Americans for Middle East Understanding (AMEU)

Staff members have criticized Israel’s conduct of its war against Hamas after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks against the country. ^{2 3}

Background

Americans for Middle East Understanding AMEU was founded in 1967 by a group of American professionals who had spent time in the Middle East and wanted to correct perceived U.S. antipathy towards Arabs. Their writings reflected a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel point of view and critique many pro-Israel stances by the U.S. government. They published an issue of a periodical called The Link each month, which focuses squarely on one issue related to the Middle East. Their published stances are typically sympathetic to Palestinian causes and critical of Israel. ¹

Activities

Americans for Middle East Understanding’s (AMEU) statements have been cited as inspirational to Muslim groups; a 2017 document by the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) titled “Top Internet Misinformation and Conspiracy Theories About CAIR” pointed to a 2000 statement by AMEU contributor and current CAIR executive director Nihad Awad as the motivation behind CAIR’s 2004 founding: “The core challenge [to American Muslims], that of stereotyping and defamation, was having a devastating effect on our children and paralyzing adults from taking their due roles in civic affairs.” ⁴

AMEU’s primary publication is called The Link and is published online or in print four or five times a year. AMEU charges $40 per year to subscribe. A November 2023 issue titled “AIPAC, Dark Money, and the Assault on Democracy” took aim at the influence of pro-Israel money in U.S. politics. Its authors sought to draw connections between the increasing contributions of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and an increasingly conservative Israeli government, and called for AIPAC (an American advocacy group) to register as an agent of Israel under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). ⁵

A February 2024 publication titled “Ceasefire Now…Silence=Death” accused the United States government of violating international law due to its support of Israel in the Israel-Hamas war. Contributors to this publication assert that Israel should leave Gaza entirely and that Israel and the U.S. are responsible for alleged genocide in Gaza. ⁶

Leadership

Nicholas Griffin is executive director of AMEU. In his role as editor, he has written that Israel’s response to the October 7, 2023 massacre by Hamas was “unhinged aggression” and a “fig leaf for ethnic cleansing.” ⁷ He has offered harsh criticism of Israel’s actions throughout the Israel-Hamas war, and added that the U.S.’s support of Israel negates U.S. credibility to pressure other nations on issues of human rights, climate change, or war. ³

Mimi Kirk is the president of AMEU’s board. She is an adjunct instructor at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS). She is also program manager of the Middle East Studies Association, a research institution focusing on studies of the Middle East. ⁸ She is widely published on Palestinian issues and U.S. policy towards Israel and the Palestinian territories. Recent works include “American Evangelicals, the Gulf States, and Israel: A Cynical Covenant” and “Countering Christian Zionism in the Age of Trump.” She also wrote for AMEU about “The Politics of Archeology: Christian Zionism and Creation of Facts Underground.” ⁹ She is also an editorial consultant for Al Shabaka, a think tank producing research that supports Palestinian efforts against Israel. Kirk has been vocal in support of the spring 2024 college campus protests against Israel during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. ²

John Mahoney joined AMEU in 1979, after spending several years leading student groups on Middle East tours. He worked as executive director for part of the 1980s, during which time he testified at the UN North American Symposium on the Question of Palestine. In that testimony, he accused the U.S. government of violating the law by providing arms to Israel, and accused Israel of violating international law during the 1982 Lebanon war. Mahoney still served on the board as of April 2024. ¹⁰

Financials

AMEU earned $183,863 in revenue in 2022 and incurred $148,929 in expenses. It ended fiscal year 2022 with $23,782 in net assets. ¹¹

In 2001, AMEU received a $20,000 donation from the Olayan Charitable Trust, a New York-based charity affiliated with Saudi conglomerate the Olayan Group. That same year, the Trust donated $50,000 to Columbia University to fund the professorship of Rashid Khalidi, a controversial pro-Palestinian academic. ¹²