On September 15 the State Department issued its annual International Religious Freedom Report, criticizing several of America’s Arab allies. A paragraph of the section devoted to the United Arab Emirates noted a positive development – the closing of the Zayed Center. Indeed, for an organization to be shut down for incitement in the Arab world was an unprecedented event which should be applauded. However, immediately following the closure of the center last year, predictions arose that the center would not stay closed permanently. The spirited defense of the center following the recent State Department report may be a sign that a campaign is under way to reopen it.

From its founding in 1999 until its closure in 2003, the Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-Up hosted events and produced studies on a variety of issues that were often anti-American and anti-Semitic. The center also hosted and worked with Presidents Clinton and Carter, and the president of France, Jacques Chirac.

Following the closure of the center, a group of Arab reformists, including Saudi journalist Sa’d ibn Salih Al-Sirhan, noted that the center got what it deserved: “The center committed professional mistakes and allowed itself to be dragged into unscholarly allegations whose only purpose was to criticize America…It embraced a number of racist lecturers…and devoted itself to provocations – provoking the Jews…and provoking America.”

The controversy surrounding the center included claims it made in its publications that Americans and Jews were behind September 11. The center charged that America started the war in Iraq to coincide with the Jewish holiday Purim; the SARS virus was an American biological weapon unleashed against the world; America is ruled by Christian extremists; Jews exaggerate the number of deaths in the Holocaust; the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” is true; the Mossad killed JFK; Zionists collaborated with the Nazis during the Holocaust, and many others.

After the facts about the Zayed Center became known, the American government pressured the namesake of the center, UAE leader Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, to close it down. On August 27, 2003, Sheik Zayed announced that following international pressure and condemnation of its activities, the center would be closing for engaging “in a discourse that starkly contradicted the principles of interfaith tolerance.”

Thousands of leading Arabs opposed the closure, calling for it to continue “being a minaret to defending Arab causes,” and campaigned to keep it open. The Arab press and many Islamists blamed MEMRI. Fahmy Howedy, a prominent Egyptian Islamist journalist, said, “There is no doubting the connection between the decision to close the center and the campaign waged by the American-Zionist institute [MEMRI]…”

Kuwaiti writer Ahmad Al Dayyen also wrote in Al-Rai Al-Aam on August 19, 2003, “The name seems innocuous, but MEMRI is in fact one of the most dangerous Zionist institutions, and has considerable influence over decision-makers in the U.S. administration and in Congress. This institute is their main source of information about the situation in the Middle East…Among MEMRI’s famous ‘hits’ in the last two years: The dismissal of Dr. Umayma Al-Jalahma, Saudi columnist for the Saudi daily Al-Riyadh, following the publication of an article which contained information from Western heritage about the Jews [i.e. the accusation that Jews use human blood for religious purposes]. Another ‘hit’ was the attack on Dr. Ghazi Al-Qusseibi, former Saudi ambassador to London, who published a poem in support of the Palestinian resistance [in fact, Mr. al-Qusseibi’s poem supported suicide bombing] after which he was transferred from London. Recently, MEMRI scored a third ‘hit,’ against the Zayed Center…It launched a vicious and organized campaign against it, on the pretext that it advocates anti-American and anti-Semitic ideas. Now we are told, regretfully, that the Zayed Center will be closed. The question is, who is next on MEMRI’s list of targets?”

On September 22, the Office of Information Affairs for the UAE deputy prime minister criticized the State Department report for including the closure of the Zayed Center in its annual report. The Khaleej Times reported on a statement by the deputy premier’s information office, rejecting accusations against the center: ” ‘We would like to state unequivocally that the Zayed Center never hosted any speaker who promoted anti-Semitic views of any kind at the centre, as claimed by the 2004 report. It is unfortunate that the authors of this official U.S. government report ignored this established fact and failed to substantiate their claims with names, dates, and other evidence…’ It accused the authors of the report of choosing to mimic questionable and politically motivated charges made by MEMRI…’It is high time for the U.S. administration to practice what it preaches… Frankly, if American think tanks were to be held responsible according to the same standards that were applied to the Zayed Center by the American Embassy and by MEMRI, there wouldn’t be one such institution standing today on American soil.’ “

This statement could mark the beginning of the re-establishment of the Zayed Center, or possibly a replacement think thank of the Arab League in its place. The London daily Al-Hayat reported on September 20, that “Egyptian academicians urged the United Arab Emirates to ‘take a second look at their decision to close the Zayed Center.’ The academicians, who all belong to a group they call ‘The Centre for Arab Research after September 11th,’ announced in the office of Hosni Mubarak that it is most necessary to reopen the centre.”

Within months after the Zayed Center’s closure, the Arab press continued to express hopes that it would reopen. For example, the Web site Ikhwan Online published a report on December 10, 2003, about a conference of the Egyptian Journalists Union that criticized the closure of the Zayed Center. The conference was headed by Muhammad Faraj Abu Al-Nur, an author and political analyst, who criticized MEMRI for its research, which goes to “American officials and members of Congress,” and led the call for the center to reopen its doors.

For a detailed list of anti-American and anti-Semitic activity of the Zayed Center, a three-part report can be found at www.memri.org.