Saban Center for Middle East Policy

Saban Center for Middle East Policy is a center within the Brookings Institution focused on the United States' involvement in the Middle East.cite news
first=
last=
authorlink=
url=http://www.brookings.edu/saban/about.aspx
title= About Us
publisher= Saban Center for Middle East Policy
location =
date=
accessdate=2008-05-07] It was founded in May 2002 and according to its website, “The Saban Center conducts original research and develops innovative programs to promote a better understanding of the policy choices facing American decision makers in the Middle East.” [ [http://www.brookings.edu/saban.aspx About Us, Saban Center for Middle East Policy] , Brookings Institution]

Creation

Funding

The center is named for Haim Saban, an Israeli-American media proprietor. Saban, according to the center and its parent organizationcite news
first=
last=
authorlink=
url=http://www.brookings.edu/media/NewsReleases/2002/20020509saban.aspx
title= Brookings Announces New Saban Center for Middle East Policy
publisher= Brookings Institution
location =
date=2002-02-09
accessdate=2008-05-07] , "made a generous initial grant and pledged additional funds to endow the Center." According to a press release from Saban's charitable foundationcite news
first=
last=
authorlink=
url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2003_June_23/ai_103998774
title= Saban Family Foundation Announces $100 Million in Charitable Gifts; Major Gifts Made To Research, Healthcare and Education Organizations In The U.S. and Israel
publisher= Find Articles
location =
date=2003-06-23
accessdate=2008-07-27] , Saban "donated $13 million for the establishment of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution."

Saban, according to the center, 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. Saban, in an interview with the New York Times 2004 interviewcite news
first=Andrew
last=Sorkin
authorlink=
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/business/yourmoney/05sab.html?ei=5088&en=9eb8c2a72c2b5e7d&ex=1252123200&partner=rssnyt&pagewanted=print&position
title= Schlepping to Moguldom
publisher= The New York Times
location =
date=2004-09-05
accessdate=2008-05-07] , 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| [Ariel] Sharon] shouldn't do. I've haven't heard one educated suggestion about what he should do."

Saban has stated of himself, “I’m a one issue guy, and my issue is Israel” [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/business/yourmoney/05sab.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Schlepping to Moguldom] , New York Times, 5 September 2004] , and was described by the New York Times as a “tireless cheerleader for Israel.” [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/business/yourmoney/05sab.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Schlepping to Moguldom] , New York Times, 5 September 2004] .

Saban, according to reportscite news
first=
last=
authorlink=
url=http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Saban_Center_for_Middle_East_Policy
title= Saban Center for Middle East Policy
publisher= SourceWatch
location =
date=2006-12-07
accessdate=2008-05-07] , personally recruited Martin Indyk, a former Clinton administration official and AIPAC's former deputy director of research, as the center's Director.

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."

People

;Leadership
* Martin S. Indyk, Director
* Kenneth M. Pollack, Director of Research;Prominent Fellows
* Hady Amr, Fellow
* Daniel L. Byman, Senior Fellow
* Bruce Riedel, Senior Fellow
* Stephen Grand, Fellow
* Kristin Lord, Fellow
* Suzanne Maloney, Senior Fellow
* Tamara Cofman Wittes, Senior Fellow
* Michael E. O'Hanlon, Affiliated Fellow

Criticism

John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, in their 2006 deconstructioncite news
first=John
last=Mearsheimer
coauthors = Stephen Walt
authorlink= John Mearsheimer
url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html
title= The Israel Lobby
publisher= The London Review of Books
location =
date=2006-03-23
accessdate=2008-05-07] 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." "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."

Mearsheimer and Walt then mention the Saban Center and the Brooking Institution as an example :

Mearsheimer and Walt discussing the Center's political slant state:

US government indictment

A U.S. government indictment alleges that the Center's Director of Research, Kenneth Pollack, provided information to former AIPAC employees Steve J. Rosen and Keith Weissman during the AIPAC espionage scandal. [ [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395590059&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Bush officials subpoenaed in AIPAC trial] , N Guttman, Jerusalem Post, 13 March 2006, retrieved July 2007]

References

ee also

* Haim Saban
* Brookings Institution
* Foreign policy interest group

External links

* [http://www.brookings.edu/SABAN.ASPX Saban Center for Middle East Policy - official website]