If Americans Knew
Encyclopedia
If Americans Knew is a nonprofit organization
Nonprofit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 that focuses on the Arab–Israeli conflict
Arab–Israeli conflict
The Arab–Israeli conflict refers to political tensions and open hostilities between the Arab peoples and the Jewish community of the Middle East. The modern Arab-Israeli conflict began with the rise of Zionism and Arab Nationalism towards the end of the nineteenth century, and intensified with the...

 and the Foreign policy of the United States regarding the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

, offering analysis of American media coverage of these issues. Its mission, according to the group's website, is to provide "what every American needs to know about Israel/Palestine." The site is generally critical of U.S. financial and military support of Israel. It has accused notable newspapers such as The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

of being biased against Palestinians.

In addition to the freelance journalist and founder Alison Weir, board members include Paul Findley
Paul Findley
Paul Findley is a former United States Representative from Illinois, representing its 20th District. A Republican, he was first elected in 1961. Findley lost his seat in 1982 to current United States Senator Dick Durbin. Findley attended Illinois College and is a member of Phi Alpha Literary Society...

, a former United States Representative, and Andrew Killgore
Andrew Killgore
Andrew I. Killgore was a United States Foreign Service Officer and diplomat. He was ambassador of the United States to Qatar when he retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 1980. He was one of the original founders of the American Educational Trust, best known for publishing the magazine The...

, a former ambassador of the United States to Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...

.

Background

According to the organization's website, founder Alison Weir traveled independently throughout the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...

 and Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...

 in 2001 and found a situation she considered to be different from what was being reported by the American media. She noted that the U.S. press portrayal was significantly at odds with that reported by media throughout the rest of the world. Convinced that American citizens were being misinformed and uninformed on one of the most significant issues affecting them today, Weir founded an organization that would reflect what she considered to be a more objective viewpoint.

If Americans Knew states that it produces materials, assists in organizing public forums, and provides speakers and written materials to hundreds of events across the United States, including events hosted on the campuses of Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

, Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

, Washington State University
Washington State University
Washington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...

, Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

, along with the Palestine Center
Palestine Center
The Palestine Center is an independent think tank based in Foggy Bottom, Washington, D.C.. Their focus is on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other Middle East issues....

, the National Press Club, the Naval Postgraduate School
Naval Postgraduate School
The Naval Postgraduate School is an accredited research university operated by the United States Navy. Located in Monterey, California, it grants master's degrees, Engineer's degrees and doctoral degrees...

, and other university campuses, churches, libraries, and civic organizations. Its website carries information and allegations about "Israel and Palestine" from a wide variety of sources.

Positions

If Americans Knew argues that United States' support of Israel should be reduced on the grounds that it is not in its interest — that it interferes with American relations with the oil-producing nations, costs American taxpayers billions, and is increasingly imperiling American lives.

The site's homepage shows charts comparing the number of children killed from both sides since year 2000; it also shows the number of killed and injured people from both sides.

It concludes that U.S. support of Israel is driven by special-interest lobbying on behalf of a foreign government, specifically via AIPAC
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States...

, and by the efforts of a "growing number of individuals with close ties to Israel (known as neoconservatives)" in high-level U.S. Government positions.

Criticism

Former New York Times Public Editor Daniel Okrent
Daniel Okrent
Daniel Okrent is an American writer and editor. He is best known for having served as the first public editor of The New York Times newspaper, for inventing Rotisserie League Baseball, and for writing several books, most recently Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.-Education and...

 stated that "representatives of If Americans Knew expressed the belief that unless the paper assigned equal numbers of Muslim and Jewish reporters to cover the conflict, Jewish reporters should be kept off the beat" and said he found that "profoundly offensive." Weir denied this, indicating that If Americans Knew had suggested that the Times team of reporters and editors covering Israel-Palestine be as diverse as possible. Weir, however, later called for the Times to remove Ethan Bronner
Ethan Bronner
Ethan Samuel Bronner has been Jerusalem bureau chief of The New York Times since March 2008 following four years as deputy foreign editor.-Biography:...

 from his position as Bureau Chief in Jerusalem, claiming that he could not be impartial due to his son having joined the Israeli Defense Forces; the paper then stated that Bronner would remain in his job.

Okrent also stated that "representatives of If Americans Knew earnestly believe that the information they present to be true, and refuse to accept evidence that contradicts their beliefs". Weir says that the organization had an extensive meeting with Okrent during which they presented their findings that the Times covered Israeli deaths in far greater numbers than Palestinian deaths, had explained their findings and methodology in considerable detail, and "gave him copies of the 23-page report, along with approximately 40 pages of supporting documentation." Okrent, Weir says, did not adequately address their findings.

The Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...

 has called If Americans Knew one of several "anti-Israel organization[s]", and further asserts that "Weir's criticism of Israel has, at times, crossed the line into anti-Semitism." They cited Weir's use of a quotation by Israel Shahak
Israel Shahak
Israel Shahak was a Polish-born Israeli professor of chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, known especially as a radical political thinker, author, and civil rights activist. Between 1970-1990, he was president of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights and was an outspoken critic...

 that characterized beliefs of certain Israelis as “such a ruthless and supremacist faith.” Weir herself stated that she considered this quoted characterization as not pertaining to the mainstream of Judaism, and has demanded that the ADL correct what she termed "defamatory and inaccurate statements."

The British left-wing activist Andy Newman (of the Socialist Unity Network
Socialist Unity Network
The Socialist Unity Network is a small network of the British left which is not affiliated with any single political party. It grew out of the Socialist Alliance in England, and was originally initiated by several non-aligned members of the SA executive in March 2004.Members of the Network are ...

) has criticized Weir for defending Donald Boström
Donald Boström
Carl Donald Boström is a Swedish journalist, photographer and writer. He is best known for his writings and photography relating to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict...

's accusations of Israeli organ harvesting
2009 Aftonbladet Israel controversy
The Aftonbladet-Israel controversy refers to the controversy that followed the publication of a 17 August 2009 article in the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet alleging that Israeli troops harvested organs from Palestinians that died in their custody. The article sparked a fierce debate in Sweden and...

 and suggesting that medieval blood libel
Blood libel
Blood libel is a false accusation or claim that religious minorities, usually Jews, murder children to use their blood in certain aspects of their religious rituals and holidays...

 accusations had a basis in fact.

If Americans Knew's findings about the Times has also been criticized by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America is an American non-profit pro-Israel media watchdog group. The group says it was founded in 1982 "to respond to the Washington Post's coverage of Israel's Lebanon incursion", and to respond to what it considers the media's "general...

 (CAMERA), for "selective and biased use and interpretation of information" and "flawed methodology".

Praise

If Americans Knew has been lauded by the liberal media monitoring organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting is a progressive media criticism organization based in New York City, founded in 1986.FAIR describes itself on its website as "the national media watch group" and defines its mission as working to "invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity...

 (FAIR).

Weir was given honorary membership in the Phi Alpha Literary Society
Phi Alpha Literary Society
Phi Alpha is a men's Literary Society founded in 1845 at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois. It conducts Business Meetings, Literary Productions, and other activities in Beecher Hall, the oldest college building in the state of Illinois....

 at Paul Findley
Paul Findley
Paul Findley is a former United States Representative from Illinois, representing its 20th District. A Republican, he was first elected in 1961. Findley lost his seat in 1982 to current United States Senator Dick Durbin. Findley attended Illinois College and is a member of Phi Alpha Literary Society...

's alma mater Illinois College
Illinois College
Illinois College is a private, liberal arts college, affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church , and located in Jacksonville, Illinois. It was the second college founded in Illinois, but the first to grant a degree . It was founded in 1829 by the Illinois Band,...

 in 2004, the award citing her as "Courageous journalist-lecturer on behalf of human rights. The first woman to receive an honorary membership in Phi Alpha history."

Board members

  • Alison Weir
  • Paul Findley
    Paul Findley
    Paul Findley is a former United States Representative from Illinois, representing its 20th District. A Republican, he was first elected in 1961. Findley lost his seat in 1982 to current United States Senator Dick Durbin. Findley attended Illinois College and is a member of Phi Alpha Literary Society...

    , former United States Representative from Illinois.
  • Andrew Killgore
    Andrew Killgore
    Andrew I. Killgore was a United States Foreign Service Officer and diplomat. He was ambassador of the United States to Qatar when he retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 1980. He was one of the original founders of the American Educational Trust, best known for publishing the magazine The...

    , former United States Ambassador to Qatar
    Qatar
    Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...

    .

See also

  • American Task Force on Palestine
    American Task Force on Palestine
    The American Task Force on Palestine is an organization founded in 2003 to advocate that it is in the American national interest to promote an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the creation of a Palestinian state that will live alongside Israel in peace and security...

  • American Palestine Public Affairs Forum
    American Palestine Public Affairs Forum
    The American Palestine Public Affairs Forum is a non-profit 501 organization that attempts to promote the interests of Palestinians in the United States. The organization promotes non-violence, democracy in the Middle East, and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict...

  • Middle East Media Research Institute
    Middle East Media Research Institute
    The Middle East Media Research Institute is a Middle Eastern not for profit 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...

  • Palestine Media Watch
    Palestine Media Watch
    Palestine Media Watch is an organization established in October 2000 that monitors the US mainstream media's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mobilizes against what it deems to be anti-Palestinian or pro-Israel bias in the coverage of the conflict. The organization focuses mainly...


External links

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