The Middle East Forum (MEF) is an American conservative think tank founded in 1990 by Daniel Pipes, who also serves as its director. MEF became a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in 1994. It publishes a journal entitled Middle East Quarterly.
The MEF describes its aims as " promote American interests in the Middle East and protect the Constitutional order from Middle Eastern threats."
The MEF sees the Middle East — with its "profusion of dictatorships, radical ideologies, existential conflicts, exportation of extremism, border disagreements, political violence, and weapons of mass destruction" — as a source of problems for the United States.
According to the MEF itself, "U.S. interests in the Middle East include fighting radical Islam; working for Palestinian acceptance of Israel; robustly asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia; and developing strategies to deal with Iraq and contain Iran".
The Forum's actions include combatting lawful Islamism, protecting the freedom of public speech of anti-Islamist authors, activists, and publishers,and working to improve Middle East studies in North America.
Based on a belief that the United States has vital interests in the region of the Middle East, according to the organization, they advocate strong ties with Israel, Turkey, and other democracies as they emerge; work for human rights throughout the region; seek a stable supply and a low price of oil; and promote the peaceful settlement of regional and international disputes.
The Middle East Forum has established a Legal Project to protect researchers and analysts who work on the topics of terrorism, terrorist funding, and radical Islam from lawsuits designed to silence their exercise of free speech. It has established a Legal Defence Fund for Geert Wilders' defence.
Read more about Middle East Forum: Mission Statement, Criticism
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