MEMO Publishers is a venture by the Middle East Monitor, with the first book published in June 2012. It publishes a range of authors who write about the Middle East, as well as providing a platform for up and coming writers to share their work about the region.
Events
In June 2011, MEMO organized a speaking tour for Raed Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. Salah, who was banned from entering the UK by the home secretary, was held in custody pending deportation until April 2012 when an immigration tribunal ruled that the home secretary had been misled. In 2011, MEMO co-organized an event with Amnesty International and Palestine Solidarity Campaign titled "Complicity in oppression: Do the media aid Israel?" featuring Abdel Bari Atwan. On 22 August 2015, MEMO organized an event titled "Palestine & Latin America: Building solidarity for national rights", featuring anti-Zionist cartoonist Carlos Latuff and British Palestinian activist Azzam Tamimi. Jeremy Corbyn was scheduled to appear as well, but pulled out. In November 2017, MEMO organized an event titled "Crisis in Saudi Arabia: War, Succession and the Future" discussion Saudi Arabia's future monarchy succession and regional rivalries with Iran and war in Yemen.
Criticism
According to Israeli scholar Ehud Rosen, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, MEMO generally supports Islamist positions within Palestinian politics. According to Andrew Gilligan, the Middle East Monitor promotes a strongly pro-Muslim Brotherhood and pro-Hamas viewpoint. Haaretz reporter Anshel Pfeffer described MEMO as a "conspiracy theory-peddling anti-Israel organisation". MEMO has been described by Marc Rich as promoting conspiracy theories about "Jews, Zionists, money and power. This has included a claim that MEMO had questioned the suitability of Matthew Gould for the post of UK ambassador to Israel simply because he was Jewish". According to Yiftah Curiel, an employee of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, some of the staff of the Middle East Monitor as well as the similar Middle East Eye are also active in Interpal, which has been designated as a terror-supporting ground in Israel, as well as being on the United States Treasury's list of specially-designated terrorist organisations. The site itself is sympathetic to Hamas, and the Hamas website and social media accounts post and share material from the Middle East Monitor. It has been characterized as a pro-Hamas publication by John Ware of BBC News.
