The Middle East Research and Information Project is a left-leaning research group established in 1971 that publishes articles and research papers concerning political and social issues in the Middle East. ¹ The organization is tied to various left-leaning activists and has been criticized for its anti-Israel positions and sympathy for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. ²

The Middle East Research and Information Project was originally founded by anti-Vietnam war activists and began publishing research papers in the early 1970s. The institute’s flagship publication is the Middle East Report. The Project aims to promote substantial changes to U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and to promote left-of-center policies within Middle Eastern countries. ³

Background

The Middle East Research and Information Project was founded in 1971 by several anti-war activists with the intention of promoting left-of-center policies in the Middle East. The organization is very critical of American foreign policy in the region, with historian George Simpson noting that the Project has become a platform for “more and more academics advancing their revisionist interpretations of U.S. foreign policy.” ⁴

The Middle East Research and Information Project has also been criticized for its frequent criticism of Israel, publishing articles that support Palestinian claims to Israel’s territory and support the left-wing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. ⁵ The Middle East Research and Information Project publishes articles written by academics, including academics with noted anti-Israel bias such as New York University professor Zachary Lockman. ⁶

People

Joe Stork founded the Middle East Research and Information Project. Stork is a noted left-of-center activist who currently works as deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. Stork’s work focuses on alleged human rights abuses in Iraq, Bahrain, Egypt, and Israel. ⁷ Stork has been criticized for using particularly inflammatory language towards Israel in the Middle East Research and Information Project’s early publications, justifying a 1974 terrorist attack on an Israeli school by writing, “All Israeli settlers are potential targets of the Palestinian resistance.” ^{8 9}

1. “Middle East Research and Information Project, Inc. (MERIP).” JSTOR. Accessed September 18, 2020. https://www.jstor.org/publisher/merip
2. “Experts or Ideologues? Joe Stork .” NGO Monitor. September 8, 2009. Accessed September 18, 2020. https://www.ngo-monitor.org/reports/experts_or_ideologues_joe_stork/
3. “Middle East Research and Information Project, Inc. (MERIP).” JSTOR. Accessed September 18, 2020. https://www.jstor.org/publisher/merip
4. Simpson, George L. “Revisiting the U.S. Role in Three Middle East Crises.” Middle East Forum. Summer 2018. https://www.meforum.org/7242/revisiting-the-us-role-in-three-middle-east-crises
5. “Experts or Ideologues? Joe Stork .” NGO Monitor. September 8, 2009. Accessed September 18, 2020. https://www.ngo-monitor.org/reports/experts_or_ideologues_joe_stork/
6. Caschetta, A.J. “Anti-Israel NYU: The Gaza of Greenwich Village.” Middle East Forum. September 10, 2020. Accessed September 18, 2020. https://www.meforum.org/61506/anti-israel-nyu-the-gaza-of-greenwich-village
7. “Joe Stork.” Human Rights Watch. Accessed September 19, 2020. https://www.hrw.org/about/people/joe-stork-0
8. “Experts or Ideologues? Joe Stork .” NGO Monitor. September 8, 2009. Accessed September 18, 2020. https://www.ngo-monitor.org/reports/experts_or_ideologues_joe_stork/
9. “Experts or Ideologues? Joe Stork .” NGO Monitor. September 8, 2009. Accessed September 18, 2020. https://www.ngo-monitor.org/reports/experts_or_ideologues_joe_stork/