Saban Center for Middle East Policy
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Saban Center for Middle East Policy is a foreign policy think tank focused on United States' involvement in the Middle East.[1] It was founded in May 2002 and is part of the larger Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institute think tank.
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[edit] Creation
[edit] Funding
The center is named for Haim Saban, an Israeli-American media proprietor. Saban, according to the center[1] and its parent organization[2], "made a generous initial grant and pledged additional funds to endow the Center." According to SourceWatch[3], Saban's initial founding grant totaled 13 million USD.
Saban, according to the center[1], ascribed his involvement to his "abiding interest in promoting Arab-Israeli peace and preserving American interests in the Middle East" that lead him to fund the center.[1] Haim, in an interview with the New York TimesA 2004 interview published in the New York Times[4], said he was motivated to create the center because he had
- "heard from leaders on both sides of the aisle in the United States and leaders in Europe about what [Ariel] Sharon shouldn't do. I've haven't heard one educated suggestion about what he should do."[4]
Saban, according to reports[3], personally recruited Martin Indyk as the center's Director.
[edit] Launch
The center was launched in May 2002 "with a special address by His Majesty King Abdullah II bin al-Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to a select audience of policymakers in Washington, D.C."[1]
[edit] People
- Leadership
- Martin S. Indyk, Director[1]
- Kenneth M. Pollack, Director of Research[1]
- Prominent Fellows
- Daniel L. Byman, Senior Fellow[1]
- Bruce Riedel, Senior Fellow[1]
- Suzanne Maloney, Senior Fellow[1]
- Tamara Cofman Wittes, Senior Fellow[1]
- Michael E. O'Hanlon, Affiliated Fellow[1]
[edit] Criticism
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, in their 2006 deconstruction[5] of the Israel lobby in the United States, highlighted the creation of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy and its Director Martin Indyk.
They write that the Israel lobby "dominates the think tanks which play an important role in shaping public debate as well as actual policy. The Lobby created its own think tank in 1985, when Martin Indyk helped to found WINEP. Although WINEP plays down its links to Israel, claiming instead to provide a 'balanced and realistic' perspective on Middle East issues, it is funded and run by individuals deeply committed to advancing Israel’s agenda."[5] "The Lobby’s influence extends well beyond WINEP, however," according to Mearsheimer and Walt. "Over the past 25 years, pro-Israel forces have established a commanding presence" at the leading Washington, D.C. foreign policy think tanks. The result was that "[these] think tanks employ few, if any, critics of US support for Israel."[5]
Mearsheimer and Walt then mention the Saban Center and the Brooking Institute as an example[5] :
- "Take the Brookings Institution. For many years, its senior expert on the Middle East was William Quandt, a former NSC official with a well-deserved reputation for even-handedness. Today, Brookings’s coverage is conducted through the Saban Center for Middle East Studies, which is financed by Haim Saban, an Israeli-American businessman and ardent Zionist. The centre’s director is the ubiquitous Martin Indyk. What was once a non-partisan policy institute is now part of the pro-Israel chorus."[5]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "About Us", Saban Center for Middle East Policy. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
- ^ "Brookings Announces New Saban Center for Middle East Policy", Brookings Institution, 2002-02-09. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
- ^ a b "Saban Center for Middle East Policy", SourceWatch, 2006-12-07. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
- ^ a b Sorkin, Andrew. "Schlepping to Moguldom", The New York Times, 2004-09-05. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
- ^ a b c d e Mearsheimer, John; Stephen Walt. "The Israel Lobby", The London Review of Books, 2006-03-23. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
