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MEMRI - The Middle East Media Research Institute TV Monitor Project

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posted on Aug, 23 2011 @ 08:01 PM
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Hello there people, recently I was sent a link from a very Pro-Israel person and in this link was a blog writing about a scene depicted on Aljazeera TV. In the scene the Egyptian people are protesting Israel's recent killing of their 5 police officers. Not familiar with these protest visit this link. As you watch the video you can clearly see one Arab man holding up a poorly made protest sign with a swasticka and something written in Arabic. We are told the translation is this "the gas chambers are ready". Here's a direct link to MEMRI's webpage containing this video.

The source of this translation comes from MEMRI's website, which is dedicated to translating all things Arabic into English and other languages. This is the same website that gave us the Palestinian children shows who supposedly are teaching young children to be anti-Semitic. The Daily Show did a spoof about it and the Huffingpost wrote about it here, and a counter to the Daily Shows spoof is found here.

But that's not what this thread is about. This is about MEMRI. Doing a quick Wikipedia search you'll discover this

(note, the Wikipedia page has issues with the way this info is presented. Apparently it's an advertisement and not neutral)

The Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI for short, is a Middle Eastern press monitoring organization with headquarters located in Washington, DC. MEMRI was co-founded in 1998 by Yigal Carmon, a former colonel in the Israeli military intelligence and Meyrav Wurmser, an Israeli-born, American political scientist. MEMRI distributes free English language translations of material published in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Pashto, and Turkish, publishes analyses and reports on its website and offers specialized content for a fee.



Until 2001, its Mission Statement stated that the institute also emphasizes "the continuing relevance of Zionism to the Jewish people and to the state of Israel."[11]



Concerning this change in their ‘mission statement,’ Political Research Associates (PRA), which studies the US political right, notes that it occurred three weeks after the September 11 attacks, and considers MEMRI "was previously more forthcoming about its political orientation in its self-description and in staff profiles on its website." PRA considers that “MEMRI's slogan, ‘Bridging the Language Gap Between the Middle East and the West,’ does not convey the institute's stridently pro-Israel and anti-Arab political bias.” It further notes, that MEMRI's founders, Wurmser and Carmon, “are both hardline pro-Israel ideologues aligned with Israel's Likud party.”[12]

The organization indirectly gained public prominence as a source of news and analysis about the Muslim world, following the September 11 attacks and the subsequent "war on terrorism" by the Bush administration. According to MEMRI, its translations and reports are distributed to "congresspersons, congressional staff, policy makers, journalists, academics, and interested parties." According to PRA, MEMRI's translated articles and its commentary are routinely cited in national media outlets in the United States, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, while analyses by MEMRI staff and officers are frequently published by right-wing and neoconservative media outlets such as National Review, Fox News, Commentary, and the Weekly Standard. PRA writes that both critics and supporters of MEMRI note its increasing influence in shaping perceptions of the Middle East.[12] It has maintained longstanding relations with law enforcement agencies.[13]



Be sure to check out their other staff and Accusations of bias. And straight from the horse mouth, MEMRI's about page


The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) was founded in 1998 in Washington, DC to bridge the language gap between the Middle East and the West by monitoring, translating, and studying Arab, Iranian and Turkish media, schoolbooks, and religious sermons. MEMRI is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and has branches in Baghdad, Tokyo and Jerusalem, and a staff of over 70 working around the globe. MEMRI's research is translated into English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish with a subscriber list of over 75,000. MEMRI is a 501 (c)3 organization and is incorporated in Washington, D.C.


Apparently this is the website that the Western media and our policy makers gets a lot of their information about all things on Arabic tv. It would appear they might be slightly biased
, but can they be trusted for accurate information and reporting? This website is news to me and I'm wondering are any of you familiar with this website and what are you thoughts about it? What other news about this website should we, the public, be aware of?






edit on 23-8-2011 by Swills because: (no reason given)



posted on Aug, 23 2011 @ 08:22 PM
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MEMRI is total crap.

I've been reading their stuff for 5 years or so now... the authors are probably neo-cons... total warmongers, blind hating of muslims, especially Iran.

MEMRI are a disgrace.



posted on Aug, 23 2011 @ 08:50 PM
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reply to post by Vitchilo
 


5 years of watching them and your conclusion is that they are a disgrace. I expected this
but I wanted to be sure. It really bothers me that this organization is the Wests go-to place for Arabic TV translations. I think next up, I'm gonna look into that Palestinian childrens show they claim is teaching their kids hate. I'm tired of the lies



posted on Aug, 23 2011 @ 08:50 PM
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reply to post by Swills
 


MEMRI uses selective editing oft times only publishes the inflammatory stuff. It is a propaganda site.

That said, everything that they translate is accurate. They employ many educated Arabic speakers to insure a true translation.

And I do appreciate knowing what fruitcakes are out there that encourage extremist behavior. Without a translation service, many of our self avowed enemies would be under the radar.



posted on Aug, 23 2011 @ 08:51 PM
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reply to post by TDawgRex
 


This is why I'm thinking about learning Arabic
I'd rather get the information myself than relies on others. So all of their translations are correct? If true, than that's good news but I guess they like to cherry pick? Their translators do seem to be very educated and some from Middle Eastern descent
edit on 23-8-2011 by Swills because: (no reason given)



posted on Aug, 23 2011 @ 08:59 PM
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reply to post by Swills
 


We used uneditted MEMRI footage to test our translators in Iraq from time to time, and always had a linguist from the S2 handy as well to ensure a proper translation. The terps didn't know she could speak Arabic.

We vetted our terps a lot, just to make sure. US Linguists, especially those who speak Arabic, Farsi and Pashtu are hard to come by. The brass snags them up quick. Not that I blame them.



posted on Aug, 23 2011 @ 09:20 PM
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reply to post by TDawgRex
 


Oh I know all about it when I served in the USN. Linguists or as the USN calls them CTI, especially those who spoke Arabic, were highly sought after.







 
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