for Israel's Likud party that urged Israel
to break off then-ongoing peace initiatives. The report, which was
titled "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm"
and was published by the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political
Studies (an Israeli- and DC-based think tank) advised then-Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "to work closely with Turkey
and Jordan to contain, destabilize, and roll-back" regional
threats, help overthrow Saddam Hussein, and strike "Syrian
military targets in Lebanon" and possibly in Syria proper.
Coauthors of the report included Richard Perle, David Wurmser, and
Douglas Feith. (6)
She also cofounded with Yigal Carmon, a former colonel in the Israeli
military intelligence, the Middle East Media and Research Institute
(MEMRI). According to Jim Lobe, MEMRI specializes in translating
and distributing "particularly virulent anti-U.S. and anti-Israel
articles appearing in the Arab press to key U.S. media and policymakers."
(8)
According to
her Hudson Institute bio, Wurmser "helped to educate policymakers
about the Palestinian Authority two-track approach to 'negotiating
peace' with Israel: calling for peace in the English press and with
western policymakers while inciting hatred and violence through
official Arab language media."
Although it
describes itself as "non-partisan," MEMRI--which has offices
in London, Washington, Jerusalem, and Berlin--has frequently been
accused of being nothing more than a propaganda outfit of Israeli
intelligence. According the Guardian, which dug up deleted pages
from MEMRI's web site through the internet archive, "Retrieving
another now-deleted page from the archives of Memri's website also
throws up a list of its staff. Of the six people named, three--including
[Yigal] Carmon--are described as having worked for Israeli intelligence.
Among the other three, one served in the Israeli army's Northern
Command Ordnance Corps, one has an academic background, and the
sixth is a former stand-up comedian." (10)
The Guardian's
Brian Whitaker also reported: "Although Memri claims that it
does provide translations from Hebrew media, I can't recall receiving
any. Evidence from Memri's website also casts doubt on its non-partisan
status. Besides supporting liberal democracy, civil society, and
the free market, the institute also emphasises 'the continuing relevance
of Zionism to the Jewish people and to the state of Israel'. That
is what its website used to say, but the words about Zionism have
now been deleted. The original page, however, can still be found
in internet archives." (10)
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