Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME)

The organization was founded by Gerardo Joffe in 1985. ³

Background

Facts and Logic About the Middle East, or FLAME, is a pro-Israel organization that says its goal is to bring to the “mostly uninformed and misinformed” American public the truth about Israel and the Middle East conflict. ²

The Berkley, California-based organization publishes materials that it says increase awareness and understanding of the Middle East. ¹ FLAME says its research and publications are “exposing false propaganda that might harm the interests of the United States and its allies in that area of the world.” ²

FLAME says it mostly publishes monthly hasbarah messages, which means educating and clarifying, to be placed in major media outlets. ⁴

FLAME is critical of the United Nations and stated in a fundraising appeal, “For decades, Israel has suffered humiliation, back-stabbing and outright Jew-hatred in the U.N.—just this past year, the U.N. voted to condemn Israel in 17 resolutions, compared with just 6 resolutions against brutal nations like Iran, Syria, North Korea and Myanmar.” ⁵

Gerardo Joffe founded Facts and Logic About the Middle East in 1985 and was its first president. He was with his family that fled Berlin, Germany in 1938. Joffe was the founder and president of Haverhills, a direct mail business. Joffe wrote more than 130 of FLAME’s early pro-Israel articles. He died in July 2018. ³

Controversies

In 1998, a Facts and Logic About the Middle East ad described Islam was “virulent” and blamed the religion for promoting violence against the U.S. and Israel. When a reporter asked about the language, FLAME’s founder Gerardo Joffe said, “All Arab Muslims may not be a bunch of fanatics, but I’ve never met one who isn’t.” ⁶

In 2005, FLAME ran a paid editorial message that said: “Yes, move all Jews from Gaza and even from those parts of the ‘West Bank’ that might eventually be ceded to form an autonomous Arab entity and repatriate them to ‘Israel proper.’ But at the same time, evacuate all Arabs from Israel and resettle them in Gaza, the ‘West Bank,’ or wherever they might want to go. Such exchange of populations would be drastic, but certainly not unprecedented. The vast exchange of Muslims and non-Muslims on the Indian subcontinent, though accompanied by much bloodshed, is perhaps the best and ultimately most successful example of such population exchange.” ⁷

Clashes With Media

Facts and Logic About the Middle East contends that the media “are with few exceptions biased against Israel.” ²

FLAME has run advertising in publications such as the New York Times, The Nation, National Review, The American Spectator, The Washington Times, the international edition of the Jerusalem Post, Forward, and several college newspapers. ^{8 6} FLAME also publishes paid editorial messages in about 50 small town newspapers in the United States and Canada. ⁸

In 1990, New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis denounced a FLAME ad as a “sorry evasion of reality.” ⁶

A Los Angeles Times column in 2005 quipped the organization “must literally buy its way into print,” writing that “FLAME might seem a fair example of over-the-top Jewish extremism. But the center is always defined by the extremes.” ⁷

After the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack in Israel that killed about 1,400 mostly civilian Israelis the organization said in a fundraising pitch, “Surely CNN and the NYT won’t bring you reports of sadistic terrorists shooting Israelis in their homes and cars, dragging a bloody, half-naked woman’s body into a Gaza street for mutilation by the rabble.” It says, “We can, however, expect to read about the ‘cycle of violence’ or blaming the war on Israel’s ‘occupation’—though Israel fully left Gaza 18 years ago!” ⁵

The fundraising appeal gives examples of what it says were false reporting by the New York Times, CNN, and NPR. It said, “These are exactly the kind of media lies we at FLAME fight against—balancing our anger at the malicious, unfair media bias . . . with joy when we win. In the end, we come back with recharged energy and determination to defeat the bad guys.” ⁵

Donors

The group says it has about 40,000 donors, mostly contributing $100 or less. The organization says most of the money is spent toward paying for publication of its messages, and that most work is provided on a volunteer basis. The group says it is “fiercely independent” and has almost no foundation support. ⁸

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund contributed $10,881 to Facts and Logic About the Middle East in 2021. ¹

Alexander Family Foundation contributed $1,000 to FLAME in 2021. ¹

The Eva and Marvin Schlanger Family Foundation contributed $500 to FLAME in 2021. ¹

Leadership

James Sinkinson is the president of Facts and Logic About the Middle East. He joined the governing board in 2005. He became vice president in 2007. Sinkinson’s background is in advertising and publishing. He founded the company Infocom Group. Sinkinson lives in Oakland, California. ³ The organization paid him $75,340, according to 2021 tax information. ¹

Aliza Nogradi is the secretary and treasurer of the board of directors for FLAME. He lives in Durham, North Carolina. ³
Ira Ross, a resident of Orinda, California, is an independent voting member of the board. He joined in 2016. ³

Susan Ross of Orinda, California, is an independent voting member of the board since 2016. ³

Jaclyn Schiff of Chicago, Illinois, is an independent voting member of the board of directors. She joined the board in 2016. ⁹