Yigal Carmon

Yigal Carmon is the president of the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) which he co-founded with Meyrav Wurmser in 1998. Carmon holds Israeli-American citizenship and held several positions in the Israeli government prior to founding MEMRI. According to his MEMRI profile Carmon has

briefed governments worldwide on issues ranging from jihad and terrorism to reform in the Arab world...and conducted briefings before Congress as well as at the State Department, Pentagon, Department of Homeland Security, Justice Department, Library of Congress, FBI, National Security Council, and NYPD counterterrorism division, and is frequently interviewed on a variety of Western channels, as well as on Arab TV.

Career

A former servant in the Israeli Military Intelligence, Colonel Yigal Carmon served in the Israeli Defense Forces Intelligence between the years of 1968 to 1988, during which time he was the Acting Head of Civil Administration in Judea as well as an Advisor on Arab Affairs for the Civil Administration. He was formerly an advisor to Israeli Prime Ministers Yitzhak Shamir, Yitzhak Rabin, and Benjamin Netanyahu. Although Carmon argues that MEMRI is a "research organization that doesn't engage in operational recommendation," he frequently engages in policy analysis in the media and at policy meetings and has written several articles on US mideast foreign policy issues in right-wing publications.

Views

In September 2010 Carmon "prepared" a "written statement" for an NGO called the Association for World Education which was sent to and circulated at the UN General Assembly Human Rights Council. In it Carmon argued that "new trends" in Arab media show "Arab-Muslim Judeophobia/Antisemitism" and include the following "three major components:"

• Anti-Jewish views derived from traditional Islamic sources.

• Antisemitic stereotypes, images and accusations of European and Christian origin.

• Holocaust Denial and equating Zionism with Nazism.

The 3 points above which Carmon characterized as "new trends" and much of the text in the statement first appeared in a 2008 MEMRI lectureby chairman of MEMRI's board of advisors and Hebrew University of Jerusalem professor Menahem Milson.

Criticism

In a CNN debate with Electronic Intifada founder Ali Abunimah, Abunimah argues that while these views exist they are reactionary rather than inherent:

NIMAH: and find racist anti-Arab, anti-Muslim expressions, it's very, very easy. In fact, you find them every day, and what they're doing with this so-called think tank, MEMRI...My point is that what they're trying to do is to pretend that the effect of the conflict is the cause of the conflict. The cause of the conflict is the fact that 4 million plus Palestinians do not have basic freedom and human rights, and no amount of spin...no attempt to pretend...that it's just media spin will take that away.

MEMRI

Carmon founded MEMRI to "monitor" mid-east media with a heavy emphasis on Arabic and Farsi because he believes that Western outlets don't accurately portray the correct message:

Because what we have seen is that what comes to the West from there is sometimes lacking in terms of what is being -- you have from the Arab world almost a double message.

In a 2002 debate with author and Electronic Intifada founder Ali Abunimah, Carmon was accused of using MEMRI to selectively translate particularly offensive pieces from middle east media outlets in an attempt to portray the messages as representative of the region as a whole:

NIMAH: and find racist anti-Arab, anti-Muslim expressions, it's very, very easy. In fact, you find them every day, and what they're doing with this so-called think tank, MEMRI...My point is that what they're trying to do is to pretend that the effect of the conflict is the cause of the conflict. The cause of the conflict is the fact that 4 million plus Palestinians do not have basic freedom and human rights, and no amount of spin...no attempt to pretend...that it's just media spin will take that away.

Debate with Brian Whitaker

After The Guardian Middle East editor Brian Whitaker questioned the impartiality of MEMRI, Carmon engaged Whitaker in an email debate. Whitaker's criticism of MEMRI can be summarized as follows:

My problem with Memri is that it poses as a research institute when it's basically a propaganda operation. As with all propaganda, that involves a certain amount of dishonesty and deception. The items you translate are chosen largely to suit your political agenda. They are unrepresentative and give an unfair picture of the Arab media as a whole.

Whitaker's specific criticisms of MEMRI include:

• "Dishonest editing" and "textual manipulation" which includes misrepresenting statements and questions and omitting and rearranging answers to paint a specific picture.

• Citing polls and making claims without providing evidence. This criticism was aimed specifically at Carmon who during a congress testimony cited "polls" that show "a large majority of the Arab world" believed the September 11 attacks "were the work of the United States government itself and/or a Jewish conspiracy without providing adequate referencing information. According to Whitaker what Carmon "said is untrue, and Gallup has confirmed that"

In response to Whitaker Carmon alleged that Whitaker did not want to accept the image of the Arab media that MEMRI was providing and that was why he was criticizing MEMRI:

Brian Whitaker appears to feel that holding up a mirror to the Arab world will reflect badly on them. Moderate and courageous elements in the Middle East might disagree...You offer no justifications for your quite serious attacks.

Carmon's specific rebuttals include:

• Arguing that the Gallup "polls" he referenced during a congress testimony were in fact part of a "major project, The 2002 Gallup Poll of the Islamic World, full details of which are available at www.gallup.com" but not providing any specific referencing.

• Responding that MEMRI's only "agenda" is to "present translations to people who wish to be informed on the ideas circulating in the Middle East. We aim to reflect reality. If knowledge of this reality should benefit one side or another, then so be it."

• Arguing that rather than attempting to present an all-encompassing "view" of Arab media MEMRI aims to " reflect, through our translations, general trends which are widespread and topical"

• Alleging that Whitaker's main problem with Carmon and MEMRI is that Carmon is an Israeli and that Whitaker in fact harbors a Arab-favoring bias:

If your complaint is that I am Israeli, then please say so. Is being an Israeli enough for you to consider me inevitably biased and anti-Arab? I note your website is "Al-Bab", ("The Gateway" in Arabic). Would I be justified in concluding that you are not, in fact, completely neutral about the Middle East, even though you are Middle East editor of a national newspaper? I wonder how you would judge an editor whose website was called "Ha-Sha-ar" ("The Gateway" in Hebrew)?

Affiliations

• Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) - Intelligence Member
• Israeli Government - Advisor to Shamir, Rabin and Netanyahu Administrations
• MEMRI - Co-founder, President
• Steven Emerson, associate