Saban Center for Middle East Policy

The Saban Center for Middle East Policy is a research organization established at the Brookings Institution in 2002 through the donation of $13 million by the Israeli media-mogul, Haim Saban. Its current director is Kenneth M. Pollack. Pollack took over from Martin Indyk, who founded the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, an AIPAC think-tank.

History

After founder Haim Saban closed a profitable multi-million dollar business deal he reportedly contacted Martin Indyk to discuss how he could set up his own think-tank:

When they met in New York about a week later, Indyk recalled, “Haim said, ‘I’ve made all this money; I’m giving ten million to the D.N.C., and I want to set up a think tank. I think we really have to resolve the Arab-Israel conflict. These terrorists give me a potch in the panim, but I still think it’s important for Israel’s future to achieve peace.’ ” Indyk advised him to make a donation to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, but Saban said, “ ‘You don’t understand. I want my own.’ ”

At this time Indyk was working at WINEP but joined Saban's think-tank after Saban made an initial contribution of 13 million dollars for its establishment.

Saban informed a New York Times reporter about his own views about how the conflict in Israel-Palestine would be resolved in 2004: "I'm going to make a very controversial statement and I hope to God that I am proven totally wrong: I think that any resolution will have to go both on the Palestinian side and Israeli side to some form of civil war. It's not going to be without spilling blood." These views did not stop Saban from creating his "own" think tank in 2002. He explained: 'I want my own [think tank].’ Connie Bruck writes:

Not all of the Brookings board members supported the idea...Brookings is a non-ideological public-policy institute, dedicated to nurturing American democracy. Saban is unabashedly pro-Israel and, according to people who work with him, harbors a wariness of Arabs that may stem from growing up as a Jew in Egypt; he first returned to an Arab country in 2004, when he went to Qatar with Bill Clinton and the Secret Service. But Saban’s gift was then the largest in Brookings’s history: thirteen million dollars, distributed over seven years. And so, in 2002, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy was established.

Criticism

According to prominent scholars John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, the Saban Center harbors undeniable pro-Israel biases:

It is hard to imagine that a research institute funded by Saban and directed by Indyk is going to be anything but pro-Israel. To be sure, the Saban Centre occasionally hosts Arab scholars and exhibits some diversity of opinion. Saban Center fellows – like Indyk himself – often endorse the idea of a two-state settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. But Saban Center publications never question US support for Israel and rarely, if ever, offer significant criticism of key Israeli policies. Moreover, individuals who stray from the Center’s line do not remain for long, as former NSC official Flynt Leverett’s brief tenure there illustrates.

Moreover, the Brookings Institution's work on the Middle East has degraded since it was transferred to the Saban Center:

Take the Brookings Institution. For many years, its senior expert on the Middle East was William B. Quandt, a former National Security Council official with a well-deserved reputation for even-handedness. Today, Brookings’s coverage is conducted through the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, 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."

Saban Forum

The center's "pro-Israel proclivities" take place at the annual Saban Forum which brings together US and Israeli leaders and analysts for a two-day conference which is held in Washington or Jerusalem. Marketed as an event aimed at "strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries [Israel and the US]," forum debates are closed to the public.

Saban Forum 2009

Taking place at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on November 14-16, the 2009 forum was titled "The U.S.-Israel Partnership: Can New Governments Overcome Old Challenges" and according to the Saban Center's website, was focused on addressing issues which the current US and Israeli administrations do not "see eye-to-eye on," including how to end the Arab-Israeli conflict and Iran’s nuclear program.

Prominent US & Other Participants

• Howard Berman - United States House of Representatives (CA-28); Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs
• Daniel Byman - Senior Fellow, Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings; Director, Center for Peace and Security Studies, Georgetown University
• Paul Cejas - Chief Executive Officer, PLC Investments Inc.
• Adam Chesnoff - President and Chief Operating Officer, Saban Capital Group
• Bill Clinton - 42nd President of the United States; Founder, William J. Clinton Foundation
• Eliot Cohen - Robert E. Osgood Professor of Strategic Studies, Founding Director of Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
• James B. Cunningham - U.S. Ambassador to Israel
• Susan Davis - United States House of Representatives (CA-53); Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Military Personnel
• Michael Eisner - Former Chairman & CEO The Walt Disney Company and Founder, The Tornante Company, LLC
• Franklin Foer - Editor, The New Republic
• Lindsey Graham - United States Senate (SC)
• David Hale - Deputy Special Envoy for Middle East Peace; former U.S. Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
• Jane Harman - United States House of Representatives (CA-36); Chairwoman, House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment
• Sidney Harman - Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Harman International; Judge Robert Widney Professor, University of Southern California; and former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce
• Frederic C. Hof - Special Coordinator for Regional Affairs, Office of the Special Envoy for Middle East Peace, U.S. Department of State
• David Ignatius - Columnist, The Washington Post
• Martin Indyk - Convener of the Saban Forum; Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy at Brookings; Founding Director, Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings; and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs
• Ted Kaufman - United States Senate (DE); Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
• Zalmay Khalilzad - President and CEO, Khalilzad Associates LLC; Counselor, CSIS; former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Iraq, and Afghanistan
• Joseph Lieberman - United States Senate (CT); Chairman, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
• Nita Lowey - United States House of Representatives (NY-18); Chairwoman, House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations
• Kenneth Pollack - Director, Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings; former Director of Persian Gulf Affairs and Near East and South Asian Affairs, National Security Council
• Bruce Riedel - Senior Fellow, Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings; former Senior Director for Near East and South Asia, National Security Council.
• Carla Robbins - Deputy Editorial Page Editor, The New York Times
• Dennis Ross - Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Central Region, National Security Counciln
• Haim Saban - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Saban Capital Group; Chairman, International Advisory Board, Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings
• Arnold Schwarzenegger - Governor, State of California
• Daniel Shapiro - Senior Director of Middle East and North Africa, National Security Council
• James Steinberg - Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott President, The Brookings Institution; former Deputy Secretary of State
• Anwar Sadat - Professor for Peace and Development, University of Maryland
• Henry Waxman - United States House of Representatives (CA-30); Chairman, House Committee on Energy and Commerce
• Leon Wieseltier - Literary Editor, The New Republic

Prominent Israeli Participants

Shai Agassi Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Better Place Uzi Arad National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Head of the National Security Council in the Office of the Prime Minister Ehud Barak Minister of Defense; former Prime Minister of the State of Israel Nahum Barnea Political Columnist, Yedioth Ahronoth Yossi Beilin President and Founder, Beilink, Business Foreign Affairs Ben Caspit Senior Columnist, Ma’ariv Ilana Dayan-Orbach Anchorperson, Uvda, Channel 2 News Ron Dermer Senior Advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Yuval Diskin Director, Israel Security Agency (Shabak) Giora Eiland Chairman, SDS; Senior Researcher, Institute for National Security Studies; former National Security Advisor Oded Eran Director, The Institute for National Security Studies; former Ambassador to the European Union and Jordan Michael Federmann Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Federmann Enterprises Ltd. Stanley Fischer Governor, Bank of Israel; former First Deputy Managing Director, the International Monetary Fund; former Professor of Economics, MIT Avi Gil Senior Strategic Advisor, Center for Middle East Peace & Economic Cooperation; Senior Fellow, The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute; and former Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Amos Gilad Head of Diplomatic-Security Bureau, Ministry of Defense Dan Gillerman Former Ambassador to the United Nations Gad Goldstein Kreiz Visiting Fellow, Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings Hirsh Goodman Director, Andrea and Charles Bronfman Program on Information Strategy, Institute for National Security Studies Ayala Hasson Diplomatic Correspondent and Analyst, Channel 1; Anchor, “Yoman,” Channel 1; Anchor, “Reshet Bet,” Israel Broadcasting Authority Radio Isaac Herzog Minister of Social Affairs and Services Michael Herzog Chief of Staff to Minister of Defense Ehud Barak Dalia Itzik Member of the Knesset (Kadima); Chairperson, Kadima Parliamentary Group Moshe Kaplinsky Chief Executive Officer, Better Place Israel Ynon Kreiz Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Endemol; member, International Advisory Board, Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings. Dov Lautman Chairman, The Lautman Fund Avigdor Lieberman Deputy Prime Minister; Minister of Foreign Affairs Amnon Lipkin-Shahak Chairman of the Board, Tahal Group; former Chief of the General Staff, Israel Defense Forces Tallie Lipkin-Shahak Journalist, Galeu-Tzahal & IETV Tzipi Livni Leader of the Opposition and Head of the Kadima Party Dan Meridor Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy Shaul Mofaz Member of Knesset (Kadima); former Minister of Defense; and former Chief of the General Staff, Israel Defense Forces Benjamin Netanyahu Prime Minister of the State of Israel; Chairman of the Likud Party Ehud Olmert Former Prime Minister of the State of Israel Itamar Rabinovich Ettinger Professor of Contemporary Middle Eastern History, Tel Aviv University; former Ambassador to the United States; and former President, Tel Aviv University Haim Ramon Former Member of the Knesset; former Vice Prime Minister Uri Sagie Former Head of Directorate of Military Intelligence, Israel Defense Forces Chemy Shalev Deputy Editor and Political Analyst, Yisrael Hayom Ari Shavit Senior Correspondent, Ha’aretz Yoram Turbowicz Former Chief of Staff, Prime Minister’s Office Ehud Yaari Middle East Commentator, Channel Two News; Associate Editor, The Jerusalem Report Amos Yadlin Chief of Defense Intelligence, Israel Defense Forces Shlomo Yanai President and Chief Executive Officer, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd; former Director, Strategic Planning Division, IDF

People

Principals

• Kenneth Pollack - Director (2009-present)
• Martin Indyk - Senior Fellow, former director (2002-09)
• Haim Saban - Founder

"Experts"

• Hady Amr - Director, Brookings Doha Center
• Anouar Boukhars - Visiting Fellow, Foreign Policy, Brookings Doha Center, Saban Center for Middle East Policy
• Daniel Byman - Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy
• Khaled Elgindy - Visiting Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy
• Stephen R. Grand - Director, U.S. Relations with the Islamic World
• Shadi Hamid - Director of Research, Brookings Doha Center
• Kristin M. Lord - Nonresident Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, U.S. Relations with the Islamic World
• Mirette F. Mabrouk - Nonresident Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy
• Suzanne Maloney - Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy
• Kenneth M. Pollack - Director, Saban Center for Middle East Policy
• Bruce Riedel - Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy
• Cynthia P. Schneider - Nonresident Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy
• Salman Shaikh - Nonresident Fellow, Foreign Policy, Brookings Doha Center, Saban Center for Middle East Policy
• Shibley Telhami - Nonresident Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy
• Vaughan Turekian - Nonresident Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, U.S. Relations with the Islamic World
• Mohammad Waseem - Ford Foundation Visiting Fellow

Contact

• Website: http://www.brookings.edu/saban.aspx
• E-mail: SabanCenter@brookings.edu
• Phone: 202.797.6462